Top Tips Grammar: Indirect questions

Main points

*You use indirect questions to ask for information or help.
*In indirect questions, the subject of the question comes before the verb.
*You can use ‘if’ or ‘whether’ in indirect questions.

 

a) When you ask someone for information, you can use an indirect question beginning with a phrase such as ‘Could you tell me...’ or ‘Do you know...’.

- Could you tell me how far it is to the bank?
- Do you know where Jane is?

 

b) When you want to ask someone politely to do something, you can use an indirect question after ‘I wonder’.

- I wonder if you can help me.

You also use ‘I wonder’ followed by an indirect question to indicate what you are thinking about.

- I wonder what she’ll look like.
- I wonder which hotel it was.

 

c) In indirect questions, the subject of the question comes before the verb, just as it does in affirmative sentences.

- Do you know where Jane is?
- I wonder if you can help me.
- She asked me why I was late.

 

d) You do not normally use the auxiliary ‘do’ in indirect questions.

- Can you remember when they open on Sundays?
- I wonder what he feels about it.

The auxiliary ‘do’ can be used in indirect questions, but only for emphasis, or to make a contrast with something that has already been said. It is not put before the subject as in direct questions.

- I wonder if he does do anything.

 

e) You use ‘if’ or ‘whether’ to introduce indirect questions.

- I wonder if you’ give the children a bath?
- I’m writing to ask whether you would care to come and visit us.

‘Whether’ is used especially when there is a choice of possibilities.

- I wonder whether it is the police or just a neighbor.
- I wonder whether that’s good for him or not.

Note that you can put ‘or not’ immediately after ‘whether’ but not immediately after ‘if’.

- I wonder whether or not were are so different from our ancestors.

 

 

 

 

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Top Tips Abz Ingles: Part A    -    Part B
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See also:

Words related to Failure to Cooperate	Irregular Verbs list
Common Phrasal Verbs	Common Slangs
Common misspellings	Regular vs Irregular Verbs
Common Errors	Frequently confused words
Common Slangs	Lista de Términos Gramaticales
Common Clichés	Common Prepositions

 

No te olvides de compartir esto con tus amigos y compañeros, hagamos de este Blog una comunidad de difusión del Inglés como segundo idioma. Antes de irte deja tu comentario y haz clic en Me Gusta.

Top Tips Grammar: Conditional using ‘if’

Main points

*You use conditional clauses to talk about a possible situation and its results.
*Conditional clauses can begin with ‘if’.
*A conditional clause needs a main clause to make a complete sentence.
*The conditional clause can come before or after the main clause.

 

a) You use conditional clauses to talk about a situation that might possibly happen and to say what its results might be.

You use ‘if’ to mention events and situations that happen often, that may happen in the future, that could have happened in the past but did not happen, or that are unlikely to happen at all.

- If the light comes on, the battery is OK.
- I’ll call you if I need you.
- If I had known, I’d have told you.
- If she asked me, I’d help her.

 

b) When you are talking about something that is generally true or happens often, you use a present or present perfect tense in the main clause and the conditional clause.

- If they lose weight during an illness, they soon regain it afterwards.
- If an advertisement does not tell the truth, the advertiser is committing an offence.
- If the baby is crying, it is probably hungry.
- If they have lost any money, they report it to me.

Remember that you don’t use the present continuous in both clauses. you don’t say ‘If they are losing money, they are getting angry’.

 

c) When you use a conditional clause with a present or present perfect tense, you often use an imperative in the main clause.

- Wake me up if you’re worried.
- If he has finished, ask him to leave quietly.
- If you are very early, don’t expect them to be ready.

 

d) When you are talking about something which my possibly happen in the future, you use  present or present perfect tense in the conditional clause, and the simple future in the main clause.

- If I marry Celia, we will need the money.
- If you are going to America, you will need a visa.
- If he has done the windows, he will want his money.

Remember that you don’t normally use ‘will’ in conditional clauses. You don’t say ‘If I will see you tomorrow, I will give you the book’.

 

e) When you are talking about something that you think is unlikely to happen, you use the past simple or past continuous in the conditional clause and ‘would’ in the main clause.

- If I had enough money, I would buy the car.
- If he was coming, he would ring.

Remember that you don’t normally use ‘would’ in conditional clauses. You don’t say ‘If I would do it, I would do it like this’.

 

f) ‘Where’ is sometimes used instead of ‘was’ in the conditional clause, especially after ‘I’.

- If I were as big as you, I would kill you.
- If I weren’t so busy, I would do it for you.

You often say ‘If I were you’ when you are giving someone advice.

- If I were you, I would take the money.
- I should keep out of Bernadette’s way if I were you.

 

g) When you are talking about something which could have happened in the past but which did not actually happen, you use the past perfect in the conditional clause. In the main clause, you use ‘would have’ and a past participle.

- If he had realized that, he would have run away.
- I wouldn’t have been depressed if I had known how common this feeling is.

Remember that you don’t use ‘would have’ in the conditional clause. Yu don’t say ‘If I would have seen him, I would have told him’.

 

 

 

 

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Top Tips Abz Ingles: Part A    -    Part B
---------------------------------------------

 

See also:

Words related to Failure to Cooperate	Irregular Verbs list
Common Phrasal Verbs	Common Slangs
Common misspellings	Regular vs Irregular Verbs
Common Errors	Frequently confused words
Common Slangs	Lista de Términos Gramaticales
Common Clichés	Common Prepositions

 

No te olvides de compartir esto con tus amigos y compañeros, hagamos de este Blog una comunidad de difusión del Inglés como segundo idioma. Antes de irte deja tu comentario y haz clic en Me Gusta.

Top Tips Grammar: ‘If’ with modals; ‘unless’

Main points

*You can use a modal in a conditional clause.
*You can use ‘unless’ to mention an exception to what you are saying.

 

a) You sometimes use modals in conditional clause. In the min clause, you can still use a present tense for events that happen often, ‘will’ for events that are quite likely in the future, ‘would’ for an event that is unlikely to happen, and ‘would have’ for events that were possible but did not happen.

-If he can’t come, he usually phones me.
- If they must have it today, they will have to come back at five o’clock.
- If I could only find the time, I’d go it gladly.
- If you could have seen him, you would have laughed too.

‘Should’ is sometimes used in conditional clauses to express greater uncertainty.

- If any visitors should come, I’ll say you aren’t here.

 

b) You can use other modals besides ‘will’, ‘would’ and ‘would have’ in the main clause with their usual meanings.

- She might phone me, if she has time.
- You could come, if you wanted to.
- If he sees you leaving, he may cry.

Note that you can have modals in both clauses: the main clause and the conditional clause.

- If he can’t come, he will phone.

 

c) In formal English, if the first verb in a conditional clause is ‘had’, ‘should’ or ‘were’, you can put the verb at the beginning of the clause and omit ‘if’.

For example, instead of saying, ‘If he should come, I will tell him you re sick’, it is possible to say ‘Should he come, I will tell him you are sick’.

- Should ministers decide to hold an inquiry, we would welcome it.
- Were it all true, it would still not excuse their actions.
- Had I known, I would not have done it.

 

d) When you want to mention an exception to what you are saying, you use a conditional clause beginning with ‘unless’.

- You will fail your exams.
- You will fail your exams unless you work harder.

Note that you can often use ‘if…not’ instead of ‘unless’.

- You will fail your exams if you do not work harder.

When you use ‘unless’, you use the same tenses that you use with ‘if’.

- She spends Sundays in the garden unless the weather is awful.
- We usually walk, unless we’re going shopping.
- He will not let you go unless he is forced to do so.
- You wouldn’t believe it, unless you saw it.

 

e) ‘If’ and ‘unless’ are not the only ways of beginning conditional clauses. You can also use ‘as long as’, ‘only if’, ‘provided’, ‘provided that’, ‘providing’, ‘providing that’, or ‘so long as’. These expressions are all used to indicate that one thing only happens or is true if another thing happens or is true.

- We were all right as long as we kept our heads down.
- I will come only if nothing is said to the press.
- She was prepared to come, provided that she could bring her daughter.
- Providing they remained at a safe distance, we would be all right.
- Detergent cannot harm a fabric, so long as it has been properly dissolved.

 

 

 

 

---------------------------------------------
Top Tips Abz Ingles: Part A    -    Part B
---------------------------------------------

 

See also:

Words related to Failure to Cooperate	Irregular Verbs list
Common Phrasal Verbs	Common Slangs
Common misspellings	Regular vs Irregular Verbs
Common Errors	Frequently confused words
Common Slangs	Lista de Términos Gramaticales
Common Clichés	Common Prepositions

 

No te olvides de compartir esto con tus amigos y compañeros, hagamos de este Blog una comunidad de difusión del Inglés como segundo idioma. Antes de irte deja tu comentario y haz clic en Me Gusta.