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This unit covers conditional phrases and reported speech. Conditionals are used to talk about past, present, or future possibilities. Each conditional sentence has an ?if? clause and a main clause, which can come either first or last. The zero conditional is used to talk about irrefutable facts, and uses the present tense in both parts of the sentence. The first conditional is used to talk about future possibilities that are likely to happen. The present simple is used in the 'if' clause, and ?will? or another model verb is used in the main clause. The second conditional is used to talk about hypothetical situations in the present or future that is unlikely to happen. The past simple is used in the 'if' clause, and ?would? is used in the main clause. The third conditional is used to talk about hypothetical situations in the past. Past perfect is used in the ?if' clause, and would + have + past participle are used in the main clause. Mixed conditionals combine the second and third conditional. The ?if? clause is third conditional (in the past) and the main clause is second conditional (a hypothetical present consequence). Conditionals can be quite confusing for students to learn, and in my experience they dread learning them. Some ideas for teaching conditionals are: split sentences, completing hypothetical sentences, and chain conditionals. Also, answering ?what will/would happen if??? questions. Reported (or indirect) speech is used when we report what another person has said. Reported speech can be in the present or past tense, depending on the time that has elapsed since the original speech happened, and whether the situation is still true or not. When reporting questions, the question word stays the same, but we use the verb ?ask? or something similar instead of 'say?. For questions without question words, we must use ?if? or ?whether?. The pronoun can also change in reported speech, depending on who the speaker was talking to. Time expressions often have to be changed in reported speech. Tomorrow, today and yesterday must all be replaced with a clear phrase such as ?the next day?, ?that day?, and ?the previous day?. Ideas for teaching include: using an intermediary to pass dialogue between two people, media interviews, and making a list of possible reporting verbs.
