2. requests/advice/instructions in reported speech If you want to report requests, advice, promises or instructions, it can sometimes be done fairly simply by using this construction: verb + pronoun + to + infinitive In these examples note: The different reporting verbs you can use: ask, advise, tell, etc. The pronoun changes needed The tense changes needed The changes needed when we have a negative sentence
3. Examples Could you please show me where the shops are? ~ He asked me to show him where the shops were. Can you lend me £50? ~Then he asked me to lend him £50. Don’t go too near the edge of the cliffs. It’s too dangerous. ~ They warned us not to go too near the edge of the cliffs as it was too dangerous.
4. reporting yes/no questions When we are reporting yes/no questions, we have to use if or whether. We also need to change the tense to one tense further back:
5. Examples Are you going to Tom’s wedding? (present continuous) ~ She asked me if I was going to Tom’s wedding. (past continuous) Have you bought a new outfit for it? (present perfect) ~ She wondered whether I had bought a new outfit for it. (past perfect)
6. reporting wh-questions When we are reporting questions, the word order of subject and verb doesn’t change. Also, we don’t need to use do/does/did when the question is reported. Compare the following:
7. Examples What’s the matter?~ She asked me what the matter was. How do you feel today?~ The doctor asked her how she felt. Where are you going?~I wanted to know where she was going. Who is that girl in the red dress?~ I wondered who that girl in the red dress was.
8. reporting suggestions and commands There are a few verbs like suggest or insist that require the subjunctive when they are used in reported speech. This is very difficult to get right, so if you want to impress the examiner, learn it! Compare the following:
9. Let’s go to Brighton for the weekend. / Why don’t we go to Brighton for the weekend?~ I suggested that we should go to Brighton for the weekend.OR: I suggested (that) we go to Brighton for the weekend. You must do the washing up before you go out.~I insisted that she should do the washing up before she went out.OR: I insisted (that) she do the washing up before she went out.
