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Relative clauses – defining relative clauses

Relative clauses add extra information to a sentence by defining a noun. They are usually divided into two types – defining relative clauses and non-defining relative clauses.

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Reported questions

When we report what people say, we usually change the tense of the verbs to reflect that we are reporting – not giving direct speech. This pattern is followed when we report questions.

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Reported speech 1

When we report someone’s words we can do it in two ways. We can use direct speech with quotation marks (“I work in a bank”), or we can use reported speech (He said he worked in a bank.)

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Reported speech 2

Remember that in reported speech we usually change the tense of the direct statement. The present simple tense changes to the past simple, the past simple changes to the past perfect and so on.

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‘So’ has a number of different meanings and is used in different ways.

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Stative verbs

Some verbs are not usually used in the continuous form, even when we are talking about temporary situations or states. These are called stative verbs.

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Verbs & Prepositions

Some verbs are usually followed by prepositions before the object of the verb. these are called dependent prepositions and they are followed by a noun or a gerund (‘ing’ form).

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Verbs followed by ‘ing’ or by ‘to + infinitive’ 1

When one verb is followed by another, the second verb can either be an infinitive or an –ing form.

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Verbs followed by ‘ing’ or by ‘to + infinitive’ 2

When one verb is followed by another, the second verb can either be an infinitive or an –ing form. Some verbs can be followed by either an infinitive, or an –ing form but with a change in meaning.

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Wish and If only

Wish and ‘If only’ are both used to talk about regrets – things that we would like to change either about the past or the present.

Cambridge Dictionaries Online

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