Review of Advanced Structures: The Tech Lead's First 90 Days

• In this lesson, we review essential grammar points including the future in the past, verb + object + infinitive, habits, and the unreal past. These structures help you narrate past transitions, express expectations, and discuss hypothetical management scenarios in Boston or London.
• Category
• Structure
• Example
• Future in the Past
• was/were going to / about to
• Marcus was going to ship the feature in Seattle.
• Verb + Object + Inf.
• allow / expect / persuade + obj + to
• Sarah persuaded the engineering team in Austin to upgrade.
• Habits / Annoying
• will / would / be always + -ing
• Kevin is always complaining about legacy systems in Bristol.
• Unreal Past
• it's high time / suppose + past
• It's high time we prioritized ruthlessly in Chicago.
• Remember
• Use 'was going to' or 'was about to' to express past intentions that may or may not have happened.
• Use verbs like 'persuade', 'expect', or 'enable' followed by an object and a to-infinitive.
• Use 'be always + -ing' or 'keep on + -ing' to highlight persistent habits or annoying behaviors in tech projects.
• Use the unreal past ('it's high time', 'suppose') with past tense verbs to talk about imaginary or urgent situations.
• Examples
• Brian was about to deploy the build when Seattle office called.
• She encouraged the developers in London to adopt new tools.
• David is always skipping daily stand-ups in New York.
• Suppose you inherited a broken codebase in Manchester, what would you do?
• Common mistakes
• It's high time we refactor the code in Boston.
• It's high time we refactored the code in Boston.
• She made him to update the documentation in Chicago.
• She made him update the documentation in Chicago.

Complete the sentences

• When the sprint started in Seattle, Jessica (about) ____ to present her 90-day plan.
• The CTO in London expected the tech lead (take) ____ stock of the legacy infrastructure.
• It's high time our team in Boston (map) ____ out the Q3 architecture.
• Why is Mark always (complain) ____ about the inherited codebase in Austin?
• Suppose you (have) ____ to course-correct the project in Chicago today.
• The director let Eric (choose) ____ his own check-in points in New York.

Sources: photo by Vitaly Gariev on Pexels