2022

ENGLISH

SELECTIVITAT
MARTA VILLALONGA MEMBRIVE
QUESTION TAGS
• When the statement is positive, its question tag is negative <-> when the statement is
negative, its question tag is positive
o You agree with me, don’t you?
o You don’t eat meat, do you?
• Tags generally repeat auxiliaries. If there isn’t any, just use do or did
o Helen lives here, doesn’t she?
o Jack was born in Spain, wasn’t he?
• When the auxiliary is ‘to be’ and the subject is ‘I’, the question tag is always “aren’t I”
o I’m cooking tonight, aren’t I?
• -> but, if the sentence is negative, the question tag is “am I”
o I’m not late, am I?
• Imperative → “won’t you”: You will do the dishes, won’t you?
• Negative imperatives → “will you”: Don’t drive too fast, will you?
• “Let’s…” → “shall we”: Let’s go to the cinema, shall we?
• When the subject is: nobody, somebody, everybody → subject of the tag becomes they

INDIRECT QUESTIONS
• To make a question more polite → begin with:
o Could you tell me…?
o Do you know…?
o I wonder…
o I’d like you to tell me…
o Would you mind…?
• The word order changes to subject + verb
o Do you know where the police office is?
• If the question begins with an auxiliary verb → add “if” or “whether”
o Are you married? -> I’d like you to tell me if you are married

RELATIVE CLAUSES
Defining and non-defining
• Defining clauses:
o Give important information which tells us exactly what is being referred to
• Non-defining clauses:
o Add extra information
o Separated by commas (or by intonation in speaking)
o Main sentence makes sense without them
Omitting the relative pronoun
• WHO, WHICH, THAT → can be omitted when talking about different subject
• You can never omit the relative pronoun in a non-defining clause
To take in mind
• That → cannot be used: to introduce a non-defining clause/after a preposition
• Whose = cuyo/cuya
• Whom → has to be used instead of ‘who’ after prepositions

PASSIVE VOICE
Subject + verb to be (en el mismo tiempo que en la activa) + past participle
• Present simple → is + PP
• Present continuous → is being + PP
• Past simple → was/were + PP CAUSATIVES
• Past continuous → was/were being + PP Have/get + something + verb
• Present perfect → have/has been + PP I have my hair cut; I have my drink
• Past perfect → had been + PP stolen; etc.
• Future simple → will be + PP
Special passives
• Verbs with 2 objects (direct and indirect) → They sent me the letter (=> los dos pueden hacer
de sujetos)
o I was sent the letter
o The letter was sent to me
• Infinitive & impersonal forms (verbs: believe, think, say, know, consider, expect...) → People
say that [John Wilson lives in New York]
o Subject + passive verb + infinitive + complements
John Wilson + is said + to live + in New York
o It + passive verb + that + [subordinada]
It is said that John Wilson lives in New York
• Si -> después del verbo hay una preposición => la preposición se mantiene detrás del verbo
(son un pack)

CONDITIONALS & WISHES

As long as, even if, providing that, unless
Conditional clauses usually start with if → in some situations we can replace if with: unless, providing
that or as long as
• Unless instead of if... not:
o We’ll be late if we don’t leave now <-> we’ll be late unless we leave now
• Even if instead of if → to show that the result will not be affected by the condition:
o The workers won’t strike if their wages are increased. (The workers will strike. But if
their wages are increased, they won’t strike)
o The workers will strike even if their wages are increased. (The workers will strike if
their wages are increased and if their wages are not increased.)
• Providing that or as long as → to mean but only if
o Crime levels will continue to fall but only if we keep the same number of police officers
o Crime levels will continue to fall as long as we keep the same number of police officers
o Crime levels will continue to fall providing that we keep the same number of police
officers
Conditionals
Conditional sentences contain two clauses: a conditional clause (which starts with if) and a result
clause. We can change the order of the two clauses, but when the conditional clause comes first, we
follow it with a comma
First conditional
• If + present simple, will + infinitive
If you do the race, I’ll sponsor you
• Uses:
o To discuss possible or probable future events
o To make promises and give warnings
• With modals: we can use modals instead of “will”
o To show possibility: may/might (If you vote for him, he may win the election)
o To show permission: can (If you’ve filled out the form, you can vote immediately)
o To show obligation: must (If you agree with his policies, you must vote for him)
o To make a suggestion: should (If you’re interested in politics, you should vote)
Second conditional
• If + past simple, would + infinitive
If I had a lot of money, I would set up a commune
• Uses:
o To discuss imaginary situations in the present
o To discuss imaginary or improbable events in the future
• Exceptions: we can use “were” instead of “was” with I, she and it if we are giving advices (If I
were you…)
• With modals: we can use modals instead of “would”
o To show ability: could (If he had time, he could help in the community)
o To show possibility: might (If he won a million, he might give it all to charity)
Third conditional
• If + past perfect, would have + PP
If you had applied, you would have got an interview
• Use:
o To discuss hypothetical past events (which didn’t happen)
• With modals: we can use modals in the result clause
o To show ability: could have (If I had posted my form in time, I could have voted in the
election)
o To show possibility: might have (If they had known about the election, they might have
voted)
Wishes and regrets
• Wish + past simple → to express wishes about present states
o I wish I knew the answer to this question
• Wish + past perfect → to express regrets about the past
o I wish I had gone to your party last week
• Wish + could/have to → to express a desire for the future or about an ability
o I wish I could drive (ability) // I wish John could meet me next week (future time)
o I wish I didn’t have to get up early tomorrow
 • Wish + would → to express a dissatisfaction with what somebody is doing in the present (we
don’t use it about ourselves)
o I wish the police would do something about these people!
• If only is used instead of ‘wish’ to make emphatic wishes
o If only I knew the answer to this question!

REPORTED SPEECH
Direct Reported
Present simple Past simple
Present continuous Past continuous - There’re no changes if the reported words
Past continuous Past perfect continuous are always/still true
Present perfect Past perfect - Never changes: present, present perfect,
Past simple Past perfect future tense
- Usually don’t change: past perfect, had
Will Would
better, would, could, should, ought, might
Must Had to and must
Can Could

Logical changes
Tomorrow The next/following day
Yesterday The day before
Here There
This That
This/that The
Today That day
Tonight That night
Next week/month The following
week/month Statements: say and tell
Last week/month The previous Direct speech: Tom said: “I’m tired”
week/month Reported speech:
The day after tomorrow In 2 days’ time - Tom said to me (that) he was tired
The day before yesterday Two days before - Tom told me (that) he was tired
- Tom said (that) he was tired
Ago Before
Questions
Wh- questions Yes/No questions
We use the wh- word as a connector We use “if” as a connector or “whether…or” if we want to
indicate an alternative possibility
Direct speech Reported speech Direct speech Reported speech
What’s the time? She asked what the time was Are you hungry? He asked if I was hungry

He asked me what had Did you go to Britain last He asked if I had gone to
What happened? happened year? Britain the previous year

He asked where she lived Are you staying here or are He asked me whether I was
Where does he live? you going home? staying there or going home
Commands and requests
We change the structure of the sentence:
Reporting verb + Object pronoun + infinitive with “to”
- Commands → instead of say <-> tell, order, command, warn, advise, beg, forbid…
- Requests → instead of say <-> ask

Reporting verbs

http://www.agendaweb.org/phonetic.html