Reported Speech Exercises B1
Uploaded by
Tsz Nga Au YeungReported Speech Exercises B1
Uploaded by
Tsz Nga Au Yeung- Reported Speech Exercises
- Reported Speech Key
Common questions
Powered by AIWhen reporting a question in indirect speech, the sentence structure must change to a statement form. The verb is often introduced by 'asked' or 'wanted to know,' and auxiliary verbs are removed. For example, "The reporter asked, 'Where is the president staying?'" becomes "The reporter wanted to know where the president was staying" .
Key transformations include tense shifts, pronoun adjustments, and alterations in time and place expressions. For example, present tense typically becomes past tense, first-person pronouns change to third-person, and direct words like 'this' or 'here' may change to 'that' or 'there' respectively. The sentence "He said, 'I am in love with your sister.'" transforms to "He said that he was in love with my sister" .
Modal verbs in reported speech often undergo changes to reflect past states or possibilities. 'Can' shifts to 'could,' 'will' changes to 'would,' and 'must' can change to 'had to.' For example, "George said, 'I can't do it now, but I'll try later.'" becomes "George said that he couldn't do it then, but he would try later" .
Time expressions often shift in reported speech to reflect the temporal change since the original speech act. 'Now' changes to 'then,' 'today' to 'that day,' 'tomorrow' to 'the next day,' and 'next week' to 'the following week.' For instance, "Dad explained, 'I will be leaving this house next week.'" changes to "Dad explained he would be leaving that house the following week" .
The conversion of reported questions depends on the original tense; simple present questions generally shift to simple past, while simple past may shift to past perfect. For instance, "I asked him, 'Did you see the fire?'" changes to "I asked him if he had seen the fire," maintaining alignment with past perfect for clarity .
When converting direct commands into indirect speech, the structure changes by replacing the imperative verb with an infinitive form, and inserting words like 'ordered,' 'asked,' or 'told' to indicate the speech type. For example, "Malcolm said, 'You must take your shoes off.'" becomes "Malcolm ordered him to take his shoes off" .
Speech tags, such as 'said' or 'asked,' dictate the reporting verb used and influence the sentence's placement in time. Tags like 'explained,' 'warned,' and 'demanded' provide context and modify the tone or urgency in reported speech. For example, "My friend warned me" followed by a recommendation uses an explicit speech tag to maintain emphasis in indirect speech .
When reporting negative commands, clarity requires maintaining the negation and conveying the imperative's urgency accurately. This is achieved by changing the structure to 'warned not to,' for example, "My friend said, 'Don’t go there after dark.'" changes to "My friend warned me not to go there after dark," ensuring the negative aspect is maintained .
Polite requests often involve changing the direct question to an indirect one prefixed with a polite structure, such as 'asked if he could' or 'asked whether.' The phrase "I said, 'Could you please pass me the salt?'" is transformed into "I asked him if he could pass me the salt" .
Tenses that indicate general truths, habitual actions, or universal facts often remain unchanged in reported speech, as the truth value is independent of time. Additionally, the past perfect tense usually remains unchanged because it already refers to a past action relative to another past action. For example, "Jimmy said, 'I haven't seen Harry for ages.'" is reported as "Jimmy said that he hadn't seen Harry for ages and he didn't know where he was" .
