Grammar Review and Exam Preparation

Introduction

At the end of 4.º ESO you need to control the main grammar structures of English at B1+ level. This lesson reviews the verb tenses, the passive voice, conditionals, modal verbs and reported speech, and gives you practical strategies for grammar exams.

Verb tenses

Key contrast: use the Past Simple with finished time expressions (yesterday, last year, in 2019, ago) and the Present Perfect with ever, never, already, yet, just, since, for when the period is not finished. I saw him yesterday (correct) / I have seen him yesterday (incorrect).

The passive voice

We form the passive with be (in the same tense as the active verb) + past participle. We use it when the action is more important than the person who does it.

• Present Simple: English is spoken all over the world.
• Past Simple: The bridge was built in 1890.
• Present Perfect: The results have been published.
• Future: A new school will be opened next year.
• Modal: The homework must be finished by Friday.

The agent is introduced with by only when it is important: Don Quixote was written by Cervantes.

Conditionals

• Zero: If + present, present. General truths. If you heat ice, it melts.
• First: If + present, will + base form. Real or likely future. If it rains, we will stay at home.
• Second: If + past simple, would + base form. Imaginary or unlikely situations. If I had more money, I would travel round the world.
• Third: If + past perfect, would have + past participle. Imaginary past. If you had studied, you would have passed.

Remember: we do not use will or would in the if-clause. If I will see him is incorrect.

Modal verbs

• Ability: can, could, be able to
• Obligation: must, have to; no obligation: do not have to; prohibition: must not
• Advice: should, ought to
• Deduction: must (almost certain), might/may/could (possible), cannot (almost certainly not)
• Past deduction and criticism: must have, might have, cannot have, should have + past participle

Reported speech

When the reporting verb is in the past, the tense usually moves one step back: present simple becomes past simple, present perfect and past simple become past perfect, will becomes would, can becomes could. Time and place words also change: now becomes then, tomorrow becomes the next day, here becomes there.

• "I am tired," she said. → She said (that) she was tired.
• "Where do you live?" he asked. → He asked me where I lived. (no inversion, no question mark)
• "Close the door," the teacher said. → The teacher told us to close the door.

Remember: say something but tell someone something. She told me that... / She said that... (never She said me).

Exam strategies

• Look for time expressions: they usually tell you which tense is needed (since, ago, by the time, while, next week).
• Check the subject: third person singular in the Present Simple takes -s; was/were must agree with the subject.
• In transformations (active to passive, direct to reported speech), keep the meaning and the tense correspondence, and do not change more words than necessary.
• In error correction, check verb forms, prepositions, word order and articles one by one.
• Read the whole sentence before choosing: the end of the sentence often gives the key.

Worked examples

1. "When I got home, my brother ___ (already / have) dinner." The action happened before another past action (got home), so we need the Past Perfect: my brother had already had dinner.

2. Active to passive: "Someone stole my bike last night." The tense is Past Simple, so we use was + past participle and omit the unknown agent: My bike was stolen last night.

3. "If I ___ (be) you, I would apologise." This is advice with an imaginary situation, so it is a second conditional: If I were you, I would apologise. (In informal English was is also heard, but were is preferred in exams.)

4. Reported speech: "I will call you tomorrow," he said. → He said (that) he would call me the next day.

Exercises