Indirect speech / Reported speech

Practice reported speech with B1 exercises, clear explanations, and answers. Improve indirect speech grammar with interactive questions and examples.

Indirect Speech (Reported Speech) Exercises

Indirect speech, which is also called reported speech, is a way to tell someone what someone else said without using their exact words. People use it a lot when they talk and write, especially in conversations, news, and stories.

You should know how to change direct speech into reported speech at the B1 level. This means changing pronouns, verb tenses, and time expressions.

What is direct speech?

Direct speech shows the exact words that someone said. It is usually in quotation marks (” “).

Examples:

• She said, “I am tired.”
• Tom said, “I work in an office.”
• They said, “We are watching a movie.”

Direct speech says exactly what the speaker said.

What does reported speech mean?

Reported speech tells what someone said without using the exact words. We usually take out the quotation marks and change the way the sentence is put together.

Examples:

• She said that she was tired.
• Tom said that he worked in an office.
• They said that they were watching a movie.

We often use “said (that)” or “told + object (that)” to report what someone said.

How Reported Speech Works

The main parts are:

Subject + said (that) + reported clause

Examples:

• She said that she was happy.
• He said that he liked coffee.
• They said that they lived in London.

Note: The word “that” is not always necessary in informal English.

• She said she was happy.

Verb Tense Changes in Reported Speech

When the reporting verb is in the past (said, told), the verb tense usually goes back one step in time.

Common tense changes:

Examples:

Present simple → Past simple

Direct: She said, “I like pizza.”
Reported: She said that she liked pizza.

Present continuous → Past continuous

Direct: He said, “I am studying.”
Reported: He said that he was studying.

Will → Would

Direct: They said, “We will come.”
Reported: They said that they would come.

Pronoun Changes in Reported Speech

Pronouns can change depending on who is talking and who is listening.

Examples:

Direct: Anna said, “I am tired.”
Reported: Anna said that she was tired.

Direct: Mark said, “We are ready.”
Reported: Mark said that they were ready.

We change the pronouns to fit the right person.

Changes in Time Expressions

Time words often change because the time is different when reporting.

Examples:

Direct: She said, “I will call you tomorrow.”
Reported: She said that she would call me the next day.

Direct: He said, “I am busy today.”
Reported: He said that he was busy that day.

Said vs. Told

Reported speech uses both said and told, but they are structured differently.

Said:

Structure:
Subject + said + (that) + clause

Example:
She said that she was tired.

Told:

Structure:
Subject + told + object + (that) + clause

Example:
She told me that she was tired.

We must include the object after told.

Correct: She told me that she was tired.
Incorrect: She told that she was tired.

Questions about reporting

We use “asked” to report questions, and the sentence turns into a normal statement (not a question).

Yes/No questions → use if / whether

Direct: He said, “Are you busy?”
Reported: He asked if I was busy.

Wh- questions → keep the question word

Direct: She said, “Where do you live?”
Reported: She asked where I lived.

Commands and Requests for Reporting

We use the following to report commands:

told + object + to + verb

Direct: He said, “Close the door.”
Reported: He told me to close the door.

To report negative commands:

Direct: She said, “Don’t be late.”
Reported: She told me not to be late.

When Should We Use Reported Speech?

When we use reported speech,

• saying what someone else said to someone else
• talking about conversations
• writing tales
• giving news
• talking about things that have already happened

Examples:

• She said that she was tired.
• He told me that he worked from home.
• They said that they would arrive later.

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