REPHRASING
LAST STRUCTURES
SO / SUCH
PREPARATORY “IT”
TIME CLAUSES
PURPOSE CLAUSES
I WISH…
HAD BETTER, WOULD RATHER
EXTENSION OF SOME STRUCTURES
INVERTED REPHRASING
SO / SUCH
EXAMPLES:
• “ T H I S E X E RC I S E I S S O D I F F I C U LT T H AT I C A N ’ T D O I T ” .
• IT’S … SUCH A DIFFICULT EXERCISE THAT I CAN’T DO IT.
• “ I T ’ S S U C H A WO N D E RF U L E X P E R IE N C E ”
• THIS… EXPERIENCE IS SO WONDERFUL.
• T H E S E C O M P U T E R S A R E S O FA S T.
• THESE ARE… SUCH FAST COMPUTERS.
G R A M M A R E X P L A N AT I ON :
• “ S O ” I S A LWAY S U S E D B E FO R E A N A DJ E C T I V E .
• “ S U C H ” I S A LWAY S U S E D B E FO R E A N A DJ E C T IV E A N D A N O U N .
• IT’S PRECEDED BY THE ARTICLE “A” IF THE NOUN IS COUNTABLE SINGULAR. IN THE REST OF
THE CASES, IT’S NOT PRECEDED BY ANY ARTICLE.
B E WA R E :
•
S O / S U C H … T H AT C A N I N T ROD U C E OT H E R K I N D S O F R E P H R A S I N G S T RU C T U R E S
SUCH AS:
•
•
CAUSE/ CONSEQUENCE: “THE CLASS WAS SO BORING THAT WE FELL ASLEEP”  “ WE… FELL ASLEEP BECAUSE THE CLASS WAS SO
BORING
CONDITIONALS: “THE WEATHER WAS SO BAD THAT WE HAD TO POSTPONE THE MATCH.”  “ IF… THE WEATHER HADN’T BEEN SO BAD, WE
WOULDN’T HAVE HAD TO POSTPONE THE MATCH.”
PREPARATORY “IT”
 These two sentences mean the same:
 Eating vegetables is healthy.
 It’s healthy to eat vegetables.
 And these two:
 The fact that this crisis gets worse seems evident.
 It seems evident that this crisis gets worse.
 In both cases, “it” serves to anticipate the real subject, which
comes after the verb. In both cases, the preparatory it uses
the same verb as the other sentence, although most of the
times it will be “be” or “seem”.
TIME CLAUSES
 When… / As soon as…
 “I will send you a text when I arrive at my destination”.
 “As… soon as I arrive at my destination, I will send you a text.”
 … Until / When…
 “I won’t have any celebrations until the exams are over.”
 “When the exams are over, I will have some celebrations.”
 Af ter… / (Before… / …until)
 After I come back from the USA, I will write my reports.
 I won’t write my reports before I come back from the USA.
 IN ALL CASES: If they have a future reference, the tense structure is
like the 1 st conditional:
 Main clause  Present
 Subordinate clause  Future (it changes from negative to affirmative or vice versa according to the sense of the sentence).
I WISH… / IF ONLY I…
 “I wish” and “If only I” are structures that express the desire that
something were dif ferent.
 The tenses of the following clause don’t match the real time.
 “I wish I had started (past perfect) the project earlier”  past desire.
 “I wish I was (past simple) taller”  present desire.
 You normally use this type to express you are unhappy about your present
condition.
 I wish you would shut up (conditional)  future desire.
 You normally use this type to express hope (and doubt) that something would
change.
 In the rephrasing application, you will get a whole situation, not always
formally predictable. Therefore, it’s essential to understand it ver y
well.
 I would like to play basketball, but I’m too short”
 I wish… I was taller to play basketball.
 I didn’t memorize all the irregular verbs and I failed the exam.
 I wish… I had memorized all the irregular verbs.
 You are making such an irritating noise.
 I wish… you would stop making such an irritating noise.
PURPOSE CLAUSES
 PURPOSE CONNECTORS: to + infinitive, in order to + infinitive
, so that + clause.
 “I went to the pub to drink some beer.”
 “I study a lot in order to get the highest possible mark.”
 “She went to the library so that she could get as much material as
possible.”
 REPHRASING APPLICATION: it may result in another type of
sentence, normally cause or consequence:
 “I went to the pub to drink some beer.”
 “I wanted to drink some beer… so I went to the pub.
HAD BETTER / WOULD RATHER
HAD BETTER
WOULD RATHER
 It means the same as the
modals “should” or “ought to”.
Therefore, it’s followed by a
bare infinitive: “ We had better
grab our books now”.
 In negatives, we use “had better
not”: “You’d better not talk to
strangers.”
 REPHRASING APP: Same
situations as “should” or “ought
to”: sentences with “it’s a good
idea…”, “advice” or even
“should” or “ought to”, with the
rephrasing star ting with “I’d…”
or “I had…”
 It i n di ca tes pre fe re n c e.
 It c a n be fo l lowe d by a ba re
i n fi nit ive: “ I’ d ra t h e r s t ay a t h o m e
to n i ght t h a n g o o ut . ”
 In n e g at ives, we us e “ wo ul d ra t h e r
n ot ” : “ I’ d ra t h e r n ot fo l low yo ur
i n s t ruc t ions”.
 It c a n be fo l lowe d by a “ t h a t
s e n te nc e” w i t h t h e s a m e te n s e
s t ruc t ure a s “ I w i s h ”:
 I’d rather you didn’t tell me the truth
(present)
 I’d rather you hadn’t told me a lie
(past)
 Re ph ra s ing a pp: Wh e n ever th e
s i t ua t ion de n ote s pre fe re n c e a n d
t h e re ph ra s ing s t a r t s w i t h “ I’ d… ” o r
“ I wo ul d… ”
EXTENSION
 Present Perfect:
 I haven’t exercised for two months.
 It’s been two months since I have exercised / since I exercised for the
last time / since I last exercised.
 It’s been (duration) + since + present perfect / past simple + for the
last time.
 Reported Speech with prepositions:
 He said to me: “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you before”
 He apologized for… not telling me before.
INVERTED REPHRASING
 This can happen in two structures:
 Passive voice.
 Reported speech.
 In this case, the original sentences would be in the passive
voice or the reported speech, and the objective would be to
transform them into the active voice and the direct speech.
 Example:
 ”Four goals were scored the other day by some Polack.”
 Some Polack…
 My friends suggested I go to the trip.”
 My friends suggested: “…