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Reported Speech

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  1. When do we use it?
  2. How do we form it - Reported orders/requests/advice
  3. How do we form it - Reported statements
  4. How do we form it - Reported questions
  5. When we do not change tenses in reported speech?
  6. Say and tell

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Reported Speech How do we form it – Reported questions
Lesson 4 of 6
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How do we form it – Reported questions

Reported Speech How do we form it – Reported questions
How to report a question that somebody asked?
  • ‘Where do you work?’ she wants to know.

She wants to know where I work. The verb tense in the reported question is the same as in the original question.

  • ‘Where do you live?’ he asked me.

He asked me where I lived. The reported question refers to a past situation, so we need to change the tense (backshift).

Sentences are usually introduced with ask, want to know, and wonder. To report a question, we use:

  1. Ask + a question word (who, where, when, why, what, how, etc)
    • ‘Where do you live?’ he asked me.

He asked me where I lived.

  1. Ask + if/whether (yes/no questions)
    • ‘Can you help me, please?’ she asked him.

She asked him if/whether he could help her.

Remember!

  1. Change the pronouns and possessive adjectives according to the context.
  2. Change the tense if the reporting verb is in the past tense.
  3. Change adverbs of time and place if the reporting verb is in the past tense.
  4. Use an affirmative word of order (the subject comes before the verb).
  5. Leave the question mark and expressions such as please, well, etc.

Test yourself!

‘I didn’t eat any sweets yesterday,’ she told me.
She told me she hadn’t eaten any sweets the day before/the previous day.
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‘He is married,’ she told me.
She told me he was married.
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‘I’m listening to you!' he said.
He said (that) he was listening to me.
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‘You must wash your hands before eating,’ she said.
She said that he must/had to wash his hands before eating.
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‘I have been working for this company for five years,’ he told us.
He told us (that) he had been working for five years for that company.
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‘I don’t eat meat,’ she told her parents.
She told her parents (that) she didn’t eat meat.
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‘We’ll travel to Paris next Saturday,’ they told us.
They told us that (they) would travel to Paris the following Saturday.
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