Reporting Statements and Questions
Many teenagers find lessons boring and irrelevant, and say the education system should be changed to suit their needs.
Eight out of 10 said, they were fed up with school and almost half said there were not enough courses to choose from, which limited their options in later life.
The conclusions were made in a study by Edge, a charity promoting practical courses as an alternative to academic study.
Adapted from the Daily Telepgraph
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1.The newspaper report above highlights: ****
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2 .Find in the text the reported speech of the following direct statements
Direct speech:
1. " We are fed up with school," they said.
2. " We find lessons boring and irrelevant, " they say.
Reported speech:
1. They said that
2. They say that
A reporter uses the following verbs to report his /her findings :
" said that - told me that - asked "
We call them reporting verbs. Note how the reporter uses them:
a) to report questions
I asked them what they thought of their school.
Direct question: " What do you think of your school?" I asked them.
Direct answer: "We find school boring," they said.
b) to report answers:
Most of them said that they found school boring.
when the reporting verb is in the past tense, there are changes to make in tenses.
DIRECT SPEECH | REPORTED SPEECH |
the pesent simple | past simple |
the present perfect simple | past perfect simple |
the past simple | past perfect simple |
the past perfect simple | past perfect simple |
Direct Speech |
Reported Speech |
Simple present "I always drink coffee", she said |
Simple past She said that she always drank coffee. |
Present continuous "I am reading a book", he explained. |
Past continuous He explained that he was reading a book. |
Simple past "Bill arrived on Saturday", he said. |
Past perfect He said that Bill had arrived on Saturday. |
Present perfect "I have been to Spain", he told me. |
Past perfect He told me that he had been to Spain. |
Past perfect "I had just turned out the light," he explained. |
Past perfect He explained that he had just turned out the lig. |
Future "I will be in Geneva on Monday", he said. |
Present conditional He said that he would be in Geneva on Monday. |
Future continuous She said, " I'll be using the car next Friday." |
Conditional continuous She said that she would be using the car next Friday. |
Direct speech | Reported speech |
"is"/ "am" | was |
"are" | were |
"have"/ "has" | had |
"can" | "could" |
"will" | "would" |
"must" | "had to" |
"may" | "might" |
"shall" | "should" |
- Even time adverbs, demonstratives and adverb of place change in case the reporting verbs is in the past tense.
a. Demonstrative pronouns this and these:
“This” used in time expressions usually becomes “that”
Example: "She is coming this week," he said . → He said that she was coming that week.
However, ”this” and “that” used as adjectives usually change to “the”
Example: "I bought this pearl /these pearls for my mother," he said. →He said that he had bought the pearl /the pearls for his mother.
“This, these” used as pronouns can become “it, they /them”
Example: " I found these in the kitchen." he said → He said that he had found them in the kitchen.
‘We will discuss this tomorrow,’ he said. → He said that they would discuss it the next day.
- Time adverbs:
Direct speech | Reported speech |
Today |
That day |
Yesterday |
The day before |
The day before yesterday |
Two days before |
Tomorrow |
The next day/the following day |
The day after tomorrow |
In two days’ time |
Next week/year |
The following week/year |
Last week/year |
The previous week/year |
A year ago |
A year before/the previous year |
“Here” becomes “there”, but only when it is clear what place is meant:
Example: " I will be here again." he said → He said that he would be there.
- Reporting questions:
A question becomes an affirmative sentence once reported and the punctuation changes as well.
Example:
" Where do you go ? " he asks. → He asks me where I go.
"Question word + auxiliary + subject +v erb?" he asks.
→ He asks me where I go.
→ He asks me + question word + subject +verb.
- There are two types of questions:
1. WH-questions 2. Yes /No questions
- The reporting verbs are:
” to ask someone and to want to know” and they obey the same rules as affirmative statements.
1. WH-questions:
A 1. ” Why did Jones try to get into the house ?” she asked.
. 2She wanted to know why Jones had tried to get into the house.
B 1. ” How long ago did your neighbours leave their house?” asked the police –officer.
2. He wanted to know how long ago her neighbours had left their house .
2. Yes/no questions:
A 1. ”Must you go now?” he asked her.
2. He wanted to know if she had to go now
B 1.”Do you live in the city? ”she asked me.
2. She wanted to know whether I lived in the city.
- N.B. We can use “whether” instead of “if”
- إختبارات
- 10
- الأجوبة الصحيحة
- False
- الأجوبة الخاطئة
- False
- مجموع النقاط
- False
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