Mastering Modal Perfects, Gerunds, Infinitives, Passive Voice, Used To, and Reported Speech in English

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Escrito el 11 de Febrero de 2025 en español con un tamaño de 18,51 KB

Modal Perfects: Usage and Examples

MODAL PERFECT	USES	EXAMPLES
COULD HAVE	The ability to do something in the past, but it was not done.	The children were tired. They could have stopped to rest. (Los niños estaban cansados. Podrían haber parado a descansar).
CAN’T / COULDN’T HAVE	Certainty that something did not happen.	Pam can’t / couldn’t have performed at the concert. She was ill. (Pam no puede/pudo haber tocado en el concierto. Estaba enferma).
MAY / MIGHT HAVE	An assumption about something that happened in the past.	He may / might have lost the tickets. (Puede que haya perdido las entradas).
MUST HAVE	A certainty or logical conclusion about an event in the past.	It must have been exciting for her to perform in front of thousands of people. (Tiene que haber sido emocionante para ella tocar delante de miles de personas).
SHOULD / OUGHT TO HAVE	Advice that was not followed in the past. Expectations that were not met in the past.	You should/ought to have taken a taxi to go the concert (Deberías haber cogido un taxi para ir al concierto).
SHOULDN’T HAVE	Criticism given after an event.	We shouldn’t have come by car. (No deberíamos haber venido esta noche).
WOULD HAVE	Willingness or desire to do something that was not actually done.	They would have held the concert outside, but it was raining. (Habrían celebrado el concierto al aire libre, pero estaba lloviendo).

Gerunds and Infinitives

Gerund: The verbal form ending in -ing that functions as a noun in the following cases:

As the direct object of some verbs: consider, continue, deny, detest, dislike, enjoy, finish, hate, like, love, miss, prefer, recommend, suggest.
After prepositions: about, after, at, behind, by, into, under, in, for, but, before, up, to, etc.
After some verbal forms: be used to, get used to, can't help, don't mind, etc.
As the subject of the sentence when talking about general actions or facts. Example: Playing in an orchestra has changed their lives.

Infinitive: The verbal form preceded by to; it is used in the following cases:

After verbs such as: agree, appear, choose, decide, hope, plan, promise, seem, want, etc.
After some adjectives and adverbs.
After the indirect object of verbs such as: advise, help, invite, teach, tell, etc.

forget + gerund: Used in negative sentences to indicate the impossibility of forgetting something that happened in the past.

forget + infinitive: "To forget to do something."

remember + gerund: "To remember something that was done in the past."

remember + infinitive: "To remember to do something."

stop + gerund: "To quit a habit."

stop + infinitive: "To stop doing something in order to do something else."

Passive Voice

TENSE	ACTIVE	PASSIVE
Present Simple	The doctor examines the patient.	The patient is examined by the doctor.
Present Continuous	The doctor is examining the patient.	The patient is being examined by the doctor.
Past Simple	The doctor examined the patient.	The patient was examined by the doctor.
Past Continuous	The doctor was examining the patient.	The patient was being examined by the doctor.
Present Perfect Simple	The doctor has examined the patient.	The patient has been examined by the doctor.
Past Perfect Simple	The doctor had examined the patient.	The patient had been examined by the doctor.
Future Simple	The doctor will examine the patient.	The patient will be examined by the doctor.
Modals	The doctor should examine the patient.	The patient should be examined by the doctor.
Modal Perfects	The doctor must have examined the patient.	The patient must have been examined by the doctor.
HAVE TO	The doctor has to examine the patient.	The patient has to be examined by the doctor.
BE GOING TO	The doctor is going to examine the patient.	The patient is going to be examined by the doctor.

Passive Voice Sentence Structure

Affirmative: Subject + verb to be + past participle of the main verb.
Negative: Subject + verb to be + not + past participle of the main verb. If the sentence contains a modal, a verb in the future simple, or a compound tense, we negate the modal, 'will,' or 'have/has.'
Interrogative: Verb to be + subject + past participle of the main verb. If the sentence contains a modal, a verb in the future simple, or a compound tense, the passive sentence begins with the modal or the auxiliary, just like in the active voice.

Questions with question words also invert the order of the auxiliary verb and the subject, except when the question word acts as the subject.

USED TO / WOULD / BE USED TO / GET USED TO

Used to and would are used to talk about actions that were frequent in the past but are no longer so. They are often accompanied by adverbs and time expressions.

Emma used to have after-school activities every day. (Emma solía tener/tenía actividades extraescolares todos los días).
When my father was young, he would travel a lot. (Cuando mi padre era joven, solía viajar mucho).

Used to is also used to talk about past states and situations. Would cannot be used in these cases.

I used to go to this school. (Yo iba a este colegio).

Used to does not have a present form. In the negative and interrogative, it requires the auxiliary 'did' and loses the 'd'.

Did you use to have extra English lessons? (¿Tú solías recibir clases extra de inglés?).

Be used to means "to be accustomed to," while get used to refers to the process of becoming accustomed. In both cases, it is followed by a noun or a gerund after 'to'.

He is used to his old car. (Está acostumbrado a su antiguo coche).
They are used to getting up late. (Están acostumbrados a levantarse tarde).
She is getting used to her new job. (Se está acostumbrando a su nuevo trabajo).
I cannot get used to living in that house. (No me acostumbro a vivir en esa casa).

Reported Speech

A. We can report what someone said in two ways:

By repeating their exact words, that is, using direct speech.

"I have to go now," she said. (Tengo que irme ahora, dijo ella).

"We lived in Paris for 3 years," Peter said. (Vivimos en París 3 años, dijo Peter).

By conveying the idea, but not with the exact words, which is indirect speech.

She said (that) she had to go. (Ella dijo que tenía que irse).
Peter told us (that) they had lived in Paris for three years. (Peter nos dijo que había vivido en París 3 años).

CHANGES IN TENSE

Direct Speech: he said	Indirect Speech: he said that
present simple She studies math.	past simple She studied math.
present continuous I am waiting for my sister.	past continuous He was waiting for his sister.
present perfect simple I have read the note.	past perfect simple He had read the note.
present perfect continuous She has been studying math.	past perfect continuous She had been studying math.
past simple Kate arrived on Monday morning.	past perfect Kate had arrived on Monday morning.
past continuous She was studying math.	past perfect continuous She had been studying math.
past perfect simple She had studied math.	No change
past perfect continuous She had been studying math.	No change
future simple I will visit you soon.	conditional He would visit us soon.
can She can study math.	could She could study math.
May It may be a good proposal.	might It might be a good proposal.
must/have to I must brush my teeth.	had to He had to brush his teeth.
should, could, would, might, ought to, and used to	No change

B. In direct speech, quotation marks and capital letters are used at the beginning of the quote, but in indirect speech:

There are no quotation marks.
The sentence is usually introduced with the verbs say (decir), tell (contar), ask (preguntar), etc., which are called reporting verbs.
The tense of the narration "jumps back" if the verb that introduces it is in the past.
Words that indicate place or time, personal and possessive pronouns, demonstratives, etc., change logically.
Questions cease to be questions.

These changes do not occur when:

The verb that introduces the quote is in the present or future.

"I love soup," says Mary. (Me encanta la sopa, dice Mary).
Mary says she loves soup. (Mary dice que le encanta la sopa).

2. An objective truth or a permanent situation is narrated.

"London is the capital of Great Britain," she pointed out. (Londres es la capital de Gran Bretaña, señaló).

She pointed out that London is the capital of Great Britain. (Señaló que Londres es la capital de Gran Bretaña).

C. Other necessary changes when converting a sentence to indirect speech are:

Personal pronouns and possessive adjectives or pronouns of the 1st and 2nd person change according to who is speaking, but those of the 3rd person do not change.

"I am waiting for my sister," Bill said. (Estoy esperando a mi hermana, dijo Bill).

Bill said that he was waiting for his sister. (Bill dijo que estaba esperando a su hermana).

Time and place expressions:

now = then
today / tonight = that day / that night
yesterday = the day before, the previous day
tomorrow = the next/the day after
next week / month = the following week / month
last week / last month = the previous week / month
a week / a month ago = the week / the month before
here = there

Demonstratives:

This = that
These = those

REPORTED STATEMENTS

We can report in the present what someone has just said, for which it is enough to remove the quotation marks and change the subject pronoun and the person of the verb.

"I am tired" → She says that she is tired.

But normally, the verb that introduces the subordinate clause in indirect speech (say or tell) is in the past (said or told, meaning 'dijo'), and then the most important change is that the verb of the subordinate clause takes a step back (from present simple to past simple, etc.).

The subordinate clause is introduced by the conjunction 'that,' although in spoken English it is often omitted.

REPORTING QUESTIONS

YES/NO QUESTIONS

The question becomes a sentence, and therefore there is no longer an inversion of subject and verb.

"Did you speak to John last night?" she asked.
She asked if/whether I had spoken to John the night before.

The question mark disappears.

After the reporting verb, 'if' or 'whether' is used.

WH-QUESTIONS

When using indirect speech, this type of question keeps the question word: what, who, where, when, how, why, etc., instead of using 'if' or 'whether.'

"Who did you speak to last night?" → He asked who I had spoken to the night before.

If the question word is the subject of the question, the word order of the sentence remains the same.

"Who told you this story?" → He asked who had told us that story.

The most frequent verbs to introduce indirect speech in questions are: ask (preguntar), want to know (querer saber), wonder (preguntarse), enquire (preguntar).

REPORTING COMMANDS, REQUESTS, WARNINGS, INVITATIONS

Orders are usually expressed in the imperative, but when reporting them in indirect speech:

The imperative changes to the infinitive (preceded by 'to'), maintaining the affirmative or negative form.

He said, "Go away, Mary!" → He ordered Mary to go away.
She said, "Don't open the door." → She told me not to open the door.

Never use 'say' (said), but rather tell (decir), ask (pedir), order (ordenar), beg (pedir), invite (invitar), warn (advertir), which must have a personal object, to whom the order is given, the request is made, the invitation is extended, etc.

He said, "Be quiet." → He told us to be quiet.
She said, "Please, don't shout." → She asked me not to shout.

NOTE: When translating orders in indirect speech, we use the subjunctive.

He told me to be quiet. (Me dijo que me callara).

SUGGESTIONS

Direct speech is usually expressed in several ways:

Let's
Why don't we...?
Shall we...?
Why not...?
What/How about...?

To convert a suggestion (affirmative or negative) to indirect speech, we introduce it with the verb 'suggest.'

"Let's not argue again," he said. → He suggested not arguing again.

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