1.

MODAL VERBS
Son verbos que agregan información a otros verbos de posibilidad,
incertidumbre, obligación (con otro verbo)…

Reglas

 Modal verb + infinitive without ‘to’  She can speak fluent

Spanish
No se puede poner un sustantivo después de un modal, un verbo
-ing u otra cosa.

 Modal verbs don’t have tenses.

Los verbos modales no tienen tiempo pasado, perfecto ni futuro.
Excepción:
 Could (past tense of can)  past or future meaning
 Would (past tense of will)

 Modal verbs are auxiliary verbs

Su negación se hace añadiendo ‘not’ al final. Suelen escribirse
contraídos, pero hay algunos que no:
 Might not
 May not
Además, hay verbos que al añadir ‘not’ cambian su forma:
 Will  won’t
 Shall  Shan’t

 Para realizar preguntas se mueve el verbo modal delante del

sujeto
Ej.: Should I tal him

 Modals do not change form

 Don’t use double modals.

Tipos de modal verbs

  Can  ability (oportunity, posibillity and conditional, request and
willingess)

 Could  past ability (conditional, wheels possibility, suggestion

and request)

 May  polite rquest or permission (possibility)

 Might  possibility but not certainty (conditional, suggestion)

 Must  strong obligation (necesssity)

 Shall  formal invitation and future action

 Should  mild obligation, recommendation, advice (expectation)

 Ought to  para dar consejos, hacer recomendaciones o

expresar una obligación moral (en negativa e interrogativas,
significa deberías)

 Will  future intent (promise, prediction, voluntary action, past

of will)

 Used to  for finished abits and situations (only for past)

Sustituciones

Como no tienen infinitivos ni gerundios se usa:

 Be able to  ser capaz de o poder

 Have to  obligación fuerte, necesidad.
 Be allowed to  tener permiso para hacer algo
 Would (pasado de Will)

2. PERFECT MODALS
Los Modales Perfectos sirven para hablar de situaciones en el pasado,
que ya han sucedido.

Se forman con el modal + have + el verbo en participio. Para formar

el participio de los verbos, hay que tener en cuenta si el verbo que
vamos a usar es Regular o Irregular.
Si es Regular, el participio se forma añadiendo -ed. Si el verbo que
hay que utilizar es Irregular, hay que utilizar la 3ª columna de la lista
de verbos irregulares, de la que supongo estaréis familiarizados.

Tipos de perfect modals

 Must have  A certainty or logical conclusion about an event in

the past.

 Might / may have  (might es menos informal que may)  A

guess about something which happened in the past

 Had to  algo que debería haber se hecho o se hizo porque era

necesario.

 Could have  something that was posible

 Needn’t have  algo que hicimos pero que no era necesario

 Didn’t need to  algo que no era necesario y por ello

probablemente no lo hicimos.

3. INFINITIVES AND -ING FORMS

Infinitives with and without to

 Con ‘to’  delante de un infinitivo

Ej.: I want to have a rest

 Sin ‘to’  cuando va el auxiliar ‘do’

Ej.: I didn’t know her adress

Solemos usarlos después de verbos modales  Could you help

me?
Y después de had better y needn’t  No thanks, I’d better go
home
También tras las estructuras why (not)Why worry? Why not
give him

shocks for christmas?

Más sobre los infinitivos

Hay diferentes tipos

 Simple  to see / may rain

 Progressive  to be sitting / be joking
 Perfect  to have seen / have told
 Passive  to be liked / be posted

Also

 perfect progressive  I’d like to have been siting there

 perfect passive  You could have been killed

Negatives are made with not (to)

Va infinitivo después de: agree, dare, fail, happen, plan, prepare,

pretend, refuse, wish

 Ej.: We all agreed to meet after the match

Va forma -ing después de: avoid, can’t fase, can’t help, can’t stand,
deny, feel like, imagine, miss, postpone, put off, risk, succed in,
suggestion, think of

 Ej.: I can’t face telling the boss that I’m leaving

Prepositions + -ing forms

Usamos -ing después de preposiciones

Ej.: You can only live for a few days without drinking

Perfect infinitives

Perfect infinitives have the same kind of meaning as perfect or past

tenses.
Ej.: I’m glas to have left school / We hope to have finished the job
soon

With:

 was/were
 Would like
 Meant

Perfect infinitives often refer to unreal situations that are the opposite
of what really happen.

Ej.: he was to have gone to art college but he fell ill (He didn’t go)

To for whole infinitive

We can use to for the infinitive of a repeated verbi f the meaning is

clear.

Ej.: Are you moving? – We hope to

Come and dance – I don’t want to

No podemos quitarlo en expresiones generales, pero sí en:

 If you like
 Want
 When you like/want
 As you like

-ing forms as subjects, objetcs…

 We often use -ing forms as subjects (more often tan infinitives)

Ej.: smoking is bad for you

 We can also use -ing forms as complements after ‘be’

Ej.: my favourite activity is Reading

 We can use a determiner (the, this, any) or a possesive before

an -ing form
 Ej.: The rebuilding of the catedral / Do you minf my smoking?
What’s all this shouting?

 Objects forms are posible instead of possesive, especially after

a verbo r preposition  Ej.: I don’t like his borrowing my things
without
asking me.

Go…-ing

We often use go..ing to talk about Sporting and leisre activities (and
shopping)

 Gone (still away)  She gone shopping

 Been (gone and came back)  I’ve been shopping

Verb + object + infinitive

 Verbos que van seguidos de objeto + infinitivo

Ej.: He wants me to wash his shocks

 ‘let’ and ‘make’ va sin ‘to’

Ej.: Don’t let me forget to phone Jill
The officer made me open all my bags.

Adjective + infinitive or -ing form

Infinitive  for feelings and reactions  Ej.: She was very pleased to
see me

The adjectives are formed by prepositions + -ing form

Ej.: I thimk Gome zis capable of winning

Noun + infinitive / -ing form

 + infinitive  decision, need, plan, time ans wish  Ej.: It’s time
to go

 -ing  difficulty, fear of, hope of, the idea of, thought of
Ej.: fear of lying is very common
Infinitives after nouns  to talk about things that we can or must do

Ej.: I’ve got some work to do this evening

For…to…

Tras adjectives or nouns, si el infinitivo muestra su propio sujeto se

introduce ‘for’ o ‘to’  Ej.: Amanda Will be happy to help you

Estructura común tras adjetivos y nombres cuando hablamos de

posibilidad, necesidad, importancia y frecuencia.

Ej.: It’s unusual for foxes to come so closet o the house.

Before, after, since, by and for + -ing

Subject + verb / -ing form

 By…-ing  tos ay how but what method or means

Ej.: He made his money buying and selling houses

 For…-ing  to give the purpose of something

Ej.: I’ve bouht some special glue for mending broken glass

To…-ing

‘To’ is followed by -ing form  I look forwar to hearing from you

Otras formas seguidas de ‘to’…-ing

 Be/get used to
 Object to

Ej.: I object to strangers theleponing me

4. VARIOUS STRUCTURES WITH VERBS

Imperatives
To tell people what to do, advise them, sncoraee them…  Try again

 Imperatives look the same as infinitives without ‘to’  Doon’t

worry
 ‘Always’ and ‘never’ antes de los imperativos  Never do that
again

Let’s

Let’s + infinitive without to  to make suggestions or give orders to a

group that includes the speaker  Let’s have a drink

 Negación  Let’s not tell Granny what happend

 Let me think
 Let me se

Verbs with two objects

Bring, buy, cost, get, lend, make, offer, owe, pass, pay, play, promise,
read, refuse, send, show, song, take, teach, tell, wish, write

Tienen dos objetos:

 Direct
 Indirect  refers to a person  comes first

Ej.: he gave his wife a camera / I wish you a Merry Christmas

Si ponemos el objeto indirecto lo último debemos usar la preposición:

 To
 For

Ej.: I passed my licence to the policeman.

Explain, suggest and describe don’t have the indirect object first

Ej.: Can you explain the plan to us?

Causative ‘have’ and ‘get’

Have / get something done: arrange for something to be done

Ej.: I must have my watch repaired / I read to get the curtains cleaned

Have/get + object + past participle

Ej.: Whend id you last have/get your air cut?

Exclamations

Exclamations with ‘how’ and ‘what’ are constructed diferently

 How + adjective
 What (+adjective) + noun

No se eliminan los artículos después de ‘what’

We can use negative questions as exclamations

Ej.: It’s surprising  Isn’t it surprising

5. CONJUCTIONS
Use and position of conjuctions

Conjuctions join clauses into sentences  but, because, while, it

Ej.: She was por but she was honest / I Will do it if I can

Some conjuctions and their clauses can go either first or last in a

sentence.

We often use (,) when the conjuction and its clause are first in the
sentence

Ej.: If you need help come and see me.

One conjuction is enough to join two clauses. We don’t normally use

two conjuctions

Ej.: Although She was tired, She went to work / She was tired, but she
went to work

Present for future

Ift he time is made clear once in a sentence, this may be enough. So
tenses are simplified after many conjuctions.

Present tenses instead of ‘will’ after ‘when, before, after until, as soon
as’ and ‘it’

Ej.: I’ll see youbefore I go / Let’s go out after the rain stops

‘It’ and ‘will’ can be followed by ‘will’ in ndirect and direct questions

Ej.: I don’t know if I’ll be there

We can also use will after if in polite questions

Ej.: If you will just come this way…

Using certain conjuctions: so that, as long as, until…

 So that  purpose
 While  contrast
 As long as / provide that
 Until
 As if / thought

In a formal style

 Whereas  can be used in the same way as while

In an informal style

 Like  often us in the same way as if

Are different:

 Because  conjuction
 Because of  preposition
 Although  conjuction
 In spite of  preposition
Leaving out ‘that’

We often leave out the conjuction that in an informal style, this

happen mostly after very common verbs and adjectives

 She know (that) I was right / I’m glad (that) you’re better

We can also leave out ‘that’ in an informal style, after  so, such,
now, provided

Ej.: Now (that) you’re in in London we’ll see more of you

Both…and / (n)either…(n)or

These expressions can join nouns, verbs or other kinds of expressions

Ej.: She plays both tennis and badminton / Thats neither interesting
nor true

Perfect for completion

With time conjunctions, we can use a present perfect tense to express

completion in the future

Ej.:I’ll have lunch when I’ve finished these letters

We can use a past perfect with time expressions in a similar way  to

show that something was completely finished before something else
happened.

Ej.: after he had painted the kitchen and bathroom, he decieded to

have a rest.

Tenses with since and for

Sentences with ‘since’ usually have a perfect tense. But past tenses
are posible in the time expresión after ‘since’.

Ej.: I’ve know her since 2005 / I’ve know her since we were students

A present tense is sometimes used in the main clause to talk about

changes.
Estructure  It is… since

Ej.: She looks quite different since her illness

6. IF…
Revise the basics

If can be used with the same tenses as most conjuctions.

Ej.: If that was John, why didn’t say hello?

An if-clause can come at the beginning or end of a sentence. When it

comes first, it is often separated by a comma (,) in wrinting.

Ej.: If you have any problem, thelepone 2839 / Thelephone 2839 if you
have any problem.

After if we normally use a present tense to talk about the future  If I

have enough time tomorrow, I’ll come and see you.

If + past tense + would  to talk about things that are not real or not
probable now.

Ej.: If + past tense  If I had a million dollars, I would robably build

myself a big house.

After ‘I’ and ‘we’  ‘should’ is possible instead of would (would is

more common)

Ej.: If I had time, I would/should learn the saxophone

After ‘if’, we often use ‘were’ instead of ‘was’. In a formal style, were
is considered more correct
Ej.: If I were rich, I would spend all my time travelling

If I were you…  to give advice

Ej.: If I were you, I’d get that car service

If I go / f I went

The difference betwen: If I go, If i went

Is not a difference of time, they can both refer to the present or

future.

The past tense (+ would) usually suggests that the speaker thonks
the situation is les probable, or les definite, or imposible, or imaginary.

Could

Could  to mean ‘would be able to’

Ej.: If you arrived early, we could talk about the meeting

Sometimes we use’could’ twice

 Past tense  to say something is not real / not probable

 Would be able to

Ej.: If I could sell my car, I could buy a new computer.

Unless

Unless  means ‘if not’, in the sense of ‘except it’

Ej.: Come tonight unless I phone / I’ll take the job unless the pay is too
low

After unless we use a present tense to talk about the future

If only and I wish

‘If only’ and ‘wish’ can be used with ‘would’ and past tenses

This structures express regrets and wishes for unlikely or imposible

things. Past tenses are used to talk about the present.

Ej.: If only I knew more people! / I wish I was better looking

We use ‘would’ after wish / if only to talk about things that we would
like people or things that we would like people or things (not) to do.

This often express dissatisfaction or annoyance: it can sound critical.

Ej.: I wish this damned car would start

We use a past perfect tense to express regrets about the past

Ej.: I wish you hadn’t said that

In case

In case  mostly to talk about precautions. Things we do to be ready

for what might happen. After in case we use a present tense to talk
about the future.

Ej.: I wrote her adress in case I forgot it

We can use ‘should’ after in case  this gives the idea of ‘by chance’

Ej.: I’ve bought a chicken in case your mother should stay to lunch

‘Should’ is common in a sentences about the past

Ej.: I wrote down her address in case I should forget it

‘In case’ is not normally used like ‘if’

7. INDIRECT SPEECH
When we tell people what somebody said or thought, we often use
indirect speech. Tenses, here and now words (this, here, today) and
pronouns ( I, you) may change in indirect speech after past reporting
verbs. This is because the time, lace and speaker may be different.

‘Here’ and ‘now’ words

Some words may be changed in indirect speech because the original

speaker’s ‘here’ and ‘now’ are not the same as the reporter’s.

Ther is often more tan one way od reporting ‘here’ and ‘now’ words

Ej.: I don’t like this house  She said that she didn’t like that/the/their
house she was visiting.

Basic tenses

After reporting expressions like he said, I asked, she tought, tenses 

are usually different from those in the original words (because the
reporter’s time is different the original speaker’s time). Verbs become
more past.
Note the difference between say and tell

 Tell  must have a personal object: we tell somebody

something
Ej.: They told me I was wrong / Karen tol us a joke

 Say  doesn’t need a personal object: we say something (to

someone)
Ej.: They said I was wrong / We said nothing to anybody

Tenses don’t change after present or future reporting verbs, because

there is no important change of time.

Ej.: He says he doesn’t want top lay anymore

Tenses don’t usually change after present perfect reporting verbs,

either

Ej.: The government has announced that taxes will be raised.

We often drop that after common reporting verbs

Ej.: He said (that) he was falling in love with me.

Present situations

Situations that have not changed  if the original speaker was talking
about a present situation that is still presento r future when the words
are reported, the tenses are sometimes not changed after a past
reporting verb.

We don’t keep the original speaker’s tenses if we don’t agree with

what he/she said, ori f we want to show that the ideas don’t come
from us.

Indirect questions

Normally have the subject before the verb.

Ej.: I asked where the trainer and the team were staying.

‘Do’ is not used in indirect questions, adn questions marks (?) are not
used

Ej.: I wondered how they felt

The same structure is used to report the answers to questions.

Ej.: I knew how they felt

Yes/no questions are reported with if or whether

Ej.: The driver asked if/whether I wanted to go to the town centre.

We prefere whethere before or in a informal style

Ej.: I enquired wheter she was coming by road or by air

We sometimes make indirect questions in the same way as direct

questions in informal speech.
Ej.: He wanted to know when could I start.

Infinitives

We use infinitives to report sentences about future actions, for

example: promises agreements, orders, offers, advice, suggestions
and requests.

EJ.: I’ll definitely write  He promised to write

Ok, I’ll wait until 6 o’clock  she agreed to wait until 6 o’clock

The structure  question word + infinitive (is very common)

Ej.: He asked her how to make a White sauce

Infinitives are not used after suggest or say

Ej.: He suggested trying somewhere else

We can use whether but not if before infinitives

Ej.: I don’t know whether to go home

Special cases
8. PREPOSITIONS
Place and movements

 As  to talk about where something happens

 At  things that people do, or the places where they do them
(not used with the names of very big places)
 At and in  are often boyh possible. We prefere in when we are
thinking more about the places itself. And not just the activity
 In  with 3 dimensional spaces like boxes, romos, towns or
countries
 On  with 2 dimensional surfaces like floors, tables, walls or
ceilings

We say that people are in clothes and that clothes and jewellery are
on people

 Till  we use it instead of until in an informal style.

 By the time before a subject and verb

Verbs with prepositions

With some verbs we put a preposition (for, to, at…) before an object

Ej.: Look at her!

We don’t use a preposition if there is no object

Ej.: Look!

Not all verbs are followed by prepositions

Ej.: She married a builder

Nouns with prepositions

Some nouns are followed by particular prepositions

Ej.: I felt stupid because of lack of sleep

Adjectives with prepositions

Some adjectives are used with particular prepositions

Ej.: I’m full of energy today

Some past participles are used like adjectives. After tthese, we can
use either by or another preposition (often at or with)

Ej.: She’s astinished by/at her own success

Expression beginning with prepositions

Some fixed expressions begin with a particular preposition

Ej.: I met my girlfriend at a party

9. SPOKEN GRAMMAR
Spoken sentence structure
Dropping ssentence-beginnings

Dropping words after auxiliaries

Question tags
Instead of question tags, people also say  Right?, Yes? or No?

Ej.: This is your coat, right?

Short answers and reply questions

So am I etc

Structures with so and not

Condicionales
Los condicionales en inglés son estructuras
gramaticales fundamentales para expresar situaciones hipotéticas,
reales o imaginarias. A continuación, te presentamos los diferentes
tipos de condicionales con if y sus usos específicos.

Zero conditional: situaciones reales y permanentes

IF (PRESENT SIMPLE CLAUSE), (PRESENT SIMPLE)

El condicional cero se utiliza para hablar de situaciones reales que

siempre se dan en ciertas condiciones:

If you boil water for a long time, it evaporates

Si hierves agua durante un período largo, se evapora.

Por eso, utilizamos el presente simple en ambas partes de la oración.

First conditional: posibilidades reales en el presente o el futuro

IF + (PRESENT SIMPLE), (WILL/CAN + INFINITIVE)

El primer condicional también habla de la realidad. Se utiliza para

hablar acerca de algo que creemos que es posible que suceda, tanto
ahora como en el futuro.

If I study hard, I’ll pass the exam.

Si estudio mucho, aprobaré el examen.
 If we leave now, we can arrive before 10 p.m.
Si salimos ahora, podemos llegar antes de las 10 de la noche.

Second conditional: situaciones imaginarias que probablemente no

sucedan en el presente o futuro

IF + (PAST SIMPLE), (WOULD/COULD/MIGHT + INFINITIVE)

En este caso, imaginamos una situación, pero no estamos seguros de

que vaya a suceder o nos parece poco probable. ¡Ojo! Aunque
utilizamos el pasado, seguimos hablando de posibilidades irreales o
poco probables en el presente o el futuro.

If you won the lottery, would you give some money to charity?
Si te tocase la lotería, ¿darías dinero a la caridad? (pero no creo
que te toque)

If she applied for the job, she could/might get it.

Si ella se postulase, podría conseguir el trabajo (pero no creo que
se postule)

En el segundo condicional, podemos usar was o were cuando el

sujeto es I o it:

If I was/were you, I would talk to him.

Si yo fuera tú, hablaría con él (pero no soy tú)

If it wasn’t/weren’t so cold, I’d go for a walk.

Si no hiciera tanto frío, iría a dar un paseo.

Third conditional: situaciones imaginarias sobre el pasado

IF + (PAST PERFECT), (WOULD/COULD/MIGHT + HAVE + PAST

PARTICIPLE)
El tercer condicional es el único que podemos utilizar para hablar del
pasado. Nos referimos a cosas que no sucedieron pero que podrían
haber pasado

If I hadn’t brought my umbrella, I’d have got soaked.

Si no hubiera traído mi paraguas, me hubiera empapado (pero lo
he traído)

Es típico de los arrepentidos y los remordimientos:

If I had studied harder, I would have passed the exam.

Si hubiera estudiado más, habría aprobado el examen (pero no lo
hice y he suspendido)

Recuerda que en todos los condicionales podemos invertir el orden de

la oración, pero en ese caso no utilizaremos la coma:

I would talk to him if I were you.

Hablaría con él si fuera tú.

I would have passed the exam if I had studied harder.

Habría aprobado el examen si hubiera estudiado más.

Los condicionales en inglés son esenciales para expresar

diferentes grados de posibilidad y realidad. Dominar estas
estructuras gramaticales te ayudará a comunicarte con mayor
precisión y a preparar mejor tus exámenes oficiales de Cambridge.