Leveling Workshop. B2.

1
Unit 5

1. Vocabulary

1.1. Match the meaning with the correct word. Number the box with the respective
option. See the example.

Situation in which a particular area is lost of electric

1 Flood
power during a short-term or long-term period

Power Skills or abilities a person has in order to be suitable

2
Outage for a job

It is presented when a huge amount of water is

3 Famine
overflowing over land

4 Make a living 6 Make a determining decision that won’t change

5 Qualifications To earn enough money to cover all expenses

6 Settle on Circumstance where a specific place is out of food

1.2. Fill in the gaps with the words from the box

Flood, qualifications, settle on, make a living, famine, power outage.

 Today I was driving to work but I was late because there was a _____________ due
to the river’s overflowing.
 I couldn't study for the exam because yesterday there was a _________ in my
neighborhood.
 My mother told me to study law since it’s easier to ____________________ as a lawyer.
 The interviewer told me to get more ____________________________ and apply again
for the job.
 I’ve __________________ not having children.
 Africa’s children have been going through the worst ______________ of the human
history.

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 2. Grammar clues

2.1. Reported or Indirect Speech: Imperatives

“Reported or Indirect speech” refers to the sentences we use when we reproduce
something that was told by someone to another person at a certain moment. For
example:

Diana: Robert, I bought these raincoats for us!

Diana told Robert she had bought those/these raincoats for them.

When we report an order “imperatives”, the “reported or indirect speech” takes the form
of an infinitive. Look at the example.

Diana: Robert, buy those raincoats!

Diana asked Robert to buy those raincoats.

When we have a negative sentence, the “reported or indirect speech” takes the form “not
to” Look at the example.

Diana: Robert, don’t move that piece of ruble may fall

Diana told Robert not to move

There will be situations in which you will need to change the possessive adjectives and
pronouns owing to the logic of the sentence depending on the person who is reporting
what was said.

Rose: Charlie, tell your father as soon as you finish

Rose told Charlie to tell his father as soon as he finished

Words such as “tomorrow, today, yesterday, here, this, these and others” must be changed
depending on the time and place the report was said in comparison to the origin of the
sentence.
 Tomorrow: The day after
They remain the same if we
 Today: That day
 Yesterday: The day before
report the same day.

Ana: “I will travel tomorrow”

She said she would travel the day after

She said she would travel tomorrow. (If the report is done the same day)

They remain the same if we still have

contact with the object weDiseño Curricular 2019
talk about
  This: That
 These: Those

Tom: “I need this life vest, otherwise I won’t jump”.

He said he needed that life vest, otherwise he wouldn’t jump.

He said he needed this life vest… (means I have at hand the life vest we were
talking about; either Tom already jumped and got out of water and I got the
life vest returned or I never gave it to him)

 Here: There It remains the same if we are talking

in the same place the original
message was given

Karla: Andrew, do you study here?

Karla asked Andrew if he studied there

Karla asked Andrew if he studied here. (It means I am reporting from the
same place Karla and Andrew were talking)

2.2. Indirect Speech: Say and Tell

The difference between say and tell resides in the mentioning of the listeners or not.
When you mention the listener you use “tell” and when you don’t mention the listener
you use “say”.

Direct Speech: My mom said: “Never tell lies”

Indirect Speech: My mom said not to tell lies.

Direct Speech: Albert told his wife: “let’s buy a house”

Indirect Speech: Albert told his wife to buy a house

In “reported or indirect speech”, Present tenses change to their immediate Past. When
the sentence is already in Past, it changes to Past Perfect, and if the original sentence was
said in Past Perfect it remains Past Perfect in the report.

Let’s take a look to the following chart to understand better:

Tense change in reported or indirect speech

Tense change Direct speech Reported or Indirect speech

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Simple present to Simple past
Simple past to Past perfect
Simple Future (will) to Would
Simple Future (be going to) to
Was/were going to
Present continuous to Past
continuous
Past continuous to Past perfect
continuous
Future continuous to
Would+be+ing
Present perfect to Past perfect
Past perfect remains Past
perfect
Future perfect to
Would+have+(past part verb)
Present perfect continuous to
Past Perfect continuous
Past perfect continuous remains interviewing a lot of people before interviewing a lot of people before she
Past perfect continuous
Future perfect continuous to
Would+have+been+ing
Modal verb can to Modal verb
could
The doctor told me: "If you keep
Modal verb may to Modal verb
doing exercise, your heart rate may
might
Modal verb must to Had to
The teacher told us: "I find many
mistakes"
The teacher told us: "I found many The teacher told us he had found many
mistakes"
The teacher told us: "I won't check
the tests"
The teacher said: "I am going to
leave the school"
My mom told me: "you are being
grounded"
My mom told me: "I was working
so much"
My mom said: "They will have
been cleaning the house by the
time we get there"
The firemen said: "We have fought
the fire many times before"
The firemen said: "We had fought
the fire many times before"
The firemen said: "The fire will
have expanded by noon"
The singer said: "I have been
rehearsing for this performance
for three weeks"
My boss said: "I had been
I was informed the vacancy had was informed the vacancy had been
been already taken"
My wife told me: "By the time you
arrive I will have been sleeping
for 6 hours already".
The usher said: "You can have
these two seats right in front of the
screen"
improve"
She said: "I must leave!"
The teacher told us he found many
mistakes
mistakes
The teacher told us he wouldn't check
the tests
The teacher said he was going to leave
the school
My mom told me I was being grounded
My mom told me she had been
working so much.
My mom said they would have been
cleaning the house by the time we got
there.
The firemen said they had fought the
fire many times before.
The firemen said they had fought the
fire many times before.
The firemen said the fire would have
expanded by noon.
The singer said she had been
rehearsing for that performance for
three weeks.
My boss said she had been
already taken.
My wife told me that by the time I arrive
she would have been sleeping for 6
hours already.
The usher said we could have those two
seats right in front of the screen.
The doctor told me that if I kept doing
exercise my heart rate might improve.
She said she had to leave.
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 3. Practice the clues
3.1. Unscramble the following sentences. Structure the sentence according to what
we learned about imperatives.
 Me / told / my / boss / the / meeting / attend / to.
My boss told me to attend the meeting.

 Turn / wanted / us / T.V. / to / off / Linda / the

_____________________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________

 broker / us / to / The / sell / policies / insurance / suggested/ the

_____________________________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________________

told / report / to / the / move / boss / My / the / issue / date / me /

of
_____________________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________

3.2. Answer the following questions. Use both direct and indirect speech.
 Write something your teacher told you in the last class you had.

Direct: __________________________________________________________________________
Indirect: ________________________________________________________________________

 Write something you told a friend of yours last week.

Direct: __________________________________________________________________________
Indirect: ________________________________________________________________________

 Write something you heard somebody told anybody else.

Direct: __________________________________________________________________________
Indirect: ________________________________________________________________________

4. Clues in context

Dear Mr. Scott

I hope all is well with you dealing with the new clients. I am writing to you to inform
about the main issues we have discussed during the monthly staff meeting. Mr. James
Evans, the revise sub editor, said not to publish the article about the power outage due
to the lack of reliable information. On the other hand, Ms. Martha Ross, the final reader,
said to inform all the staff the last edition of our magazine is ready to print, including
the article about the famine.

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 Mrs. Geraldine Perez, the Human Resources
Administrator said she would hire more
journalists in order to improve the research
process. Then, we discussed about the new
section which is going to be ready in two
months, the personnel in charge of it thank
all staff for their support with the project.
Lastly, the news editor told the reporter to
start writing new articles about Atlanta’s
flood.

If you have any questions or concerns, do

not hesitate to let me know.

Sincerely,

Emma Grant Rogers

Editor in Chief

5. Use the clues

5.1. Rewrite the following sentences in indirect speech

 Mr. Peterson said, “Study for your exam”

___________________________________________________________

 Mrs. Cortés said, “Don’t tell me the reward for that”

___________________________________________________________

 My teacher said, “Work hard and your grades will improve”

___________________________________________________________

 The manager in chief told me, “Clean the counter and you will be allowed to leave”
___________________________________________________________

 My personal trainer always said, “Creating a habit was important for a healthy life”
___________________________________________________________

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5.2 Rewrite the following sentences in indirect speech

 My mom told me, “Your father had lots of debts to cover, so it is impossible to
help you with your new car”
_______________________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________________
 Aunt Joella used to tell me, “You had all the opportunities and you didn’t take
advantage of them”
_______________________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________________

 My teacher told me, “You can print your workshops at the school’s photocopier”
_______________________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________________

 I said, “I will study harder for my exams”

_______________________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________________

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