Reporting Verbs and Patterns
Passive Reporting Structures
About Reported Speech exercises
Reported speech (indirect speech) conveys what someone said without quoting them directly. It involves a tense shift back (present → past, past → past perfect), changes to pronouns, and adjustments to time and place expressions (now → then, here → there, yesterday → the day before).
The tense backshift rules are systematic but require practice to become automatic. These exercises cover all key aspects: statements, questions, commands, tense changes, and verb patterns (say vs. tell, ask vs. enquire) at B1–C1 level. You need these patterns to report what people said or wrote.
Backshift is not always required. If the situation is still true, or the reporting verb is in the present, the tense can stay the same: She says she lives in Rome. Time and place words depend on when and where you report the speech. Compare He said, "I will call tomorrow" with He said he would call the next day. Remember that tell needs a person after it and say does not: She told me she was tired. She said she was tired. If the situation still holds when you report it, both He said he was tired and He said he is tired can be correct.
- Tense backshift rules (present → past, past → past perfect)
- Reported statements with say and tell
- Reported questions (direct → indirect)
- Reported commands and requests (told me to, asked me to)
- Changes to pronouns, time, and place expressions
- Reporting verbs beyond say/tell (suggest, warn, explain)