Personal / Impersonal passive constructions

The verbs think, believe, say report, know, expect, consider, understand, etc. are used in the following passive patterns in personal and impersonal constructions:

Active:	People say that he has lost his job.
Passive:	It is said (that) he has lost his job. (impersonal construction) He is said to have lost his job. (personal construction)
Active	People know that he works hard.
Passive	It is known (that) he works hard. He is known to work hard.
Active	People think he left the country last night.
Passive	It is thought (that) he left the country last night.
	He is thought to have left the country last night.

REPORTED SPEECH

Change of tenses

When we report someone's words afterwards, the verb forms often move into the past. This is because what they said is now in the past.

Direct speech (actual words)	Reported (indirect) speech
Years ago, John said ...	A few years ago, John told me that...
‘I wantto get away from here.’ Present simple	he wanted to get away from there. Past simple
‘I had an awful time last year.’  Past simple	he had had an awful time the previous year. Past perfect
‘I’ve found a new job in Canada.’  Present perfect	he had found a new job in Canada Past perfect
‘I’m leaving tomorrow.’  Present continuous	he was leaving the next day. Past Continuous
‘I’m going to start a new life.’ is / are going to	he was going to start a new life was / were going to
‘I'll write to you when I get there.' will/won’t	he would write to me when he got there, would I wouldn’t
‘You can come and see me’ can/can’t	I could come and see him. could/couldn’t

Notice:

a The changes in place and time references in the reported statements.

here → there

last year → the year before

b Other modal verbs (would, could, should, ought, might) do not change in  

reported speech

c The changes in pronouns used in reported speech.

 

Verbs and conjunctions used for reporting

a In statements, say and tell are the most common reporting verbs.

He said it was true. Not: He told it was true.

He said it was true. Not: He said me it was true.

He said to me (that) it was true. Not: He told tome (that) it wan true.

These verbs can be followed by that, but it is not necessary.

b  In questions, ask and want to know are common reporting verbs.

c In Yes/ No questions the verb is joined to the reported words with if or  

whether.

She asked/wanted to know

if whether

it was true (or not).

d In Wh- questions, we do not need if or whether.

‘What do you think?' → He asked me what I thought.

 

Word order in reported questions

The word order in reported questions is the same as in normal statements.

‘Can you come early?’→ She asked if I could come early.

‘Did you see anything suspicious?’ → The police officer wanted to

know if we had seen anything suspicious.

 

CONDITIONALS

Conditionals are clauses introduced with if. There are three types of conditional clauses: Type 1, Type 2, and Type 3. There is also another common type, Type 0.

	If-clause	Main clause
Type 0	if + present simple	present simple
	If the temperature falls below 0 °	water turns into ice.
Type 1	if + present simple	will + infinitive
	If he doesn’t pay the fine,	he will go to prison.
Type 2	if + past simple	would + infinitive
	If he were here,	he would know what to do.
Type 3	if + past perfect	would + have + infinitive
	If she had studied harder,	she would have passed the exam.

Type 0 Conditionals

They are used to express something which is always true. We can use when (=whenever) instead of if.

If/When the sun shines, snow melts.

Type 1 Conditionals

They are used to express real or very probable situations in the present or future.

If he doesn’t study hard, he won’t pass his exam.

Type 2 Conditionals

They are used to express imaginary situations which are contrary to facts in the present and, therefore, are unlikely to happen in the present or future.

If I got up earlier, I would not be late for classes.

Type 3 conditionals

They are used to express imaginary situations which are contrary to the facts in the past. They are also used to express regrets and criticism.

If John hadn’t got up late, he wouldn’t have missed the train.

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