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In Unit 16, the topics of conditionals and reported speech were discussed. Conditionals are sentences that contain an “if” or similar expression that refers to past, present, or future possibilities in conjunction with a main clause that indicates the consequence. Reported Speech (also known as Indirect Speech) is used to inform someone else about what was already said using Direct Speech.
Conditionals have five main categories: 1) Zero Conditional that refers to actions and facts that are irrefutable, 2) First Conditional that indicates a real and certain but perhaps only possible situation that might occur if the condition is satisfied, 3) Second Conditional that represents a present or future hypothetical situation that is not currently true and will probably never be true, 4) Third Conditional indicates a hypothetical past action along with a hypothetical past consequence, and 5) Mixed Conditional that combines any of the previous four conditionals together to create a new conditional. The most common Mixed Conditional is a second conditional clause with a third conditional clause. This grammar topic can be difficult for English learners especially with Mixed Conditionals and confusion of past tenses being used in Second Conditionals that refer to the future. Some great teaching ideas are using split sentences, chain conditionals, complete the conditional, and role playing.
Reported Speech is the practice of taking Direct Speech and converting it to a format that allows a person to tell (or report) what was said to another person. Depending on when the Reported Speech is presented and when the Direct Speech was said, certain changes must be made in order for the Reported Speech to sound correct. When someone uses Reported Speech to inform someone about currently spoken Present Tense Direct Speech, the Present Tense should also be used for the Reported Speech. If, however, the Reported Speech occurs some time after the Direct Speech, the Reported Speech should be delivered in the Past Tense. A question that is asked using Direct Speech receives some additional changes: 1) the question word such as “when” or “what” remains, but the form of the verb changes into the positive form, 2) the question mark is omitted, 3) the verb “say” changes into “ask,” “enquire,” etc., 4) and the tense of the Reported Speech is that same as that of the reporting verb. A Direct Speech to Reported Speech conversion chart was included to help with most normal situations, however, as with many English grammar rules, there are exceptions and these must be learned through practice. Another issue for Reported Speech is when pronouns are used. Depending on how the Reported Speech is formed, pronouns might change based on the context of the sentence. Finally, in Reported Speech, time expressions must be modified (sometimes called “backshifting”) depending on when the Reported Speech takes place. For example, “yesterday” might become “the previous day” and “tomorrow” might become “the next day.” This time shifting can be a difficult concept for students due to changes in the verb tenses, patterns, pronouns, and questions so it is important to work on Reported Speech very carefully and thoroughly.
