Reported Speech Exercise

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Mixed Exercise 1

Complete the sentences in reported speech. Note whether the sentence is a request, a statement or a question.

1. He said, "I like this song."
   → He said
2. "Where is your sister?" she asked me.
   → She asked me
3. "I don't speak Italian," she said.
   → She said
4. "Say hello to Jim," they said.
   → They asked me
5. "The film began at seven o'clock," he said.
   → He said
6. "Don't play on the grass, boys," she said.
   → She told the boys
7. "Where have you spent your money?" she asked him.
   → She asked him
8. "I never make mistakes," he said.
   → He said
9. "Does she know Robert?" he wanted to know.
   → He wanted to know
10. "Don't try this at home," the stuntman told the audience.
    → The stuntman advised the audience

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Mixed Exercise 2

Complete the sentences in reported speech. Note whether the sentence is a request, a statement or a question and whether you have to change the tenses or not.

1. "I was very tired," she said.
   → She said
2. "Be careful, Ben," she said.
   → She told Ben
3. "I will get myself a drink," she says.
   → She says
4. "Why haven't you phoned me?" he asked me.
   → He wondered
5. "I cannot drive them home," he said.
   → He said
6. "Peter, do you prefer tea or coffee?" she says.
   → She asks Peter
7. "Where did you spend your holidays last year?" she asked me.
   → She asked me
8. He said, "Don't go too far."
   → He advised her
9. "Have you been shopping?" he asked us.
   → He wanted to know
10. "Don't make so much noise," he says.
    → He asks us

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reported speech theory

If we report what another person has said, we usually do not use the speaker’s exact words (direct speech), but reported (indirect) speech. Therefore, you need to learn how to transform direct speech into reported speech. The structure is a little different depending on whether you want to transform a statement, question or request.

 

Statements

When transforming statements, check whether you have to change:

• pronouns
• present tense verbs (3rd person singular)
• place and time expressions
• tenses (backshift)

Type	Example
direct speech	“I speak English.”
reported speech (no backshift)	He says that he speaks English.
reported speech (backshift)	He said that he spoke English.

 

Questions

When transforming questions, check whether you have to change:

• pronouns
• present tense verbs (3rd person singular)
• place and time expressions
• tenses (backshift)

Also note that you have to:

• transform the question into an indirect question
• use the interrogative or if / whether

Type		Example
with question word	direct speech	“Why don’t you speak English?”
	reported speech	He asked me why I didn’t speak English.
without question word	direct speech	“Do you speak English?”
	reported speech	He asked me whether / if I spoke English.

 

Requests

When transforming questions, check whether you have to change:

• pronouns
• place and time expressions

Type	Example
direct speech	“Carol, speak English.“
reported speech	He told Carol to speak English.

 

 

Additional Information and Exeptions

Apart from the above mentioned basic rules, there are further aspects that you should keep in mind, for example:

• main clauses connected with and / but
• tense of the introductory clause
• reported speech for difficult tenses
• exeptions for backshift
• requests with must, should, ought to and let’s 

simple past tense theory

1. Simple past,form


Regular verbs: base+ed
e.g. walked, showed, watched, played, smiled, stopped

Irregular verbs: went, came, bought, etc.



Simple Past: be, have, do:

Subject	Verb
	Be	Have	Do
I	was	had	did
You	were	had	did
He,she, it	was	had	did
We	were	had	did
You	were	had	did
They	were	had	did

Affirmative

1. I was in Japan last year
2. She had a headache yesterday.
3. We did our homework last night.

Negative and interrogative

Note:
For the negative and interrogative simple past form of “do” as an ordinary verb, use the auxiliary “do”, e.g. We didn’t do our homework last night. The negative of “have” in the simple past is usually formed using the auxiliary “do”, but sometimes by simply adding not or the contraction “n’t”.

The interrogative form of “have” in the simple past normally uses the auxiliary “do”.

• They weren’t in Rio last summer.
• We hadn’t any money.
• We didn’t have time to visit the Eiffel Tower.
• We didn’t do our exercises this morning.
• Were they in Iceland last January?
• Did you have a bicycle when you were a boy?
• Did you do much climbing in Switzerland?

Simple past, regular verbs

Affirmative
Subject	verb + ed
I	washed
Negative
Subject	did not	infinitive without to
They	didn’t	visit …
Interrogative
Did	subject	infinitive without to
Did	she	arrive…?
Interrogative negative
Did not	subject	infinitive without to
Didn’t	you	like..?

Example:
to walk, simple past.

Affirmative	Negative	Interrogative
I walked	I didn’t walk	Did I walk?
You walked	You didn’t walk	Did you walk?
He,she,it walked	He didn’t walk	Did he walk?
We walked	We didn’t walk	Did we walk?
You walked	You didn’t walk	Did you walk?
They walked	They didn’t walk	Did they walk?

Note: For
the negative and interrogative form of all verbs in the simple past, always use the auxiliary ‘did”.
Examples: 

Simple past, irregular verbs

to go
a. He went to a club last night.
b. Did he go to the cinema last night?
c. He didn’t go to bed early last night.

to give
d. We gave her a doll for her birthday.
e. They didn’t give John their new address.
f. Did Barry give you my passport?

to come
g. My parents came to visit me last July.
h. We didn’t come because it was raining.
i. Did he come to your party last week?


2. Simple past, function
The simple past is used to talk about a completed action in a time before now. Duration is not important. The time of the action can be in the recent past or the distant past.

• John Cabot sailed to America in 1498.
• My father died last year.
• He lived in Fiji in 1976.
• We crossed the Channel yesterday.

You always use the simple past when you say when something happened, so it is associated with certain past time expressions
Examples:

• frequency:often,sometimes, always;
• a definite point in time:last week, when I was a child, yesterday, six weeks ago.
• an indefinite point in time:the other day, ages ago, a long time ago etc.

Note: the
word ago is a useful way of expressing the distance into the past. It is placed after the period of time e.g. a week ago, three years ago, a minute ago.

Examples:
a. Yesterday, I arrived in Geneva.
b. She finished her work at seven o’clock.
c. We saw a good film last week.
d. I went to the theatre last night.
e. She played the piano when she was a child.
f. He sent me a letter six months ago.
g. Peter left five minutes ago.

Useful Links

• The English4Today Grammar: Simple Past Section
• Irregular Verbs (shows the past form for irregular verbs)

simple past tense exercises

          A. Complete the sentence with the correct verb forms

1. I ……(wait) for a phone call, but my friend …….(not call)
2. We ……(invite) some friends over, and we….. (cook) great meal.
3. I ……(not need) any umbrella.
4. She actually ……(not enjoy) the party.
5. The rain …….(pour) so hard last night and the weather …… (be) so cold.
6. She …………………(not be) interested in the movie because she ………………….(not understand) it.
7. My English …. (not be) very good , so I ….. (take) English classes.
8. yesterday, my roommate and I …. (clean) and …..(shop).
9.    A: …… you …..(go) out last night?

 B: yes. I…… (go) to the cinema and I …. (have)   a great night.

10.   A: …… you ……(eat) any breakfast this morning?

B: No. I …. (get up) late. But I …. (buy) a cup  of coffee.

B. Re-write the sentence in past form

—  Example:

Tim usually gets up at 5.00.

 Yesterday he got up at 5.00

1. Tim usually wakes up early. Yesterday morning……..
2. Tim usually walks to work. Yesterday…..
3. Tim is usually late for work. Yesterday…..
4. Tim usually has a sandwich for lunch. Yesterday……
5. Tim usually goes out in the evening. Yesterday evening….
6. Tim usually sleeps very well. Last night……

C. Re-write the passage in simple past form.

Monday, May 31^st 2010

                Benny and I take a street car to the theme park yesterday. We ride on the ferris wheel and the roller coaster. On Monday night, I take Benny to a movie at the multiplex. The movie has really interesting sound effects.

This morning, I bicycle with my sister. I feel pretty tired, so I stay home and watch TV.