Focus, reporting and conditions

An active sentence usually starts with the person or thing doing the action: “The volunteers clean the hall.” A passive sentence can start with the receiver of the action: “The hall is cleaned by the volunteers.” Use the correct form of be plus a past participle. In this example, is agrees with the singular noun hall.

Keep the original tense. “They sent the invitations yesterday” becomes “The invitations were sent yesterday.” Were sent is past simple passive. “They are checking the names” becomes “The names are being checked.” Are being checked keeps the present continuous meaning. Do not remove being when it is needed.

Use a by-phrase when the person doing the action matters. You can omit it when that person is unknown, obvious or unimportant. Some verbs do not take an object and cannot form this kind of passive: “She arrived” cannot become “She was arrived.” First find the object in the active sentence, then check the new subject, verb form and time.

වැඩි විස්තර අවශ්‍ය විට පමණක් මෙම කොටස කියවන්න.

Reported speech tells someone what another person said. Direct speech keeps the original words: Nimal said, “I am tired.” If you report this later, you can say, “Nimal said that he was tired.” Choose pronouns from the real situation: I becomes he here because you are talking about Nimal.

After a past reporting verb, a tense often moves back: am becomes was, and will becomes would. However, a fact that is still true does not always need this change. Time and place words also depend on the situation. Tomorrow may become the next day when you report later; do not change it automatically if you are still speaking on the original day.

A reported question uses statement word order. “Where do you live?” becomes “She asked where I lived.” A yes-or-no question can use if or whether: “Are you ready?” becomes “She asked if I was ready.” Use tell with a person: “He told me that he was ready.” Say does not need that person: “He said that he was ready.”

වැඩි විස්තර අවශ්‍ය විට පමණක් මෙම කොටස කියවන්න.

A conditional sentence links a condition with a result. The zero conditional often uses present simple in both clauses for general relationships. The first conditional commonly uses if plus present simple with will plus a base verb for a possible future result. A modal such as may or can can replace will when its meaning is appropriate. When the if-clause comes first, a comma normally separates it from the main clause.

Do not put will in the if-clause simply because the whole sentence concerns the future. The form depends on the meaning of that clause. Unless often means if not, so an extra negative can accidentally reverse the message. Check the real-world relationship as well as the grammar: the proposed result should follow logically from the condition. Use conditional language to explain choices, plans and precautions clearly.

For Grade 10 preparation, connect accuracy with an identifiable purpose and audience. These models demonstrate a method rather than predict an examination question. In a longer response, select details which answer the task and preserve a clear relationship between sentences.

වැඩි විස්තර අවශ්‍ය විට පමණක් මෙම කොටස කියවන්න.