REPORTING VERBS & REPORTED SPEECH.

EXERCISE ONE
EXERCISE TWO
EXERCISE THREE

REPORTING VERBS. Form and meaning. taken from www.eslbase.com

We use reporting verbs to report what someone said more accurately than using say and tell.

Verb + infinitive

agree, decide, offer, promise, refuse, threaten

• They agreed to meet on Friday.
• He refused to take his coat off.

Verb + object + infinitive

advise, encourage, invite, remind, warn

• Tom advised me to go home early.
• She reminded me to telephone my mother.

Verb + gerund

deny, recommend, suggest

• They recommended taking the bus.
• She suggested meeting a little earlier.

Verb + object + preposition (+ gerund)

accuse, blame, congratulate

• He accused me of taking the money.
• They congratulated me on passing all my exams.

Verb + preposition + gerund

apologise, insist

• They apologised for not coming.
• He insisted on having dinner.

Verb + (that) + subject + verb

admit, agree, decide, deny, explain, insist, promise, recommend, suggest

• Sarah decided (that) the house needed cleaning.
• They recommended (that) we take the bus.

REPORTED SPEECH by http://www.perfect-english-grammar.com

EXERCISE 1
EXERCISE 2
EXERCISE 3

We use a 'reporting verb' like 'say' or 'tell'. (Click here for more about using 'say' and 'tell'.) If this verb is in the present tense, it's easy. We just put 'she says' and then the sentence:

• Reported speech: She says she likes ice cream
• Direct speech: “I like ice cream”.

We don't need to change the tense, though probably we do need to change the 'person' from 'I' to 'she', for example. We also may need to change words like 'my' and 'your'.

But, if the reporting verb is in the past tense, then usually we change the tenses in the reported speech:

• Direct speech: “I like ice cream”.
• Reported speech: She said she liked ice cream.

Tense	Direct Speech	Reported Speech
present simple	“I like ice cream”	She said (that) she liked ice cream.
present continuous	“I am living in London”	She said she was living in London.
past simple	“I bought a car”	She said she had bought a car OR She said she bought a car.
past continuous	“I was walking along the street”	She said she had been walking along the street.
present perfect	“I haven't seen Julie”	She said she hadn't seen Julie.
past perfect*	“I had taken English lessons before”	She said she had taken English lessons before.
will	“I'll see you later”	She said she would see me later.
would*	“I would help, but..”	She said she would help but...
can	“I can speak perfect English”	She said she could speak perfect English.
could*	“I could swim when I was four”	She said she could swim when she was four.
shall	“I shall come later”	She said she would come later.
should*	“I should call my mother”	She said she should call her mother
might*	"I might be late"	She said she might be late
must	"I must study at the weekend"	She said she must study at the weekend OR She said she had to study at the weekend