Reported Speech exercises with answers

Reported Speech: statements, questions and commands.

Reported Speech Rephrasing exercises

Reporting Verbs

Reporting Verbs

REPORTED SPEECH (theory)

REPORTED SPEECH   1

REPORTING STATEMENTS

·         When we change a sentence from Direct Speech to Reported Speech, there are some necessary changes in pronouns and possessive adjectives, verbal tenses and time and place expressions  . 

                     Liz said: ' I will be here tomorrow'

                     Liz said that she would be there the following day.

·           When the reporting verb is in the Past Simple, we make the following changes:

DIRECT SPEECH		REPORTED SPEECH
Present Simple	Julie said, ‘I play tennis every Saturday.’	Past Simple	Julie said  (that) she played tennis every Saturday.
Present Progressive	John said, ‘I’m working.’	Past Progressive	John said (that) he was working.
Past Simple	Ian said, ‘I turned the lights off.’	Past Perfect Simple	Ian said (that) he had turned the lights off.
Present Perfect Simple	Sandra said, ‘I’ve never travelled abroad.’	Past Perfect Simple	Sandra said (that) she had never travelled abroad.
Present Perfect Progressive	Andy said, ‘I’ve been waiting for an hour!’	Past Perfect Progressive	Andy said (that) he had been waiting for an hour.
Will	‘I’ll wait for you,’ said Alex.	Would	Alex said (that) he would wait for me.
Can	Simon said, ‘I can’t fix it!’	Could	Simon said (that) he couldn’t fix it.
May	Catherine said, ‘I may have this number.’	Might	Catherine said (that) she might have his number.
Must	Bill said, ‘I must work hard!’	Had to	Bill said (that) he had to work hard.
Conditional Sentences Type 1	Diane said, ‘If we take a taxi, we’ll get there quicker.’	Conditional Sentences Type 2	Diane said (that) if they took a taxi, they would get there quicker.
This / these	She said, ‘These shoes are very tight.’	That / those	She said (that) those shoes were very tight.
Here	Eric said, ‘I saw it here.’	There	Eric said (that) he had seen it there.
Now	Mandy said, ‘I’ll talk to him now.’	Then	Mandy said (that) she would talk to him then.
Today / tonight	Dave said, ‘They’re arriving tonight.’	That day / that night	Dave said (that) they were arriving that night.
Yesterday	Donald said, ‘They arrived yesterday.’	The previous day / the day before	Donald said (that) they were arriving that night.
Tomorrow	Kate said, ‘I’ll see them tomorrow.’	The next day / the following day	Kate said (that) she would see them the following day.
Last week / month, etc	Ron said, ‘I saw him last weekend.’	The previous week, etc. / the week, etc. before	Ron said (that) he had seen him the previous weekend.
Next week / month, etc.	Paul said, ‘I’ll be in Brazil next week.’	The following week / month, etc.	Paul said (that) he would be in Brazil the following week.

REPORTED SPEECH    2

REPORTING QUESTIONS

·         To change questions from Direct Speech into Reported Speech, we change tenses, pronouns, and other words just as in reported statements.

·          

        Reported questions begin with the reporting verbs ask, wonder and want to know.

                 ‘Where are you going?’ asked Martha    

                  Martha wanted to know where I was going.

·        

            Reported questions follow the word order of affirmative sentences (subject + verb + object)

         There is a full stop, not a question mark at the end of a reported question.

                   ‘Do you  play golf?’ he asked                              

                    He asked me if I played golf.

·          

       WH- QUESTIONS

       When the direct question begins with a question word (who, what, which, whose, where, when, why, how), the reported question also begins with the question word.

                    ‘When are they coming back?’ she asked         

                     She wondered when they were coming back.

YES / NO QUESTIONS

         When the direct question does not begin with a question word, but with an auxiliary verb (do/does, did, have/has, etc.), the reported question begins with if or whether after the reporting verb.

                      ‘Have you seen John?’ asked Mary                       

                       Mary asked me if / whether I has seen John.

REPORTING COMMANDS AND REQUESTS

·         To change commands from Direct Speech into Reported Speech, we use tell, order, etc. as reporting verbs. The imperative becomes a full infinitive.

                        ‘Put that down!’ he said.                                         

                        He told me to put that down.

·          

         To change requests from Direct Speech into Reported Speech, we used ask, beg, etc. as reporting verbs. The Imperative becomes a full infinitive.

                        ‘Please open a window,’ she said to me.          

                         She asked me to open a window.

                        ‘Don’t drive so fast,’ she said to him.              

                        She asked him not to drive so fast.