7.

1 Vocabulary: Describing Communication

Catch up with (v-phr): I haven’t seen you in years! We must definitely catch up
this weekend over some cheese and wine.
Comment (v): Mark read a Facebook post about the flat-earth theory and had
to comment on their ignorance.
Congratulate (v): My parents congratulated me when I graduated from my
Master’s program.
Contact (v): Jesse has to contact the car salesperson to find out information
about a new model that she saw.
Criticize (v): People with nothing better to do like to spend time criticizing what
other people post on social media.
Explain (v): The chef explained to his class that cooking is not just preparing
food to eat, it is art.
Gossip (v): Cristal has a podcast where she gossips about the lives of famous
people in film.
Inform of (v): The bank called me yesterday to inform me of a new credit card
that I am eligible for.
Keep in touch with (v-phr): I have been living in Ecuador for 10 years now but I
still keep in touch with many of my friends in New York through social media.
Mention (v): The boss had mentioned in the last meeting that we would have
an extra week of paid vacation this year.
Persuade (v): The Kia Motors salesperson didn’t persuade us to buy their Rio
model, he wasn’t convincing enough.
Reply to (v): The reporter had to reply to his email messages before going to
sleep for the night.
Report (v): The company employees are supposed to report any problems they
have with clients to their supervisor.
Respond to (v): A flat-earth fanatic responded to Mark’s angry comment with a
nasty response.
 7.1 Grammar: Reported Statements
 When someone says something, we often times need to tell someone else what has been said.
 Because the information we report to another person is ‘past information’, we must use a past tense verb to
start the reporting of the information.
 The original information also tends to change to the past tense.
 Keep in mind that when you report what other people have said, you might have to change pronouns,
possessives, prepositions or place and time.
 When reporting information with modal verbs, the following modals must be changed: Must = Had to, Can =
Could, Will = Would, May = Might. (Might, Could, Would, and Should stay the same).
Questions
 Questions: If the question starts with a Verb (Do, Be, Have, Modal), the reported question starts with “If or
whether”
o Do you like apples? She asked if I liked apples.
o Can you hold this cup for me? He wanted to know if I could hold that cup for her.
o Are you ok? He wondered if I was ok.
 Questions: if the questions starts with a Wh-word (What, Where, How, Who, etc.), the reported question
keeps the same Wh-word, you don’t use ‘If’.
o Where is the cat? She asked where the cat was.
o When do you travel? He wanted to know when I traveled?
 A question follows ‘Question-order’ (Verb + Subject…) but when you report it, you must use ‘Sentence-
Order’ (Subject + Verb…).

 Verb tense changes

o Present Simple sentences change to Past simple sentences
o Present Continuous sentences change to Past Continuous sentences
o Past Simple sentences change to Past Perfect sentences
o Past Continuous sentences change to Past Perfect Continuous sentences
o Present Perfect sentences change to Past Perfect sentences
o Past Perfect sentences remain as Past Perfect sentences
Original statement (sentence) Reported Statements (sentences)
I am going to buy a pizza for dinner. He told me that he was going to buy a pizza for dinner.

I went to Quito to visit my grandparents. She informed me that she had gone to Quito to visit her
grandparents.

Jen had purchased a new smartphone at this store. Mike said that Jen had purchased a new smartphone at that store.

The sun rises in the east. Mike said that the sun rises in the east.
My wife likes to nap after lunch. Mike said that his wife likes to nap after lunch.
You are learning English. Mike said that I am learning English.

In commands, you don’t have to change the main verb into any past tense. You just use “to + verb”
Original Instruction / Command / Suggestions Reported Instruction / Command / Suggestion
Flip the pancake before the bottom blackens. He told me to flip the pancake before the bottom
blackened.
Write down my number. She told me to write down her number.

Don’t eat my burger. Lin Lin said not to eat her burger.
Lin Lin said to not eat her burger. *wrong*
7.2 Vocabulary: Communicating Online
Clickbait (n): Before opening my own business, I used to waste a lot of time looking at my
Facebook newsfeed for amusing clickbait videos. I’m glad I don’t have time for that now.

Geo-tag (n): Whenever I buy a new cellphone, I always make sure to disable the geo-
tagging feature so that my pictures and videos aren’t tagged with a GPS location. I prefer to
keep that kind of information private.

Hashtag (n): I always hear people talking about hashtags in movies and social media, but I
have never used them.

Lifecaster (n): My wife’s cousin is such a lifecaster, I can’t stand it when she posts that she’s
about to eat or go to sleep.

Lurker (n): I am currently lurking in a mushroom cultivation forum because I don’t have
enough experience growing them to comment on it. I hope to start participating on posts as
soon as I cultivate my first flush.

Meme (n): I don’t like spending time on social media, but I love watching a good meme that
will make me laugh every now and then.

Newsfeed (n): I tend to keep my social media newsfeed empty, but I do share interesting
content from time to time.

Podcaster (n): I rarely have time to watch content on YouTube, but I sometimes make time
to listen to Joe Rogan. He is one of my favorite podcasters.

Profile (n): One of my good friends hasn’t changed her Facebook profile picture since 2013.

Status update (n): I haven’t posted a status update on my WhatsApp account since last
year.

Tag (n): Most of my pictures online are those where I have been tagged by other people.

Timeline (n): I like teaching the past perfect tense using a timeline so my learners can see
what I’m saying.

Trending topic (n): When Richard Carapaz won a gold medal for cycling in Italy his name
was a trending topic on many social media outlets. He was all the rage back then.
 7.2 Grammar: Reported Questions
 When you or someone asks a question, we often times need to tell someone else what has
been said.
 Because the question we are going to report is about the past, we must use a reporting
phrase with a past tense verb to start the structure.
 The original information also tends to change to the past tense.
 Keep in mind that when you report what other people have said, you might have to change
pronouns, possessives, prepositions or place and time. A careful analysis is necessary.
 When reporting questions with modal verbs, the following modals must be changed:
Must = Had to, Can = Could, Will = Would, May = Might. (Might, Could, Would, and Should
stay the same).

 Questions: If the question starts with a Verb (Do, Be, Have, Modal), the reported question
starts with “If or whether”
 Questions: if the question starts with a Wh-word (What, Where, How, Who, etc.), the
reported question keeps the same Wh-word, you don’t use ‘if’.
 A question follows ‘Question-order’ (Verb + Subject…) but when you report it, you must use
‘Sentence-Order’ (Subject + Verb…).
 In a reported question, you don’t add a question mark, just a period.

Direct Question Reported Question

Are you coming to the conference with me? I asked him if he was coming to the conference with
H. Verb + Subject + Main Verb + Object ? me.
Reporting phrase + if + Subject + h.v. Main Verb + Object

He asked me if I was coming to the conference with him.

Reporting phrase + if + Subject + h.v. Main Verb + Object

Does she like my new pizza recipe? He asked me if she liked my new pizza recipe.
Verb S m.v.
Can we go out for dinner? She asked me if we could go out for dinner.
Modal Verb + Subject + Main Verb + Object ? Reporting phrase + if + Subject + Modal + Verb + Object

Will you marry me? He wanted to know if I would marry him.

Modal Verb + Subject + Main Verb + Object ? Reporting phrase + if + Subject + Modal + Verb + Object

Where were we going? Nancy wondered where we had been going.

Wh-word + H. Verb + Subject + Main Verb ? Reporting phrase + wh-word + Subject + h. v Main Verb

What time is it ? I asked her what time it was.

Wh-word + Verb + Subject ? Reporting phrase + wh-word + Subject + Verb