FCE Sentence Transformations: Reported Speech

You will be asked 6 questions, one or two of which will be like the examples below.

The Basics
Usually when we change to reported speech, the tense moves “back one”, so: Present => Past => Past Perfect.
“I was walking to the Louvre” => I said I had been walking to the Louvre.

With modal verbs will becomes would, can becomes could, and the rest stay the same:
“you should avoid the guards”. => She said I should avoid the guards

1. “You won’t fail if you plan carefully” my mum said.

My mum explained that I ______________ I planned carefully.

2. “I’ve never stolen anything before” I explained.

I told my mum that __________________ anything before

Different reporting verbs

You need to be able to use verbs like these:

 recommend/suggest/deny + gerund (She suggested stealing the painting)

 encourage/warn/ask/tell + object + infinitive (She asked me to steal the painting)

1. My mother said I should steal the Mona Lisa to make a bit of money. ADVISED

My mother _____________________ the Mona Lisa to make a bit of money.

2. ‘Don’t forget to turn off the security cameras’ said my mother. TOLD

My mother __________________________ forget to turn off the security cameras.

3. “I´m not sure that this is a good idea” I admitted. DOUBTS

I admitted _____________________ about it.

Reported Questions
In these sentences an auxiliary verb moves or is removed to change from a question to a statement structure.

“What were you doing” The detective asked what had I had been doing

“What do you know about the crime?” The detective asked what did I knew about the crime

1. ‘Did you steal the painting?’ the detective asked. WHETHER

The detective asked ______________________ the painting

2. When are you going to sell it? My mother enquired. WAS

My mother wanted _____________________ going to sell it.

Indirect Questions
These are the same as the ones above, but you don’t need to change the tense.

1. What will you give me for an Italian Masterpiece? MUCH

I’d like to know ___________________________ me for an Italian masterpiece.

HighImpactEnglish ©James Seymour