In the following exercises, you will practice the transformation of sentences from direct to indirect/reported speech. They include all types of sentences: statements, commands/requests, and questions.
Reported speech exercise: requests/commands
Change the following sentences to the indirect/reported speech
- “Stop talking, Joe,” the teacher said.
- “Be patient,” she said to him.
- “Go to your room,” her father said to her.
- “Hurry up,” she said to us.
- “Give me the key,” he told her.
- “Play it again, Sam,” she said.
- “Sit down, Caron,” he said.
- “Fill in the form, Sir,” the receptionist said.
- “Take off your shoes,” she told us.
- “Mind your own business,” she told him.
- “Don’t touch it,” she said to him.
- “Don’t do that again,” he said to me.“Don’t talk to me like that,” he said.
- “Don’t repair the computer yourself,” she warned him.
- “Don’t let him in,” she said.
- “Don’t go out without me,” he begged her.
- “Don’t forget your bag,” she told me.
- “Don’t eat in the lab,” the chemistry teacher said.
- “Don’t give yourself up,” he advised her.
- “Don’t hurt yourselves, boys,” she said.
- She said, “Go upstairs.”
- “Close the door behind you,” he told me.
- “Don’t be late,” he advised us.
- “Stop staring at me,” she said.
- “Don’t be angry with me,” he said.
- “Leave me alone,” she said.
Reported speech exercise: questions
Change the following sentences to the indirect/reported speech
- “Where is my umbrella?” she asked.
- “How are you?” Martin asked us.
- He asked, “Do I have to do it?”
- “Where have you been?” the mother asked her daughter.
- “Which dress do you like best?” she asked her boyfriend.
- “What are they doing?” she asked.
- “Are you going to the cinema?” he asked me.
- The teacher asked, “Who speaks English?”
- “How do you know that?” she asked me.
- “Has Caron talked to Kevin?” my friend asked me.
- “What’s the time?” he asked.
- “When will we meet again?” she asked me.
- “Are you crazy?” she asked him.
- “Where did they live?” he asked.
- “Will you be at the party?” he asked her.
- “Can you meet me at the station?” she asked me.
- “Who knows the answer?” the teacher asked.
- “Why don’t you help me?” she asked him.
- “Did you see that car?” he asked me.
- “Have you tidied up your room?” the mother asked the twins.
Reported speech exercise: statements
Change the following sentences to the indirect/reported speech
- They said, “This is our book.”
- She said, “I went to the cinema yesterday.”
- He said, “I am writing a test tomorrow.”
- You said, “I will do this for him.”
- She said, “I am not hungry now.”
- They said, “We have never been here before.”
- They said, “We were in London last week.”
- He said, “I will have finished this paper by tomorrow.”
- He said, “They won’t sleep.”
- She said, “It is very quiet here.”
Mixed sentences
Change the following sentences to the indirect/reported speech
- He said, “I like this song.”
- “Where is your sister?” she asked me.
- “I don’t speak Italian,” she said.
- “Say hello to Jim,” they said.
- “The film began at seven o’clock,” he said.
- “Don’t play on the grass, boys,” she said.
- “Where have you spent your money?” she asked him.
- “I never make mistakes,” he said.
- “Does she know Robert?” he wanted to know.
- “Don’t try this at home,” the man told the audience.
- “I was very tired,” she said.
- “Be careful, Ben,” she said.
- “I will get myself a drink,” she says.
- “Why haven’t you phoned me?” he asked me.
- “I cannot drive them home,” he said.
- “Peter, do you prefer tea or coffee?” she says.
- “Where did you spend your holidays last year?” she asked me.
- He said, “Don’t go too far.”
- “Have you been shopping?” he asked us.
- “Don’t make so much noise,” he says.
