LEVEL 24

Reported speech

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Do you need any help with No, thanks. You’ll only get
your homework? things wrong.

Her mother asked Claire whether she needed any help with her homework. Claire thanked her
mother, but explained that she would only get things wrong.

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Direct speech Reported speech
Present (simple/continuous)  Past (simple/continuous)
Past (simple/continuous)  Past perfect (simple/cont.)
Present perfect  Past perfect
am/is/are going to  was/were going to
can/can’t  could/couldn’t
will/won’t  would/wouldn’t
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‘I’m resigning,’ said the prime minister.
The prime minister said (that) he was resigning.

‘Jilly has broken the news to Leo,’ said Ben.

Ben said (that) Jilly had broken the news to Leo.
‘I’ll let you know,’ said Amy.
Amy said (that) she would let me know.

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‘Did you pass on the message?’ asked Liam.
Liam asked if I had passed on the message.
‘What did you text?’ asked Ella.
Ella asked me what I’d texted.
‘Give me a call later,’ he said.
He asked me to give him a call later.

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GET IT RIGHT!

I told
said Ian about
to Ian thethe
about news.
news.

said me
He told (that)
that hewas
he
(that)was amazed.
he amazed.
was amazed.

I asked her did
journalist.
be
if sheshe
whether
a journalist.
want
wanted to
tobe
beaajournalist.
she wanted to

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
Language in action
Sally: Can I borrow your phone to text
my mum?
Alex: Sorry, I haven’t got it. Mrs George
took it off me in class this morning.
Sally: Oh, were you using it in class?
Alex: Yes. She’d warned us not to use
our phones in class but I tried to send a
quick tweet and got caught.
Sally: Did you apologise?
Alex: Yes, I did, but she’s been strict
recently, so she still took it.
Sally: When will you get it back?
Alex: I’m not sure. Maybe at the end of
the day.
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Sally asked Alex if she could borrow his phone but
Alex said that he didn’t have it. He said that Mrs
George had taken it off him that morning in class.
Sally asked Alex if he had been using it in class. He
said that he had. He said that Mrs George had
warned them not to use their phones in class, but
he’d tried to send a quick tweet and he’d got caught.
Sally asked Alex whether he’d apologised. He said
that he had but that Mrs George had been very strict
recently and so she’d still taken it off him.
Sally asked Alex when he would get it back but he
said that he wasn’t sure. He thought that it might be
at the end of the day.
Can you remember the rules?
Reported speech
1 When we report what someone said, there is often a change in the verb
tense between the direct speech (what the person actually said) and the
indirect (reported) speech.
‘Someone’s eaten all the food!’ he said.  He said someone had
eaten all the food.
‘I can’t do this,’ he said.  He said he couldn’t do it.
2 If the information in the direct speech is still true, we don’t necessarily
need to change the verb tense.
‘He’s hopeless,’ she told me.  He told me he’s hopeless.

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Can you remember the rules?
Reported questions and requests
1 When we report a yes/no question, we use if or whether and normal word
order (subject + verb).
‘Do you know this song?’  She asked me if I knew the song.

2 When we report wh- questions, we use the same question word and
normal word order (subject + verb).
‘Where did they go?’  He asked me where they’d gone.

3 When we report a request or order, we use asked + person + to + infinitive.

‘Please, help me!’  He asked me to help him.
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Put the dialogue in the correct order, then describe
the conversation using reported speech.
Dan: Have you heard the news? Dan:Have you heard the news?
Dan: She’s resigned and has left the school. Jane: What news?
Dan: The news about Miss Thomas. Dan:The news about Miss Thomas.
Dan: Well, she’s moving to Australia. Jane: No, I haven’t. What’s happened?
Jane:What news? Dan: She’s resigned and has left the school.
Jane:Wow! Why did she do that? Jane: Wow! Why did she do that?
Jane:Now I feel bad. I didn’t go to our last Dan:Well, she’s moving to Australia.
lesson with her. Jane: Now I feel bad. I didn’t go to our last lesson
Jane: No, I haven’t. What’s happened? with her.

Dan asked Jane if she’d heard the news. Jane didn’t know what he was talking about, so Dan told her
that the news was about Miss Thomas. Jane hadn’t heard the news and asked what had happened.
Dan told her that Miss Thomas had resigned and that she had left the school. Jane wanted to know
why Miss Thomas had done that. Dan explained that she was moving to Australia. Jane regretted not
having gone to their last lesson with Miss Thomas.

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 Complete the sentences to make them true for you.
Yester
day I a
sked m
y teache
s ed (Friend’s name) told me that … r…
ter accu
/s i s
ro t her f ...
y b o
M me My mum said that she’d never seen ….

dn’t ...
I coul
I wa s n’t
e) th
at
itte d that
d’s nam My brother/sister denied ... I adm in g to …
ie n g o
I to ld (fr

) a ca ll My gra
n said t
na m e hat she
riend ’s p
o uld gi ve ( f in touc refers to keep
I w to … h…
I s ai d

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Acknowledgements
The authors and publishers acknowledge the following sources of
copyright material and are grateful for the permissions granted. While
every effort has been made, it has not always been possible to identify
the sources of all the material used, or to trace all copyright holders. If
any omissions are brought to our notice, we will be happy to include
the appropriate acknowledgements on reprinting and in the next
update to the digital edition, as applicable.
The publishes are grateful to the following illustrator: Christos Skaltsas
(hyphen).
Written by Emma Szlachta.

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