Gareth King - Colloquial English - A Complete English Language Course

‘in case’

Unlessis another way of saying if . . . not– Sarah says . . . if I don’t hear, but Dave says unless you hearinstead of if you don’t hear.

And Sarah could have said unless I hear.

More examples:

I’m not going to the pub unless you’re coming too or

I’m not going to the pub if you’re not coming too Don’t post the letter unless you’ve put a stamp on it or

Don’t post the letter if you haven’t put a stamp on itThen Dave says he needs two bags in caseone of them breaks –

he’s foreseeing a problem in the future and trying to avoid it; in caseis usually followed by the PRESENT SIMPLE:

Take your swimming trunks in case there’s a

pool at the hotel

I’m putting the garden furniture away in case

we have a storm

We’ve bought some candles in case we get a

power cut

Exercise 9

Rewrite these if . . . notsentences as unlesssentences, and vice versa. The first one has been done for you.

1

I’m leaving if she doesn’t say sorry.

I’m leaving unless she says sorry.

2

You won’t pass your English exam unless you study hard.

______________________________________________ .

3

You can’t send an email if you haven’t got a computer.

____________________________________________ .

4

We’ll go swimming this afternoon if it doesn’t rain.

_________________________________________ .

5

Start without me unless I phone.

___________________________ .

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6

I’m going if he doesn’t come in the next ten minutes.

__________________________________________ .

7

You can’t come in unless you’re a member.

___________________________________ .

8

You can’t eat here if you’re not wearing a tie.

____________________________________ .

Exercise 10

Match the clauses on the left with those on the right to make complete sentences. The first one has been done for you.

1

I’ll throw you out

a I won’t be friends with him

2

Unless I get something to eat

b unless you need it yourself

3

I’m not going to listen to you

c unless they are watered

4

If he doesn’t say sorry

d unless it’s raining outside

5

I’ll borrow your book

e if you don’t start behaving

6

I’m going to go for a walk

f if the referee isn’t ready

7

We can’t start the game

g I’m going to starve

8

The plants will die

h unless you stop shouting

15 I said you’d

phone back

later

In this unit you will learn how to:

• report what other people have said

• distinguish between direct and reported speech

• use verbs of saying, reporting and thinking

• form and use the past perfect tense

• recognise the passive

Dialogue 1

Julie comes back from work. Pete’s already taken a phone call for her.

PETE:

Karen phoned while you were out.

JULIE:

What did she want?

PETE:

She said she’d bought the three tickets for the concert tonight.

JULIE:

Oh good. I was afraid they might be sold out. Did she say anything else?

PETE:

She asked if you’d arranged to pick up Fiona on the way.

I said I didn’t know and that you’d phone back when you got in.

JULIE:

OK, I’ll do that now.

Dialogue 2

Paul and Mike have met up outside the cinema.

PAUL:

Where’s Fred? He said he’d be here at eight.

MIKE:

Fred told me he wasn’t coming tonight after all.

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PAUL:

Why not? I thought

he wanted to see

this film.

MIKE:

He does, but he

phoned me earlier

and said he’d

broken his leg.

PAUL:

Broken his leg?

How did he do that?

MIKE:

Fell off a ladder,

I think.

PAUL:

I thought he didn’t

like heights.

MIKE:

Maybe that’s why he

fell off.

Language point 85 – past perfect

In Language point 53 we saw how to form the PRESENT PERFECT by using the PRESENT of havewith the PAST PARTICIPLE. Go back and review this now if you need to.

If we use the past of have( had– Language point 56) with the past participle, we get the PAST PERFECT. Compare: PRESENT PERFECT

I’ve bought the tickets

PAST PERFECT

I’d bought the tickets

(Remember that haveand hadare generally used in their SHORT

FORMS in colloquial English).

And now compare questions:

Has he bought the tickets?

Had he bought the tickets?

And finally negatives:

We haven’t bought the tickets

We hadn’t bought the tickets

– short forms again!

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Remember that, as with the present perfect, you need the PAST

PARTICIPLE of the main verb when you use the past perfect.

REGULAR verbs:

past participle = past simple ( -ed)

IRREGULAR verbs:

past participle must be learnt

Meaning – the PAST PERFECT takes the PRESENT PERFECT one stage back into the past (sometimes it’s called ‘the past in the past’): When Dave arrived, Jenny had already gone

(past)

(past perfect)

In this example we are talking about an event that happened in the past ( Dave arrived), and when that happened, something else was already in the past ( Jenny had gone).

We often use the past perfect when reporting what people have said – see next Language point.

Exercise 1

These people have all been very busy this afternoon. Use the information to make sentences saying what each of them had done by three o’clock. The first one has been done for you.

1 Candace (fall asleep)

By three o’clock Candace had fallen asleep

2 Fiona (do the shopping)

By three o’clock ______________________

3 James (write six letters)

By three o’clock ______________________

4 Simon (mend the video)

By three o’clock ______________________

5 Liz (pay all the bills)

By three o’clock ______________________

6 Justine (finish her book)

By three o’clock ______________________

7 Adam (do his homework)

By three o’clock ______________________

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8 Liam (make some rolls)

By three o’clock ______________________

9 Ann (clean four cars)

By three o’clock ______________________

10 Brenda (order the pizzas)

By three o’clock ______________________

Exercise 2

Rewrite these sentences in the past perfect tense. The first one has been done for you.

1 Terry fell off the ladder.

Terry had fallen off the ladder.