The correct answers are would, had to have, and the following day.
When reporting speech in the past (using verbs like insisted or declared), we usually "backshift" the tenses and modals:
- will backshifts to would.
- must (for obligation) backshifts to had to. (Note: must have had is used for past deductions, not past obligations!)
- Time expressions also shift to reflect the new perspective. Tomorrow becomes the following day or the next day.
Indirect speech
- Direct: "I am tired." → Indirect: She said she was tired. (present → past)
- Direct: "I will come." → Indirect: He said he would come. (will → would)
- Direct: "I have finished." → Indirect: She said she had finished. (present perfect → past perfect)
- today → that day; here → there; tomorrow → the next day
Indirect speech reports someone's words without quotation marks. The mechanism: backshift tenses one step into the past, shift pronouns, and adjust time/place expressions.
Rule: if the reporting verb is past (said, told, asked), shift the reported tense back one step. If the reporting verb is present (says), no shift needed.
Modal verb
- ✅ She can swim. — ❌ She can to swim. (modal + bare infinitive, no to)
- ✅ You must leave now. — strong obligation
- ✅ It might rain. — possibility (~50%)
- ✅ He should apologise. — advice/recommendation
Modal verbs (can, could, may, might, must, shall, should, will, would) are auxiliaries expressing ability, permission, possibility, obligation, or speculation. Always + bare infinitive. Never inflected (she can, not she cans).
Rule: modals never take to after them, never add -s for third person, and can't combine directly (must can ❌ — use must be able to).
Verb tense
| Simple | Progressive | Perfect | Perfect Progressive | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Past | worked | was working | had worked | had been working |
| Present | work(s) | am working | have worked | have been working |
| Future | will work | will be working | will have worked | will have been working |
Verb tense = time (past/present/future) × aspect (simple/progressive/perfect) = 12 forms. Each slot has a specific job — not just "when" but "how the action relates to its time frame."
Key insight: most learners don't need all 12 at once. Simple covers 80% of communication. Add perfect and progressive as needed.
Adverb
- ✅ She sings beautifully — ❌ She sings beautiful
- ✅ He drives carefully — ❌ He drives careful
- ✅ They arrived late — ✅ a late train (same form, both roles)
- ✅ She works hard — ❌ She works hardly (different meaning!)
The -ly words are adverbs — they modify verbs, adjectives, or other adverbs, telling you how, when, where, or to what degree.
Pattern: most adjectives become adverbs by adding -ly, but watch the exceptions — fast, hard, late, well — that keep the same shape or change meaning entirely.
B2 | Upper Intermediate
- ✅ If I had studied harder, I would have passed. — third conditional
- ✅ The report is being reviewed by the committee. — passive progressive
- ✅ Having finished the exam, she left. — participle clause
- ✅ He denied having taken the money. — complex verb pattern
These are B2 patterns — the CEFR upper-intermediate level. At B2 you handle mixed conditionals, all passive forms, participle clauses, and can argue a point clearly. This is the level most universities and employers require.
Marker: if you can write a structured essay and debate an abstract topic, you're B2.
Hard
- Had she not intervened, the situation would have escalated. — inverted conditional
- All distractors are grammatically plausible in other contexts
- Multiple rules interact (e.g., tense + aspect + modality)
- Context determines the answer — no single "rule" is enough
Hard marks upper-intermediate to advanced challenges: B2+, interacting rules, edge cases, plausible distractors, and contexts where pattern-matching fails.
Use "Hard" when Easy/Medium feel trivial and you want to test whether you actually understand a rule versus just recognising surface patterns.