ILSC

Grammar–Proficiency
Instructor: Patrick Selby

Test #1-Review of test points

The following structures will be tested:

-Phrasal verbs: (transitive & intransitive; separable & inseparable)

-Conditional sentences:

-Zero conditional (for facts and general truths)

Ex: “If it’s 5PM in Vancouver, it’s 11PM in my city.”

-1st conditional (for real or likely present/future events)

Ex: “If it rains tomorrow, I’ll stay home.”

-2nd conditional (for unreal/unlikely future events)

Ex: “If I won the lottery, I would buy a new house.”

-3rd conditional (for imaginary past events/situations)

Ex: “If I had known you wanted to come to the party, I
would have called you.”

-Implied conditionals:

“If so, …”
“If not …”
“What if …?”
“With/without (x), …”
“Otherwise, …”

-Inverted conditionals (for unreal conditions):

Rule: Delete “If”, and then invert the aux. verbs had/were/should and
the subject.

Ex: “If I had known what was going to happen, …”

→ Had I known what was going to happen, …”
Remember: We can also use If + were + to+ base verb to talk about
unreal future situations: Ex: “If I were to buy a new house, I would
have to save a lot a lot of money starting now.”

However, we can’t use this structure with most state verbs in English,
including know/like/remember/understand.

-Wish vs, hope:

-Subject + wish + subject #2 + past tense verb for a wish about the
present
-Subject + wish + subject #2 + could/would + verb for a future desire
-Subject + wish + subject #2 + had/ had not + past participle verb for
a wish about the past
-Subject + wish + subject #2 + would/ would not + base verb …
to express displeasure about someone’s behavior

-Subject + hope (that) + subject #2 + present tense verb (or will/won’t

+ verb) for a future desire/expectation
or
-Subject + hope + infinitive (“I hope to be a millionaire someday.”)

-If only…
(hypothetical meaning; similar to “wish”)

-As if/ as though:

-Subject + verb + as if/as though + subject + past tense verb to

express unreal actions/situations
Subject + verb + as if/as though + subject + present tense verb (or
will) to express situations/actions that are probably real

-Subjunctive:

-Subject + verb + (that) + subject #2 + base verb …

-It + is + adjective + (that) + subject + base verb …

Also:

-It’s time …
-Subject + would rather …