Grammar topic
Sentence structure: the passive and reported speech
Some grammar changes the shape of a whole sentence, not one word. The passive moves the focus to the person or thing that receives the action, and reported speech retells what someone said. Learn the passive first, then report statements, questions and commands.
Lessons in learning order
Each lesson explains one rule and ends with a 20-question drill.
The passive voice
Be plus past participle, when the doer matters and when the result matters more.
Passive voice: present and past tenses
The passive always takes a form of be plus the past participle. The tense lives in be, and the doer moves behind by or disappears.
Passive voice with modal verbs
A modal passive keeps the modal in front and puts be plus the past participle after it. For the past, be becomes have been.
Have something done: the causative explained
Have something done puts the focus on the service and the result, not on who did the work: "I had my hair cut" means a professional cut it.
Reported speech
Direct to indirect: one step back, pronouns move, time words change, say vs tell.
Say vs tell
The object rule: say takes the words, tell takes the person, plus the fixed phrases that ignore the pattern.
Reporting verbs: say, tell, ask, advise and warn
A reporting verb decides the shape of the sentence: tell needs a person, say does not, and verbs like advise and warn take an object plus an infinitive.
Reported questions: word order and tense
A reported question stops being a question. It takes statement word order, drops the auxiliary, and often moves one tense back.
If vs whether
Both words introduce reported yes or no questions, but whether is required after prepositions and before to-infinitives.
Reported commands and requests: tell and ask
A reported command takes told plus a person plus to. A reported request takes asked plus a person plus to. The infinitive never backshifts.