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This is another grammar unit with a focus on conditionals and reported speech. A. Conditionals Conditionals are sentences containing ‘if’ which refer to past, present or future possibilities. They have two clauses: the if clause and the main clause. Either clause can come first in the conditional sentence. The ‘if’ clause contains the condition that must be met before the action or state in the main clause can be realised. We can also say the main clause expresses the consequence. There are five main conditionals: 1. Zero conditional - Form: if/when + present tense, present tense - Usage: actions and acts that are irrefutable. ‘If’ and ‘when’ are interchangeable without a change in meaning. 2. First conditional - Form: if + present simple, will (if can be replaced by a model verb) - Usage: Talks about a real situation in the future that is possible, probable or even certain once the condition has been satisfied. 3. Second conditional - Form: if + past simple, would/could/might + base form - Usage: communicates as present or future ‘unreal’. Hypothetical situation that is presently not true and is unlikely to ever be true. 4. The third conditional - Form: if + past perfect, would/could/might + have + past particle - Usage: refers to a hypothetical past action (or non-action) and the hypothetical past consequence/result. As the action was purely hypothetical, the condition could never have been satisfied and subsequently the consequence is or was impossible. 5. Mixed conditional - Form: if + past perfect, would+ base form (combination of second and third conditional clause). - Usage: refers to a hypothetical past action or state and the hypothetical present consequence. - Note: other mixes are possible, but not common. Typical mistakes: Many students find it quite difficult to see the difference in usage between the first and second conditionals. The same goes for the third and mixed conditionals. Some teaching ideas are split sentences, complete the conditional, chain conditionals, what a question, nuclear bunker role play and what would happen if. B. Reported (indirect) speech and direct speech With reported speech, in general the present becomes the past (back shifting). Verb changes guide for direct speech to reported speech Present simple becomes past simple Present continuous becomes past continuous Present perfect becomes past perfect Present perfect continuous becomes past perfect continuous Past simple becomes past perfect Past continuous becomes past perfect continuous Will becomes would Past perfect doesn't change Past perfect continuous doesn't change Note that there are exceptions The pronoun denoting who is spoken to might also change when reporting speech. ‘This’ and ‘here’ change into ‘that’ and ‘there’. Time expressions are also modified when back shifting. When we turn direct questions into reported speech the following changes take place: - The question word remains but the form of the verb changes into the positive form - The question mark is omitted in reported questions. - The verb ‘say’ changes into ask, enquire - The tense of the verb is the same as that of the reporting verb. - If there is no question word, ‘if’ or ‘whether’ must be used. - There are never quotation marks in reported speech, as the words spoken are not exactly quoted. The potential for making mistakes is enormous because of all the changes that one might have to make when using reported speech. The key here is to take it slow. Some teaching ideas are intermediaries, reporting verbs and media interviews Yet another useful unit. Until now I never had to teach reported speech or conditionals and to be honest my English teacher did not teach them in much detail either when I was young. Every point given in this unit is therefor incredibly useful to me and I will do some further research on my own as well.