Tenses in English (2&3)

Ways of Expressing Future

Reporting speech
Active & Passives

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 Topics to be covered
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• Ways of expressing future

• Reporting speech
• Active and passive voice

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When you study tense, you should know where to put

the time of tense on this shape.

Past Now Future

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Ways of expressing
future time

be + going to
Future Perfect Simple
and Continuous

Present continuous
Present
Simple

Future with will Future Continuous

(will + bare infinitive verb)

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 1. The “be going to”
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• We can express the future with be going + to-infinitive.

• This is often referred to as the going to or be going to future.
• The major uses of this form are two:
1. To express intention. The speaker had the intention before the
time of speaking:
• I'm going to visit my friend tomorrow.
• They are going to submit the assignments next week.
2. To make a prediction based on present evidence:
• The sun is going down. It's going to be dark in half an hour.

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 2. The Present Continuous
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• We can use the present continuous to refer to the future.

• A future time reference must be stated or be clear from the

context.

• It is used to describe arrangements. We use it to talk about

the future when the plans have been made.

• It is quite informal and is used to describe personal

arrangements such as social activities rather than official
plans.

• As it refers to personal arrangements, the subject of the verb

should be a person or people and not a thing:
• I'm meeting the manager for lunch tomorrow. 7
 3. Future with will
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• The uses of this form are:

1. To make a statement of fact or a prediction about the future:
Sam will be here tomorrow.
2. To make formal announcements of future plans and to
present weather forecasts. It is therefore often used in
newspapers and on the television and radio:
The new President will move into the White House tomorrow.
3. To express hopes, expectations, thoughts about the future.
Used after verbs like: assume, believe, doubt, expect, hope,
reckon, suppose, think and be sure/ afraid and with adverbs
like perhaps, possibly, probably, definitely:
I expect they'll be here soon.
4. In sentences containing clauses of condition or time:
If I get that job, I'll go out and celebrate.
I will phone you when I get there. 8
 3. Future with will
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5. To express an intention when the decision is made at the

time of speaking:
• A: There isn't any milk left.
• B: Oh, isn't there? I'll get some in town. I'm going there later
on.
6. To express the idea of willingness:
• I'll do it for you, I promise. (promise)
• Will you open the window, please? (request)
• I’ll look after the children for you. (offer)
• Yes, I’ll come with you. (agreement)
7. To make offers or suggestions or to ask for suggestions,
advice, instructions. Use Shall I/we ... in the question form:
• Shall I help you with that? (offer)
• Shall we invite them round for dinner? (suggestion)
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 4. Present Simple
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• We use the present simple

1. to refer to the future in clauses of time and condition, e.g.
after if, unless, when, as soon as, until, before, after, by the
time:
• We'll phone you when we get there.
2. to refer to future events when the event is part of a fixed
timetable, e.g. a travel timetable, a holiday itinerary, other
organized events, an official trip by a member of the
government. The event or the timing of the event is fixed
by some official body, organization or timetable:
• The flight leaves at 6 o'clock in the morning.

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 5. Future Continuous We l e a d

• The uses of this form are:

1. To describe an activity that will be in progress at a point in the
future:
• This time tomorrow we'll be sitting on the plane.
2. To describe an activity that will cover the whole of a future time
period:
• I'll be working in the office all evening.
3. To describe a future event without expressing deliberate
intention:
• Nadiah: Oh dear, I haven't given Qaddafi that book back.
• Luna: That's all right. I'll be seeing him at the music club tonight
so I'll give it to him for you.
4. To describe what we assume someone else is doing at this
moment:
• Don't phone her now. It's 4 o'clock and she'll be reading for the
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 6. Future Perfect Simple and Continuous
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• It is used to talk about the past from a point in the future. It is

the equivalent of the present perfect with the reference point in
the future. The present perfect looks back from now: the future
perfect looks back from the future.

• Three Uses
1. We use the future perfect simple to say that, at a certain time
in the future, something will be completed and be in the past. It
is often used with by + time reference:
• I'll have finished this book by tomorrow.
• I'll have told him the news by the time you get here.

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2. The structure of the future perfect simple tense should be

• Will + Have/has + Past Participle
We use the future perfect simple and continuous with for to talk
about the duration of an activity or state up to a time in the future:
• We'll have lived here for two years in January.
• She'll have been working here for ten years soon.

3. The structure of the future perfect continuous tense should be

• Will + Have/has + been + Past Participle
We use the future perfect continuous to describe an activity
leading up to a time in the future:
• They might be tired when you see them because they'll have
been working hard.

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 ‘will’ vs. ‘going to’
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• There is often very little difference between the future

tenses. It often depends whether you speak British or the
US English and when you use the sentence (in spoken
or written communication).
• In newspapers we often use the will-future, when the
going to-future is used in oral communication.
• newspaper:
The headmaster will close the old gym.
• oral:
The headmaster is going to close the old gym.
• We can substitute the going to-future with the Present
Progressive when using an expression of time.
• She is going to see Frank at the airport at 8.30. = She is
seeing Frank at the airport at 8.30.
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 Topic Two
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Reporting Speech
• Ways of reporting speech
• Backshift in indirect speech

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• One way of reporting what someone has said is to repeat

their actual words.
• 'I don't know much about music,‘ June said.
• A sentence like this is called a quote structure/speech.
• Instead of repeating June's words, the writer could have
said, ‘June said that she didn't know much about music'.
This is called a report structure.
• Quote structures and report structures both consist of
two clauses. The main clause is called a reporting clause.
The other clause indicates what someone said or thought.
• In a quote structure, this other clause is called the quote.
• 'Have you met him?' I asked.
• 'Of course we can get married,' said Ken.

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• In a report structure, the other clause is called the

reported clause.
• He mentioned that he couldn't stand shouting.
• He asked if you would be able to come and see him.
• She promised to give me the money.

• Note that the reported clause can be a non-finite clause

beginning with a 'to'-infinitive.
• In ordinary conversation, we use report structures much
more often than quote structures.
• This is because we usually do not know, or cannot
remember, the exact words that someone has said.

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• Quote structures are mainly used in written stories.

• When we report people's thoughts, we almost always use

report structures, because thoughts do not usually exist in
the form of words, so we cannot quote them exactly.

• Report structures can be used to report almost any kind of

thought.

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• The two main ways of reporting what someone said or

what we ourselves said are direct and indirect.
• Examples of direct way of reporting speech
• She said ‘I’ll wait for you’.

• Examples of indirect way of reporting speech

• She said she would wait for us.

• Direct (‘quoted’) speech reporting supposedly repeats the

exact words that someone said or wrote, while indirect
speech reporting gives the meaning, or the gist of the
content.

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 Reporting verbs
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• You indicate that you are quoting or reporting what

someone has said or thought by using a reporting verb.
Every reporting clause contains a reporting verb.
• 'I don't see what you are getting at,' Nada said.
• He looked old, Ali thought, and sick.
• They were complaining that Beijing was hot and noisy.
• For basic reporting, you use 'say' when you are simply
reporting what someone said and do not want to add any
more information about what you are reporting.
• She said that she didn't want to know.
• You use 'ask' when you are reporting a question.
• 'How's it all going?' Derek asked.

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 Reporting verbs We l e a d

• Some reporting verbs such as 'answer', 'complain', and

'explain' tell you what purpose an utterance was intended
to serve.

• For example, 'answer' tells you what a statement was

intended as an answer, and 'complain' tells you that a
statement was intended as a complaint.
• He answered that the price would be three pounds.
• 'He never told me, Sir,' Watson complained.
• 'I have not forgotten, John,' replied Najwa quietly.
• I suggested that it was time to leave.

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• Depending on the verb used, a good deal of further

information can also be provided – for instance, the type of
speech act being carried out, such as asking, complaining,
responding, or the voice quality of the speaker:
• ‘I hear you’ve been having a tough time,’ he responded.
• ‘You haven’t sent me the Sunday supplement,’ she
complained.

• Between quoted and indirect reported speech, there is a

difference of immediacy.
• In quoting, the quoted clause appears to have independent
status; its effect, therefore, is more dramatic and life-like.
• Tenses, pronouns and other deictic elements are orientated
towards the speech situation, while in reported speech they
shift away from it.
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• Direct (‘quoted’) speech is a common feature of everyday

conversation, of fictional dialogue and, to a lesser extent, news
and other genres.
• In direct speech, the reporting clause contains a verb of
saying, while the reported clause contains what is said.
• The reporting clause may be placed initially, finally or medially.
If it is placed medially, the quoted speech is discontinuous as
in (c). With a proper name, inversion of subject and verb is
another option (d). However, with a pronoun (said she),
inversion is archaic.
• Examples
• (a) She said, ‘I’m a telly addict and I always have been’.
• (b) ‘I’m a telly addict and I always have been,’ she said.
• (c) ‘I’m a telly addict’, she said, ‘and I always have been.’
• (d) ‘I’m a telly addict’, said Danielle, ‘and I always have been.’
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• Indirect speech reporting is characterised by a series of

formal features that distinguish it from quoted speech
reporting.
• They have the effect of shifting all deictic elements
(personal pronouns, demonstratives, tense and adverbs of
time and place) away from direct reference to the speech
situation, and instead to the reporting situation, as in the
following example (we don’t give all the possible personal
pronoun shifts, which depend on context):
• ‘I want you to drink this juice.’ (Direct Speech)
I/you/he/she said she wanted him/me to drink that juice.
(Indirect Speech)

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 Backshift in indirect speech and thought
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• In indirect speech and thought reporting, the backshift

involves
1. Personal pronouns
2. Demonstratives and deictic adverbs
3. Verb tenses
4. Clause type

• These backshift types are explained in the following slides.

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1. Personal pronouns in the 1st person, which refer to the speaker,

are shifted to 2nd or 3rd person, unless the speaker is reporting
him/herself, as in 1 below.
The 2nd person pronoun, which refers to the listener, is shifted to
1st or 3rd, according to the identity of the listener, again as in 1.
2. Demonstratives and deictic adverbs which refer to the here and
now (this, these, here, now) are replaced by more remote forms
(that, those, there, then) 1 and 4.
3. Verb tenses are ‘back-shifted’ – that is, present forms are replaced
by past forms 1, 2, 4, 5.
4. Clause type is also affected. A quoted interrogative with say is
replaced by a declarative introduced by ask in reported speech 7.
Imperatives and verbless clauses have less clear
correspondences, and are discussed later in this and other
sections.
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Direct (quoted) speech Indirect speech

1 ‘I want you to drink this juice.’ I/ you/ he/ she said I/she wanted
him/ me to drink that juice.
2 ‘I won’t be long,’ she said. She said she wouldn’t be long.
3 He said, ‘We are naked apes. He said that we are/ were naked
They are the same as us inside.’ apes and that they are the same
as us inside.
4 ‘Can you leave this book here?’ He asked if I/ we/ she could leave
he said. that book there.
5 ‘It’s good!’ Magda says. Magda said that it was good.
6 ‘Do it yourselves!’ I said. I told them to do it themselves.
7 ‘Must you go so soon?’ she said. She asked whether we/ they had to
go as soon as that.

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 Reported questions
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• The rules about tense changes apply to questions in the same

way as they apply to statements.
• Wh questions
• The subject and verb are NOT inverted in reported speech:
• 'Why didn't you tell me the truth?’ (Quoted)
(inversion)
• She asked me why I hadn't told her the truth. (Reported)
(subject + verb)
• Yes/no questions
• Put if or whether before the subject + verb:
• 'Have I seen you before?'
• She asked me if she had seen me before.

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• to-infinitive in reported speech

• In reported requests, advice, commands, etc., use to-infinitive:
• 'Can you help me write my speech?'
She asked me to help her write her speech.
• 'Don't stay out too late.'
She told me not to stay out too late.

• When reporting shall/should questions, we can use to-infinitive after

the question word:
• 'How much should we give them?'
He wanted how much to give them.
• 'What should I buy for Peter?'
She asked me what to buy for Peter.
• 'Should I tell her what happened?'
He wanted to know whether to tell her what had happened.

• Note: We do not use the to-infinitive after ‘why’ or ‘if’. 29

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• The following two tables summarize some types of

changes in the tenses and demonstratives and
deictic adverbs.

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Speaker's words (Direct) Reported speech (indirect)

present simple past simple
present continuous past continuous
present perfect simple past perfect simple
present perfect continuous past perfect continuous
past simple past perfect simple
past continuous past perfect continuous
past perfect past perfect
going to future was going to
shall/will would
‘shall’ in offers and suggestions should
must had to
can could
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 Topic Three
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Active and passive voice

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• The passive voice is less usual than the active voice.

• The active voice is the "normal" voice. But sometimes we

need the passive voice. In this lesson we look at how to
construct the passive voice, when to use it and how to
conjugate it.

• The structure of the passive voice is very simple:

• Object + auxiliary verb (be) + main verb (past participle)
• The main verb is always in its past participle form.

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• The following observations may be used as a general

guide.
1. When the active form would involve the use of an indefinite
or vague pronoun or noun as subject, we generally prefer
to use the passive (the agent with ‘by’ is not expressed).
• Examples
i. They have been robbed. (Someone has robbed them.)
ii. The building had to be demolished. (They had to demolish the
building.)
iii. It is assumed that they will get married one day. (People assume
that they will get married one day.)

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2. The passive provides a means of avoiding an awkward

change of subject in the middle of a sentence.
Example

The Prime Minister arrived back in London last night, and

was immediately besieged by reporters. (The prime
Minister arrived back in London last night, and reporters
immediately besieged him.)

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3. The passive may be used when we wish to make a

statement sound impersonal (perhaps out of modesty, or
when we have some unpleasant statement to make).
Examine the following example:
• The management of a company might be quite happy to
announce:
• The new working methods we have introduced will result in
higher earnings for all workers.
• They might well prefer, however, to use the passive in
giving the following information, in order to avoid drawing
attention to the fact that they themselves are responsible:
• The new working methods that are to be introduced may
result in some redundancies.
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4. The passive is not, therefore, simply an equivalent

alternative to the active.
While both forms of expressing an idea may be
semantically possible, we tend to choose the passive for
the reasons we described above, or if we are interested in
what happened to ‘X’ rather than what ‘Y’ did.
• The escaped convict (X) was arrested two days later.
(The police (Y) arrested the escaped convict two days later)
• Several trees were struck by lightening in last night’s storm.
(Lightening struck several trees in last night’s storm)
5. Some ideas, however, may be expressed naturally and
effectively in either the active or the passive form:
• France beat England in yesterday’s football tournament.
• England was beaten by France in yesterday’s football
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• Phrasal and prepositional verbs in the passive

• We should take care to retain the particle with the phrasal
and prepositional verbs.
• They will have to put off the meeting till later in the week.
• The meeting will have to be put off till later in the week.

• We insist on punctuality in this office.

• Punctuality is insisted on in this office.

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THANK YOU

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