reported speech upper intermediate exercises pdf

You need to enable JavaScript to use this activity. Now - time for a quick test to see if you've understood this point. For more information, check out our Grammar Reference. Reported speech: Kim said she was planning to meet Jin in Berlin. Which tense should this sentence change to in reported speech? Reported speech: Finn said he was writing a novel. Reported speech: Finn said he had never smoked a cigarette in his life.Īnd if the original statement was in the present continuous, the reported statement would be in the. What do we mean by that? Well, if the original statement was in the present perfect tense, the reported statement goes one tense back in time - to the past perfect tense, like this:įinn: I have never smoked a cigarette in my life.

So - what was Finn's tip? Simple: Move the tense back.

We're really busy, but hey - six seconds to go, you're looking great - remember my point - move the tense back. Remember that, you won't go far wrong in life. So if the sentence is in the present simple, move it to the past simple. what about that? We moved the tense back. So you say: Finn said he had never smoked a cigarette in his life. Right, if you want to tell your friend what do you do? Using reported speech? You move the tense back. OK, so if I said, 'I've never smoked a cigarette in my life,' what tense is that? I've never smoked is present perfect. In indirect speech, we change the question structure (e.g. indirect speech: He asked me if I liked working in sales. direct speech: 'Do you like working in sales' he asked. To do this, we can use direct speech or indirect speech. How do you tell them? You use reported speech. Grammar explanation A reported question is when we tell someone what another person asked. You come and ask me, 'Finn would you like a cigarette?' And I say, 'No, I don't want a cigarette, in fact, I've never smoked a cigarette in my life.' Wow, that's quite interesting, you think. We're at a party, we're having a great time.

Now what does that mean? That means, for example: Reported speech - what's the tip? What is the secret? Just four words: Move the tense back. And we're going to do it in 90 seconds because I know how busy you are. We're going to learn one point that you need to remember when you forget everything else. But we're not going to go through a whole book.

Today we're going to look at reported speech. English grammar takes a long time to learn.

Reported speech upper intermediate exercises pdf