1. Should/shouldn’t
He should keep his café cleaner. → You shouldn’t be working very hard.
You should have stayed in bed. → You shouldn’t have been driving so fast.

2. If + Past tense
If he cleaned his café, he would get more customers.
If you didn’t watch TV so much, you would have more time for work.

3. If + had(n’t) done/ had(n’t) been doing
If she’d stayed in bed, her temperature would have gone down.
If you hadn’t shouted at him, he wouldn’t’ have walked out.
If he’d been watching the toast, it would have been burnt.
If you hadn’t been driving so fast, you wouldn’t have skidded.

4. Keeps doing/is always doing
He’s bore – he keeps talking about himself,
Mary’s so absent minded – she is always forgetting things.

Example:

1. Make a remarks each using should (n’t):
Example: Sarla broke a vase.
She shouldn’t have lifted it.

(a) The tourist’s purse was stolen.
(b) Erika fainted at the party.
(c) Gordon nearly drowned.
(d) Jenny failed her maths exam.
(e) Ganesh cut his foot on some broken glass.

Answers:

(a) He shouldn’t have been so careless.
(b) She shouldn’t have gone there.
(c) He shouldn’t have dived into the water.
(d) She should have practised maths better
(e) He shouldn’t have walked along that way.

Exercise:

1. Rewrite the following sentences using ‘if’ as in example:
Example: She was reading a book in the waiting room – she missed the train.
Answer: If she hadn’t been reading a book, she wouldn’t have missed the train

(a) He didn’t set the alarm, so he overslept.
(b) The goalkeeper wasn’t concentrating- they scored goal.
(c) She wasn’t talking loudly, so I couldn’t understand her.
(d) He couldn’t go on holiday because he broke his leg.
(e) They didn’t know the man was armed, so they didn’t run away.