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Form & meaning
These general rules for reported speech also apply.
- When we report questions, the subject comes before the verb.
- Direct speech: “Where are you going?”
Reported speech: He asked me where I was going. - Direct speech: “Why is he shouting?”
Reported speech: He asked me why he was shouting. - Direct speech: “What do you want?”
Reported speech: She asked me what I wanted.
- Direct speech: “Where are you going?”
- When reporting questions we don’t use the auxiliary verb do, except in negative questions.
- Direct speech: “Who doesn’t like cheese?”
Reported speech: She asked me who didn’t like cheese.
- Direct speech: “Who doesn’t like cheese?”
- We report yes/no questions with if or whether.
- Direct speech: “Do you want me to come?”
Reported speech: I asked him if he wanted me to come. - Direct speech: “Have you fed the dog?”
Reported speech: She asked me whether I had fed the dog.
- Direct speech: “Do you want me to come?”
- When we report questions with who, what or which + to be + object, the verb be can come before or after the object.
- Direct speech: “Who is the champion?”
Reported speech: She asked me who the champion was / She asked me who was the champion. - Direct speech: “What is your favourite colour?”
Reported speech: She asked me what my favourite colour was / She asked me what was my favourite colour.
- Direct speech: “Who is the champion?”
6 teaching ideas and comments
It’s very informative… It helped me a lot…
Thank you
can you convert this?
the student said, “would that my results were different”
Hi , in my book there is exercise that want change sentence from Reported question sentence to direct question
My question is ( in past perfect sentence ) how I know that this sentence change to past simple or present perfect.
Because both of them in direct speech change to past perfect .
Hi, can you write here the sentence that you need to change?
Hi
I have a question, my English teacher said we never inverted the subjects in the reported questions. But in your work I saw that you are inverted the subjects in that reported question. Can you tell me why you do this?
Hi Gorgiu
Here’s an example, without the subject and auxiliary inverted first, and then with them inverted:
1. He asked me where was I going.
2. He asked me where I was going.
The second example, with the inversion, is correct for reported speech.
However, you could say the first one like this:
1. He asked me: “Where was I going?”
This is in quite common use in spoken English, and anything which is in common use is acceptable. It’s really a mix of direct and reported speech. With kind of use we would expect just direct speech:
1. He asked me: “Where are you going?”
But as I say, anything which is in common use is acceptable, but may not be “correct” in written English or in tests and exams.
Hope this helps.
Keith