Grammar

Examination questions

II term

1. Comment on the main rules of Reported Speech.

Reported speech is the exact meaning of what someone said, but not the exact words. We do not use quotation marks in reported speech.

1. The verb tenses remain the same in reported speech when the introductory verb is in the present, future or present perfect.

e.g. Mum says, ‘Dinner is ready.’

Mum says (that) dinner is ready.

The introductory verb is in the present tense:

a) When we pass on messages.

e.g. Debbie says she needs the car tonight.

b) When we report the content of a letter, article, etc. while reading it.

e.g. The article says that people consume too much junk food.

c) When we refer to something someone says very often.

e.g. Mum often says that I shouldn’t eat fast food.

2.The verb tenses do not change in Type 2 and Type 3 conditionals.

e.g. ‘If I had more time, I would cook my meals myself,’ Eric said to Helen.

Eric told Helen (that) if he had more time, he would cook his meals himself.

3. The verb tenses can either change or remain the same in reported speech:

a) in uptodate reporting.

b) when reporting a general truth or law of nature.

e.g. The teacher said, ‘Saturated fat is unhealthy.’

The teacher said (that) saturated fat is/was unhealthy.

4. Verb tenses and time expressions change in reported speech:

a) when the introductory verb is in the past tense.

e.g. ‘We’re having a barbecue next week,’ she said.

She said (that) they were having a barbecue the following week.

b) in outofdate reporting.

e.g. (Monday 2 May) Mike said, ‘I borrowed some money from my parents.’

(Thursday 5 May) Mike said (that) he had borrowed some money from his parents.

c) when we consider what the speaker says to be untrue.

e.g. ‘Paula and I are best friends,’ Jack said to me.

Jack said to me that he and Paula were best friends, but Paula had never actually met him.

2. Comment on the formation and use of the Passive Voice.

The Passive Voice is used to show that the person or thing denoted by the subject of the sentence is not the agent (the doer) of the action expressed by the verb but it is the object of this action. The subject of a passive verb doesn’t act but it is acted upon – it undergoes an action.

• We form the passive with the verb to be and the past participle of the main verb.

We use the passive:

1. when the person who caries out the action is unknown, unimportant or obvious from the context.

e.g. Tea is made from the leaves of the tea plant. (It’s not important to know who makes the tea.)

2. when the action itself is more important than the person who caries it out, as in the news headlines, newspaper articles, instructions, advertisements, processes, etc.

e.g. Then, the milk is taken to the factory where it is pasteurised. (process)

3. when we refer to an unpleasant event and we do not want to say who or what is to blame (polite statement).

• Only transitive verbs (verbs followed by an object) can be changed into the passive.

e.g. active: They pick grapes by hand and check carefully.

passive: Grapes are picked by hand and checked carefully.

But: The cocoa tree comes from the Amazon rainforests.

Some transitive verbs such as have, fit, suit, etc. can’t be changed into the passive.

e.g. He usually has some soup for the first course at lunch.

• A person who performs an action in a passive sentence is called an agent, introduced by the preposition by. The agent may or may not be mentioned.

e.g. The pancakes were made by Grandma.

• We use with and instrument/material/ingredient to say what the agent used.

e.g. The pancakes were made with eggs, flour and milk .

• The agent is often omitted in the passive sentence when the subject of the active sentence is one of the following words: people, one, someone/somebody, they, he, etc.

e.g. active: People eat a lot of junk food nowadays.

passive: A lot of junk food is eaten nowadays.