English Conversation

130 Practice Makes Perfect English Conversation

Modal verbs

Modal verbs have past tense forms, as follows:

Present tense Past tense

can (ability/permission) could

may (permission)^ could

may (possibility) may have + past participle

might (possibility)^ might have + past participle

should (obligation/advisability) should have + past participle

have to/must (necessity)^ had to

must (probability) must have + past participle

will (regularity/reliability)^ would

When I was a teenager, I could do backflips.

When you were in high school, could you stay out late?

I don’t know where she is. She may/might have gone to the store.

You should have been here last night. It was a great party.

Sorry I couldn’t make it—I had to work.

He’s really late. He must have gotten stuck in a traffic jam.

He would come over and say hello every morning.

I called his cell phone, so that he would wake up.

Direct and indirect discourse

A retold conversation is also called indirect discourse. Verbs that indicate what someone com-

municates to another include say, tell, indicate, explain, shout, yell, complain, cry, whisper, prom-

ise, and others. There are certain patterns for indirect discourse.

Pattern 1: Present tense + any other tense

When the communicating verb is in the present tense, the second verb is in its normal tense. This

indicates that the speaker continues to affirm belief in what follows.

Joe: I buy French bread and cheese every Sunday morning.

Joe says (that) he buys French bread and cheese every Sunday morning.

Joe: I have bought French bread every Sunday morning for five years.

Joe says (that) he has bought French bread every Sunday morning for five years.

Joe: I bought French bread last Sunday.

Joe says (that) he bought French bread last Sunday.

Joe: I will buy French bread next Sunday.

Joe says (that) he will buy French bread next Sunday.

Pattern 2: Past tense + a previous tense

When the communicating verb is in the past tense, the second verb is in a previous tense, as

follows:

present → past Note that the meaning is still in present time.

Joe: I buy French bread and cheese every Sunday morning.

Joe said (that) he bought French bread and cheese every Sunday morning.

(Joe buys French bread and cheese every Sunday morning.)