Conditionals - First Conditional

Mum: If you don’t wrap up warm, you’ll catch a cold.

Teenager: I think you should wrap up.

Mum: And if you carry on like that you won't get any dinner tonight.

Teenager: Don't want any dinner.

Statement of form

If + present simple, will + base form

What students need to know

We use this to talk about what’s possible, given certain conditions. The speaker sees whatever it is as a distinct possibility, not a remote one. A very similar structure is used with sentences that are not technically conditional:

When you grow up, you’ll understand.

Unless you grow up, you won’t get any pie.

After you do the washing up, we’ll see about getting  a rabbit.

Structures with "wish"

Irritable commuter: I wish you’d turn your music down!

Selfish, crass bozo with earplugs glued to his head: {says nothing as he didn’t hear the initial remark}

I.C: I said, I wish you’d turn your music down!

S.C.B.W.E.G.T.H.H:  I wish you’d mind your own business.

I.C: I bet you wish you’d studied harder at school, you yobbo.

S.C.B.W.E.G.T.H.H: I bet you wish you had a life, suit.

Director: And cut. You see? - conflict.

Statement of Form

Talking about now and the future: wish + past simple

Talking about the past: wish + past perfect

Talking about things that annoy us: wish + would  + base form

What SS need to know

We’re talking about wanting things to be different. These may be things that the speaker thinks it’s reasonable to hope for:

Hilda: I wish you’d help more with the washing up.

Harry: I wish you’d stop nagging.

Gerund or Infinitive?

"To be, or being: that is the question."

Statement of Form

verb + verb_ing

verb + to + base form

verb + base form

What students need to know

When a verb is followed by another verb, the second verb has to be in the right form to fit with the first, e.g:

He pretended to be dead, not, He pretended being dead. (any verb following “pretend” has to be “to + base form”)

She enjoys skiing downhill, not, She enjoys to ski downhill. (any verb following “enjoy” has to be “verb_ing”)

Or, it might need to be in the base form (sometime called the “bare infinitive”) – two common examples are “let and “make”:

“At our school, they made us wear a tie, but they let us wear trainers.” (I know, that’s a pretty odd school, but, then again, they made us wear the odd school tie.)

Conditionals - Mixed

If you’d called the repair company like I told you, we’d have a working microwave now.

If you’d read the instruction book like I suggested, we wouldn't have a charcoal meringue.

Statement of Form

If + past perfect, would + base form OR

If + past simple, would + have + past participle

What students need to know

It's called mixed because it mixes references to past and present, both being hypothetical. It doesn't matter which half of the sentence does which:

Ed: “If you had any balls, you’d have asked the girl in the pink dress to dance.”

Seth: “If you’d had your glasses on, you’d know why I didn’t.”

         

Let’s look more closely at this:

Ed: You, Seth, lack courage (generally); for this reason you missed a fantastic opportunity (in the past).

Seth: You, Ed, lacked adequately corrected vision (in the past), which perhaps explains why you are so clueless. (now and generally)

What students struggle with

Depression and paranoia mainly, when it dawns on them that we've been lying to them all along. When they realize that, in fact, conditionals rarely slot into the neat categories of “first”, “second” and “third” that they met earlier in their studies. This is more like how people really speak.

Structure: have (or get) something done

Louvre security guard 1: Is the Mona Lisa supposed to have a moustache?

Louvre security guard 2: No.

Guard 1: Looks like we’ll be getting it restored then.

Guard 2: Oops.

Statement of form

have or get (in any tense or structure) + something + past participle

What students need to know

We use this when someone else does something for us, because we don't have the skill, time, inclination or authority to do it ourselves:

"We got the election result overturned." (We didn’t have the authority to overturn it ourselves.)

"I had my hip replaced." (I didn't have the umpteen years of medical training, access to anaesthetics, equipment or highly trained support team to do it myself.)

"We had our carpets professionally cleaned." (We have far more money than is good for us.)

"I got my boobs reduced." (no logical reason.)

Tenses - The Future

 **Decisions, decisions  (and Promises, promises)

Kid 1: When I grow up, I’m going to marry Tracey Downs.

Kid 2: Bet you don’t.

Kid 1: Why?

Kid 2: She’s marrying me. Nuh nuh-nuh NUH nuh.
Kid 1: You’re, like, so childish.

Statement of Form

Future with going to: subject + am/is/are + going to + base form

Future simple: subject + will (or might) + base form

With ‘probably’:

(positive) will probably

(negative) probably won’t

Students need to know

Native speakers have many different ways of referring to the future (there is no ‘future tense’) and if you ask them to say why they used a particular form, they will have no idea. This is a fairly reliable summary:

If you’re talking about a plan, use “going to”.

If it’s an arrangement with somebody, use the present continuous.

Tenses - Present Perfect

Briton: I’ve been to Paris.

American: Paris, France?

Briton: Oh dear.

Statement of form

subject + have / has + past participle

subject + have / has + been + verb_ing

Students really need to know

There are several meanings:

Life experience…

“I’ve slept with Lucinda Braithwaite.”

“Yeah, she said.”

Conditionals - Third Conditional

If we’d chosen just one different number, we’d have won the lottery.

If we’d bought a ticket.

Well, naturally, if we’d bought a ticket.

Statement of Form

If + past perfect, would + have + past perfect

Students need to know

We're talking about the past, and speculating: the events described didn't happen, but we’re imagining they did. We often use this to talk about:

regrets...

"If I'd known there was a civil war going on, I wouldn't have booked those two weeks in the Central African Republic.”

Tenses - Future Continuous

What will you be doing this evening, Dr Spooner?

I’ll be beading a rook.

Eh?

I’ll be reading a book, old chap.

Statement of form

Subject + will + be +verb_ing

Students need to know

An action in progress at a time in the future.

Damian: "Don't call me at 2am after I've been to the club with the lads! You know what I'll be doing!!"

Wayne: "Sleeping?”

Damian: "Yep."

Tenses - Future Perfect

Wife: Just think, by May we’ll have found a buyer for the house and we’ll have moved to Margate.

Husband. Yes. Just think.

Statement of Form

subject + will + have + past participle

What students need to know

It describes an action completed by - that is to say before - some specified time in the future:

“By the time I retire, I’ll have travelled the world.”

“In your dreams, son.”

Modals verbs - Deduction

A: I don’t understand: he MUST be at home: the lights are on, the car’s in the driveway, I can hear music, it’s his day off, it’s way after closing time, and yet, he hasn't answered the door.

B: He can’t have heard the bell.

A: Oh, I haven’t tried the bell. What a good idea.

Statement of form

Talking about the present: modal verb + base form

Talking about the past: modal verb + have + past participle

What students need to know

This isn't talking about facts; it's what's the speaker believes to be true – usually based on evidence of some kind. He or she is either sure something is true (‘must’), or sure something isn’t true (‘can’t’), or not very sure at all (“might” or “could”).

Tense - The simple present

♬Ol’ Man River, he don’t say nothing…

I’m terribly sorry to interrupt, but that should be “He doesn't say anything.”

Statement of form

Sbj + present tense verb (the base form, unless the subject is ‘he, ‘she’ or ‘it’, in which case add -s or –es, depending on the spelling of the base form).

For ‘be’, it’s ‘am’, ‘is’ or ‘are’.

Students need to know

We use it talk about what we see as general truths. So that includes:

routines and habits

“I wake up every morning, stumble out of bed…”

common knowledge

“Klingons rule this quadrant.”

Conditionals - Zero Conditional

Cop: Freeze! Nobody move!

Villain: That’s a bit like absolute zero, officer.

Cop: Eh?

Villain: Well, if you freeze water down to absolute zero, nothing moves – not even the molecules.

Cop: In the van!

Statement of Form

if + present tense, present tense 

(or, more generally)  if + time reference, same time reference

What students need to know

You don't mess with zero conditional. It expresses hard facts:

If you don't attend school, you flunk the semester. Period.

If you heat water, it boils - you got that, pumpkin head?

“I’m not saying my school was rough, but if you made eye contact with a dinner lady, she spat in your lunch.”

Tense - The Past Simple

Derek: “I went to the cinema last week.”

Clive: “I didn’t know people still went to the cinema.”

Statement of Form

Sbj + past tense verb (for regular verbs, add –ed, -d or –ied, depending on the spelling of the base form; for irregular verbs students must memorize the form)

Negatives and questions formed with the auxiliary verb, ‘did’.

Where the main verb is ‘be’, use ‘was’ or ‘were’.

Students need to know

The Past Simple is used to describe a range of situations in the past, from the single event (going to the cinema) above, to states that pertained for a long time…

Bill: “I worked as a lift attendant until I was 30.”

Ben: “How was that?

Bill: “It was a bit up and down, to be honest.”

Modal verbs - ability

Interviewer: What makes you think you’d be a good football pundit?

Candidate: Well, I can read the game, I can understand strategy, I can get into the heads of the players.

Interviewer: I see. Can you spell your own name?

Candidate: Of course.

Interviewer: When can you start?

Statement of Form

Subject + can + base form

Subject + could + base form

Subject + (be) + able to + base form

What students need to know

At lower levels: We use "can" to talk about general abilities: "I can drive a tank." "She can sing the blues." It also works for  specific situations: "I can make the 10 o'clock meeting, but not the nine o'clock."

Tense - Present Continuous

Talking about "now"...

He's having a heart attack!

Well don't just stand there, call an ambulance.

I am calling an ambulance!

... or "around now"

Are you reading anything good at the moment?

No. I'm reading Joseph Conrad.

Statement of Form

subject + am/is/are + verb_ing

What students need to know

This is the tense to use if you're talking about something in progress at the time of speaking. It can be literally now, or "at this current time of my life." Verbs that we usually think of as "states of mind" such as "like", "love", "hate", "know", "want", cannot be used in this form.

Tense - Past Continuous

A: We were looking for my sister’s hair clip when the alien craft materialised in the front garden.

B: My God! So, what did you do?

A: Well, in the end, we found it down the back of the sofa.
B: Oh.



Statement of Form

subject + was/were + verb_ing

Students need to know

This describes a longer or repeated action in progress at or during a time in the past. It is commonly found in combination with the Past Simple:

“I was having a bath when the phone rang.”

“Did you get out and answer it?”

“I tried, but I was so startled, I slipped and shattered my tibia.”