Indirect Speech, Indirect Questions

1.   Circle the correct word or phrase. if both are correct, circle both.

a)    When I told Mr Peters that the dog has / had eaten my homework, he didn't believe me.

b)    Adam told me that his girlfriend doesn't / didn't eat meat at all.

c)    When I saw Ed yesterday morning, he told me that he is / was going to look at a flat in the
afternoon.

d)    Roger told me about the pop quiz. He said his team were / had been doing well in the first
few rounds, but that it all went / had all gone wrong with the round about dance music.

e)    When we watched Death Watch Ill, Paul said he has / had never seen a worse movie in his life!

f)     Did Galileo say that the Earth goes / went round the sun?

g)    Phil told me on Friday that he has / had just bumped into Wally Deacon!

h)   Babs announced to us all last night that she is / was finally giving up smoking.

i)     Did you say that you do / did want sugar in your coffee or not?

j)     I told Brian last week that the office isn't / wasn't opening on Tuesday so I don't know why
he showed up yesterday morning.


2.   Complete each second sentence so that it has a similar meaning to the first sentence.

a)    'Carol and I went to a great museum when we were in Italy last month,' said Shirley.
Shirley told her friends that………………………………………………………………….

b)    'I only washed these trousers yesterday, Tony!' said his mum.
Tony's mum told………………………………………………………………………………..

c)    'You have to get all the letters sent off by tomorrow,' said Jake to his secretary as he was
leaving.
As he was leaving, Jake told…………………………………………………………………

d)    'We shall meet you all back here in exactly half an hour from now.'
Mum told me that……………………………………………………………………………...

e)    How do I get to Victoria Station?
Can you explain …………………………………………………………………...……..?

f)     Does this train go to Gatwick Airport?
Could you tell me …………………………………………………………………….…..?

g)    Where do you come from?
Would you mind telling me ……………………………………………………………..?

h)   What do you think of London?
Do you think you could tell me ………………………………………………………..?


3.   Match the direct and indirect speech expressions.

Example: here – there

here

            that day

last week

            that morning

next week

            the day before

today

            that night

tomorrow

            that /the / last

tonight

            then/ that day / right away

now

            the next day

yesterday

            the next week / the week after

this

            there

this morning

            the week before

Revision


1.   Complete each second sentence so that it has a similar meaning to the first sentence.


a)    'Luckily I don't have to go into the office this Saturday,' said Olivia.
Olivia said happily that……………………………………………………………………….

b)    'It can't be very nice having all these cars going by all the time.'
Alan commented to Rose that………………………………………………………………

c)    'I'll put these in water right now.'
Daniel's mum said that………………………………………………………………………

d)    'I told Dan two days ago that this report would have to be rewritten,' said Greg.
Greg told Jeanne that…………………………………………………………………………

e)    What time does the next boat leave?
Do you think you could tell me …………………………………………………………….?

f)     Where can I change some money?
Can you tell me ………………………………………………………………………………..?

g)    Where is the toilet?
Could you possibly tell me……………………………………………………………….…..?

h)   How much does this pullover cost?
I'd like to know …………………………………………………………………………….…..?


2.   Imagine these sentences were reported in another place and month later. Put in the ‘here’ and
‘now’ words.

a)    ‘I’ll see you tomorrow.’ She said she’d see me the next day.

b)    ‘I’ll phone you this evening.’ He said he’d phone ....................................

c)    ‘Do you like it here?’ She asked if I liked it ....................................

d)    ‘My uncle died last week.’ He told me his uncle had died ....................................

e)    ‘This meat tastes funny.’ She said .................................... tasted funny.

f)     ‘I’m leaving now.’ He told us he was leaving ....................................

g)    ‘I overslept this morning.’ She told him she’d overslept ....................................

h)   ‘The trains leaves at 11.00 tonight.’ I was told the train left at 11.00
........................

i)     ‘Pete phoned me yesterday.’ He said Pete had phoned him ....................................

j)     ‘My sister’s arriving home today.’ She said her sister was arriving home .................