reported speech objectives

3.6.2 Reported Speech Lesson Plan

In the BrainPOP ELL movie Little Red Fairytale (L3U6L2) , Ben retells the classic fairytale, “Little Red Riding Hood,” as a puppet show.  Ben’s version includes funny twists and a surprise ending! Students enjoy the show as they listen carefully for reported speech. In this lesson plan, adaptable for grades 3-8, students paraphrase statements using reported speech, and use context to distinguish shades of meaning among reporting verbs.

Lesson Plan Common Core State Standards Alignments

Students will:.

• Restate dialogue from the movie using reported speech.
• Distinguish shades of meaning among reporting verbs.
• Research famous quotes and turn them into reported speech.
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• Puppets, or materials to make them

Vocabulary:

Preparation:, lesson procedure:.

• Now You Do It. In a repeat viewing of the movie Little Red Fairytale (L3U6L2) , pause after a character says a line, and ask, “What did he say?” Students answer using reported speech. Note: We will learn about Reported Questions and Commands in the next lesson, so you may not want to use those examples. Alternatively, show the Grammar movie, pausing before Ben repeats what he has said. Challenge students to make the reported speech statement. Then continue playing, for students to confirm their statements.
• Reporting Verbs. There are many reporting verbs besides say and tell . Remind students that they can make speech and writing more interesting by using a variety of reporting verbs, depending on the context of the sentences. Distribute the sentences to students (see Preparation), or write them on the board for students to copy. Instruct students to change each sentence to a reported statement using reporting verbs listed in Know More : add, admit, agree, complain, conclude, consider, convince, cry, explain, guess, inform, observe, persuade, promise, remind, repeat, roar, suggest, tell, think, say, scream, shout, whisper, yell . To differentiate for an added challenge, have students fold their papers and look only at the left side of the page.
• Report the Quote. Display examples of famous quotes and ask students to restate each one using reported statements. For example: Martin Luther King, Jr. said, “I have a dream.” → Martin Luther King, Jr. said that he had a dream. Julius Caesar said, “I came, I saw, I conquered.” → Julius Caesar said that he had come, he had seen, and he had conquered. For homework, assign students to research at least three other famous quotes, writing each one on a separate index card. Have students read their quotes, turning them into reported speech. Then ask other students what the original quotes were, and discuss what the speakers meant in context.
• Guess the Song. For homework, assign students to find a song they like and paraphrase it, reporting what the singer said. Have them report the “story” of the song to the class or a partner, and ask the class or their partners to guess the song.

EXTENSION ACTIVITIES

With a partner, or in groups of three, students turn the movie  Little Red Fairytale (L3U6L2) into a dialogue, changing the reported statements to direct speech. They should have three characters: Little Red, Little Red’s mother, and the wolf. Allow time to prepare and practice their skits, and then perform them for the class.

Alternatively, students may want to create their own puppet shows. Puppets are effective tools for facilitating dialogue among language learners. If you have puppets, bring some in or have students create their own with socks or brown paper bags. Ask students to share what they know about puppet shows and to discuss ones they have seen. You might show examples of puppet shows from the Internet. In pairs or small groups, have students write dialogue to create a puppet show of their own. They may want to adapt another familiar fairytale.

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Grammar lesson plan: Reported speech, for levels C1+

Though a fastidious grammar point, accurate use of reported speech is essential to daily life. C1 students will have a strong grasp of this form. However, they may not know all the conventions.

Write this sentence on the whiteboard:

“In a village at the base of a mountain, there is a barber who cuts the hair of everyone who does not cut their own hair. Does the barber cut his own hair?”

Set a two minute time limit and have the students discuss in pairs. Walk around the room and ask them questions like:

TEACHER (to A) : What did B say in response to this question?

A : B said that the barber gets his hair cut by another barber in the neighboring village.

TEACHER (to B) : What did A say?

B : A thinks that if the barber were bald then he wouldn’t need to cut his hair.

Just remember: whenever Direct Speech is changed into Reported Speech, move the tense back one position.

Present Simple

“He is here.” →

He said he was here.

is + -ing → was + -ing

“He is running late.” →

He said he was running late.

Past Simple

Was – had been

was/were + -ing →

had been + -ing

modal of certainty

Will → would

Can → could

“I can’t do it.” →

He said he couldn’t do it.

3. Practice activity

Students work in pairs and are assigned  A (job interview) / B (first date). They ask each other questions and record each other’s responses. Ask students to ensure their responses are brief but creative. After each has recorded their partner’s responses, pairs work together to convert their responses from Direct Speech to Reported Speech.

Use these questions, and accelerated learners to create their own questions if they prefer.

Job interview questions

First date questions

What was the last job you had?

Have you ever been in a long term relationship?

What positions have you had?

Do you smoke?

Possible responses:

Job interview responses

First date responses

“I worked in online marketing.”

“In my twenties, I was in a long-term relationship for five years.”

“I was an administrative assistant. Now I’m a marketing consultant.”

“I used to smoke, but I gave it up.”

Possible Reported Speech responses:

B said she had worked in online marketing.

A had been in a long-term relationship in her twenties.

B had been an administrative assistant. Now she said she was a marketing consultant.

A confessed to having been a smoker.

Here’s a breakdown of how pair interaction should go:

A asks B first date questions .

B asks A interview questions .

B responds in Direct Speech . A records the answer.

A responds in Direct Speech . B records the answer.

A rewrites B’s answer in Reported Speech .

B rewrites A’s answer in Reported Speech .

Teacher monitors and corrects answers.

4. Production activity: “While You Were Away”

Students write a script beginning with “While you were away…”

In new pairs, students create a list of messages that they recorded for their partner while he/she was away.

Example: (can be given to students as a model and read aloud)

FRED : “Hi Elizabeth. It’s Fred from the office. Is Jackie there?”

ELIZABETH : “No, I’m afraid she’s popped out for a moment. Can I take a message?”

F : “Yes. Do you mind telling her that the meeting tomorrow has been pushed from ten to one. She doesn’t need to bring lunch as the company will provide it.”

E : “Meeting is now at one and lunch will be provided.”

F : “Perfect. Oh, and one more thing.”

E : “Sure.”

F: “Remind Jackie not to forget her trainers. A few of us are going on a run after work.”

E : “Remember trainers. Got it.”

F : “Thanks a million, Lizzie. Bye-bye!”

E : “Bye, Fred.”

Part 1: Their main task is to compose what the caller is saying. The person taking the message doesn’t have a complex speaking part. “Can I take a message?” is all that they need to say.

Part 2: After that, pairs in the classroom exchange their scripts. They must take the script and write a new one. This script is between the person who recorded the messages and the person for whom the messages are.

ELIZABETH : “Hi Jackie! I’ve got a few messages for you from Fred.”

JACKIE : “What are they?”

E : “Well, Fred said that the meeting tomorrow had been pushed from ten to one. He also said that they would provide lunch.”

J : “Excellent. Free lunch! Anything else?”

E : “Yes. Fred asked me to remind you to bring your trainers because a few of the office staff would be going on a run after work.”

J : “You’re an angel, Lizzie. Thanks!”

E : “No problem.”

5. Wrap-up:

Assign some homework where they must use the following sentences in conversations:

“So what you’re saying is…”

“I heard you say you like ice-skating…” Etc.

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Using Reported Speech: ESL Lesson Plan

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Reported speech is also known as indirect speech and is commonly used in spoken conversations to report what others have said. A keen grasp of correct tense usage, as well as the ability to correctly shift pronouns and time expressions, is essential when using  reported speech .

The use of reported speech is especially important at higher English levels . Students are fine-tuning their communication skills to include expressing the ideas of others, as well as their own opinions. Students usually need to focus not only on the grammar involved but also on production skills. Reported speech includes some rather tricky transformations that need to be practiced repeatedly before students feel comfortable using reported speech in everyday conversations.

Finally, make sure to point out that reported speech is generally used with the verbs 'say' and 'tell' in the past. 

"He'll help him with the homework." -> She told me he would help me with my homework. 

However, if the reporting verb is conjugated in the present tense, no reported speech changes are necessary.

"I'm going to Seattle next week." -> Peter says he's going to Seattle next week. 

Lesson Outline

Aim: Developing reported speech grammar and productions skills

Activity: Introduction and written reporting activity, followed by spoken practice in the form of a questionnaire

Level: Upper-intermediate

• Introduce/review reported speech by making simple statements and asking students to report what you have said. Make sure to emphasize reporting in the past (i.e., "the teacher said ", NOT "the teacher says ")
• Provide review sheet of principle reported speech transitions (included in lesson printout pages)
• Have students get into pairs and convert the reported speech paragraph into the direct speech form.
• Correct worksheet as a class.
• Ask students to divide up into new pairs and ask each other questions from the questionnaire. Remind them to take notes on what their partners say.
• Have students divide into new pairs and ask them to report what they have learned about the other students to their new partner (i.e., John said he had lived in Breubach for two years).
• Follow-up with class conversation focusing on problematic tense transformations.

Reported Speech

Study the following chart carefully. Notice how reported speech is one step back into the past from direct speech.

Time Expression Changes

Time expressions such as 'at the moment' are also changed when using reported speech. Here are some of the most common changes:

at the moment / right now / now -> at that moment / at that time

"We're watching TV right now." -> She told me they were watching TV at that time.

yesterday -> the previous day / the day before

"I bought some groceries yesterday." -> He told me he had bought some groceries the previous day.

tomorrow -> the following day / the next day

"She'll be at the party tomorrow." -> She told me she would be at the party the next day.

Exercise 1: Put the following paragraph in the reported speech into the conversational form using direct speech  (quotes).

Peter introduced me to Jack who said he was pleased to meet me. I replied that it was my pleasure and that I hoped Jack was enjoying his stay in Seattle. He said he thought Seattle was a beautiful city, but that it rained too much. He said that he had been staying at the Bayview Hotel for three weeks and that it hadn't stopped raining since he had arrived. Of course, he said, this wouldn't have surprised him if it hadn't been July! Peter replied that he should have brought warmer clothes. He then continued by saying that he was going to fly to Hawaii the following week, and he that he couldn't wait to enjoy some sunny weather. Both Jack and I commented that Peter was a lucky person indeed.

Exercise 2: Ask your partner the following questions making sure to take good notes . After you have finished the questions, find a new partner and report what you have learned about your first partner using reported speech .

• What is your favorite sport and how long have you been playing/doing it?
• What are your plans for your next vacation?
• How long have you known your best friend? Can you give me a description of him/her?
• What kind of music do you like? Have you always listened to that kind of music?
• What did you use to do when you were younger that you don't do anymore?
• Do you have any predictions about the future?
• Can you tell me what you do on a typical Saturday afternoon?
• What were you doing yesterday at this time?
• Which two promises will you make concerning learning English?
• Indirect Speech in the English Language
• How to Teach Reported Speech
• Reporting Verbs for English Language Learners
• Time Expressions and Tenses
• Expressing Opinions of Best and Worst
• Present Continuous Worksheets
• How to Teach the Present Simple
• Visual Explanations of Each English Tense
• ESL Lesson Plan for Paired Conjunctions
• Dialogue and Multiple Choice Questions: Having a Hard Time Finding a Job
• Asking Questions Lesson Plan for Lower Level Students
• How Many Verb Tenses Are There in English?
• Know your Auxiliary Verbs
• Essential Basic English Lessons
• Example Sentences With the Verb "Give"
• Grammar Lesson: Tense Review

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Reported speech provides a challenge for most learners of English. The shifting tenses and changes to both pronouns and modal verbs take time to learn and practice to use effectively. This practice is key because reported speech requires accuracy on the part of the speaker. Even minor errors can make it difficult for the listener to understand when the action in the reported speech occurred.

When working with reported speech, it is helpful to have the students work through the sentence by identifying the following grammar aspects of the direct speech that is to be converted to reported speech.

1.     Identify the type of sentence. Is it a statement, a command, or a question?

• This will determine the reporting verb used, such as said , told , or asked .

2.     Identify the verb tense used in the direct speech as the verb tenses will backshift when being changed to reported speech.

• Note: Although it is not standard, some native speakers may not change present tense into past tense for facts. For example “Mt. Everest is the tallest mountain in the world” can change to “She said Mt. Everest is the tallest mountain in the world.”

3.     Identify the pronoun and change it accordingly. For example, “I like soccer” requires a change of pronoun to he or she “She said she likes soccer”.

4.     Identify any times and/or places. These will need to be changed when converting to reported speech. For example, “I will come there after class” changes to “She told me she would come here after class.”

In this month’s Teacher’s Corner, we will showcase four activities that can be used to practice reported speech. These activities are designed to give students practice using reported speech in a variety of ways. The activities create opportunities for students to practice reported speech in both spoken and written form.

Week 1 – Reported Speech Overview

Week 2 – Gossip and Rumors

Week 3 – Trace Effects

Week 4 – World News Report

The goal in each of these activities is to provide students opportunities to work through the steps above to convert direct speech to reported speech. Week 1 works with the mechanics of reported speech and centers on an interview activity. Week 2 encourages students to get to know each other better by using a variation of the game “two truths and a lie.” Week 3 provides a variety of reported speech activities that utilize the game Trace Effects . Week 4 gives students the chance to work with reported speech to deliver news reports in the classroom.

Table of Contents

Low-Intermediate to Advanced

Language Focus

Speaking, listening (primary focus); writing (secondary focus)

Students will increase their understanding of reported speech through a matching and interview activity.

• Teacher: whiteboard/chalkboard, markers or chalk, a timing device, a world map for reference, match-up cards (Appendix 1), reported speech interviews worksheet (Appendix 2).
• Students: pencils or pens, notebooks or writing paper.

Preparation

This week’s Teacher’s Corner introduces students to the grammatical structures in reported speech. Students will practice matching direct speech to reported speech and then practice changing direct speech to reported speech via interviews with fellow students.

1.     Read through all the materials carefully.

2.     Print one copy of the reported speech match-up cards found in Appendix 1 for the class activity. For larger classes, multiple copies may be needed.

• There are 39 cards in total. For smaller classes, the match-up activity can be completed in rounds – first the verb tenses and then the modals.

3.     Once the match-up cards have been printed, cut them into individual cards. These cards are in three categories: verb tense (x13 cards), direct speech (x13 cards), and reported speech (x13 cards).

4.     For the interview activity, print enough of the reported speech interviews worksheets in Appendix 2 so that each student has a copy. These print outs do not need to be cut into individual cards.

Part 1 – Reported Speech Match Up

1.     Begin the class activity by having the students stand up and mix themselves around.

2.     Next, give each student one of the 39 cards found in Appendix 1.

• Students should keep their card hidden at the start and not show it to their classmates.
• Instruct the students that when you say “Go!” they should move around the room and match their card with the correct cards held by other students.
• Once they find the students with the matching cards, they should stand in a group.

Note : Students will end up forming groups of three – one student with the verb tense card, one with the direct speech card, and one with the reported speech card. For example:

        Student #1                            Student #2                                                Student #3

3.     Yell “Go!” and have the students mingle and find the students with the correct cards.

4.     Once all of the groups of students have been formed, have them read their card aloud to the rest of class. Have them begin with the verb tense, then the direct speech, and then the reported speech.

5.     Once finished, have the students turn in their cards, mix them up and then play again. Play as many rounds as time permits.

Part 2 – Interviews

1.     Have the students sit down. The first portion of this activity is individual work, so they do not need to sit with a partner or group.

2.     Give each student a copy of the reported speech interviews worksheets found in Appendix 2.

3.     Have the students read through the sheet. Ask them if they have any questions before beginning the writing portion of the activity.

4.     Next, instruct the students to choose 10 out of the 13 possible verb tenses or modals. The students then write 10 questions using the verb tenses or modals that they selected.

• Students should write their questions in the left column under Verb Tenses . For example:

5.     After the students have written their questions, have them find a partner.

6.     Once the students are in pairs, organize each pair into student A or student B.

7.     Student A begins by asking their questions to student B. When student B answers, student A should write down the answer under the column Direct Speech .

8.     Once student A is finished asking questions, have the pair switch roles: Student B asks questions and student A answers the questions. Student B should write down student A’s answers in the Direct Speech column as well.

9.     After the interviews have been completed, have the students return to their seats. Now, each student should take the answers provided by their partner and convert them to reported speech. Instruct them to write down the reported speech in the column on their worksheet labeled Reported Speech .

Part 3 – Information Sharing

1.     Once students have converted their partner’s direct speech to reported speech, have them stand up and find a new partner.

2.     With their new partner, have the students share the answers provided by their previous partner. Circulate around the room to ensure that students are using reported speech.

• For more advanced classes, have them also use reported speech to report the questions they asked as well. For example:  Susan: “I asked Robert if he likes to read. Roberto said he enjoys reading  mystery stories.”

3.     Once each student has reported on the answers of their previous partner, bring the class back together. If time permits, have the students share the answers with the rest of the class.

Appendix 1: Reported Speech Match-Up

Verb Tenses

Appendix 2: Reported Speech Interviews

Students will practice using reported speech through discussing gossip and rumors.

• Teacher: whiteboard/chalkboard, markers or chalk, “Two Truths” Appendix 1.

This week’s Teacher’s Corner is using a variation on the game “Two Truths and a Lie”. The game is simple; each player tells two facts that are true and one that is a lie. The other players must correctly guess which one of the three statements is a lie. In this variation of the game, students will write their statements down on a sheet of paper, trade them with other students, and then use reported speech to share these statements with the class.

• Read through all the materials carefully.
• Print out the “Two Truths and a Lie” cards in Appendix 1. Make enough copies so that each student in class has a statement card. Note : If playing multiple rounds, print enough copies so each student has one card per game.
• Each game will have five rounds. In the first round, student A will talk to his/her partner, reporting on the statements. Their partner (student B) will choose the statement they believe is a lie. Student A will then note on their card student B’s choice in the “Vote for a Lie” table at the bottom of their card. The pair of students will repeat this process for student B’s card. Once both students have noted their partner’s vote, they will find new partners and repeat the process. Once each student has talked to five other students and registered the votes, the game is over.
• After students have played two rounds and have become familiar with the game, encourage them to expand the game to include statements about their favorite celebrities and/or sports stars. For example a student may write:

Lionel Messi has won eight La Liga titles.

Lionel Messi plays for Real Madrid.

Lionel Messi has won three European Golden Shoes.

Part 1 – Two Truths and a Lie Statements Cards

• Tell the students to think about two facts and one untrue fact about themselves. Encourage the students to think carefully so that the lie is difficult to detect!
• Next, pass out the “Two Truths and a Lie” statement card to the students.
• Have the students write down their name at the top of the card and their three statements in the numbered spaces provided. Note : Remind students to mix up their statements. If each student writes the lie as the third statement, the game will become predictable!

Part 2 – “Did you know that…?”

• Next, have each student switch their card with a classmate so that each student now has another student’s card.
• Instruct the students to read the card and convert the statements to reported speech.  For example : Susan writes, “I went to America”, so John should change it to, “Susan said that she has gone to America.  Note : When gossiping in English, the beginning of a sentence is typically altered to make the news more exciting. For example, instead of “Susan said that…” the sentence may begin with a phrase such as, “Did you hear that…”or “Do you think that…” or “I heard that…” While lower level classes may need to practice the more formal structures, more advanced students can use these more informal phrases.
• Next, have the students stand up and find a partner. They can choose any partner except the person who has their original card (and whose card they now have).
• Each student should report the information on the card to their partner. After hearing the three statements, their partner should guess which one is the lie. Each student should mark down their partner’s guess at the bottom of their card.
• Have the students switch and find a new partner and repeat the process.
• After five rounds, have the students find the classmate whose card they have. Have the students share the results with their partner. Note : If time permits, have students volunteer to share their results with the class. Which student had the most believable lie?

Optional Activity

If time permits, have the students play another round. This time, have them create statements about each other or their favorite celebrities or sports stars.

Appendix 1: Two Truths and a Lie

Intermediate to Advanced

Speaking, listening (primary focus); reading (secondary focus)

Students will increase their reported speech skills through role play activities centered on the game Trace Effects .

• Teacher: whiteboard/chalkboard, markers or chalk, computer and projector, computer lab if possible, copies of Trace Effects (online or DVD version). Copies of the Trace Effects Chapter 1 comics, which can be found in the downloads section of this webpage.

This week’s Teacher’s Corner uses the video game Trace Effects to practice reported speech. Trace Effects , like other video games, requires players to solve problems using the information provided. Gathering information in Trace Effects requires asking questions and listening to the answers. This question and answer format makes it an effective way for students to practice reported speech.

This week’s Teacher’s Corner provides a series of activities centered on Trace Effects to help students practice reported speech. If you have never played Trace Effects, you can find it here .

• These activities are best used in a computer lab, if possible. Have students work on the computers in pairs or small groups.
• The fourth activity is an information gap using Chapter 1 of the Trace Effects Comic book. When students are paired for the activity, one student will have the regular version of the comic and his/her partner will have a special version of the same comic. This special version will have some of the text missing. Both are included in the “Downloads” section of this week’s Teacher’s Corner web page.

Trace Telephone – Pairs or Small Groups

1.     Before class, ensure that each computer has a set of headphones.

2.     Have the students form pairs or small groups. Each pair or small group should have a computer on which to work.

3.     Next, have the students go to the webpage Trace Effects . If your school has DVD copies of Trace Effects , or the game is installed on school computers, have the students use that version.

4.     Provide each student a role during gameplay: one student (the controller) should control the mouse and keyboard, while a second student (the reporter) listens to the audio in the headphones.

a.     If playing in small groups, the third student can be the “grammar checker.” Their job is to listen to what they reporter tells the controller and check the reported speech that the reporter uses.

5.     Let the groups begin a game of Trace Effects . The player with the headphones must communicate the responses of the other characters to their partner or group.

a.     If playing as a whole class, have one student come to the front of the class to be the reporter. The remainder of the class can shout out/vote for what should be selected next in the dialogue chain.

Trace Telephone – Class Version

1.     If a computer lab is not available, a similar activity to the one above can be conducted as a whole class.

2.     In this version of the activity, one student works as the controller of the game while another student uses the headphones to listen to the audio.

3.     Taking turns, students come to the front of the class and put on the headphones. The student must listen to the dialogue from the NPCs (Non-Playable Characters) and change the speech they hear to reported speech. Using reported speech, they must tell the class what they heard.

4.     If the student uses reported speech successfully, they continue to be the class reporter. If the student does not use the correct reported speech, the reporter must sit down and a new student comes to the front of the class to assume the role.

a.     Optional: When a student reports the dialogue incorrectly, they can take over controlling the game.

5.     The student who correctly reports the dialogue the most number of times in a row wins!

Trace Summary – Chapter 2

Reported speech is regularly used when summarizing an event or telling a story. In this activity, students will report on the events of Trace Effects Chapter 2.

1.     Place students into pairs or small groups. These pairs/small groups will work together to complete Trace Effects Chapter 2.

2.     Have the students play Chapter 2 of the game.

a.     While students play the chapter, have them take notes about the events in the game.

• Encourage them to take notes on who Trace talks to and what the characters say to Trace.

b.     If students are playing in pairs or small groups, have them take turns at the controls. This chapter of Trace Effects has two scenes: the farmers’ market and a high school. Students can switch turns on the controls when the scene changes.

3.     Once students have completed the chapter, have them provide a summary of the chapter in the form of a story. For example:

Trace asked the woman at the tomato booth if she was Emma Fields. The woman said no and told Trace to ask the people at the corn booth.

4.     Depending on the level of the students, the summary can be presented in class as a spoken activity, or students can take their notes home and write a summary to be presented in class the following day.

Trace Effects – Comic Book

This activity is best completed after students have played Trace Effects Chapter 1. This activity can also benefit from being conducted in a computer lab if possible.

1.     Have the students form pairs of A and B.

2.     Give half the students (student A) copies of the Trace Effects Chapter 1 – Blanks comic book included with this activity.

3.     Give the other half of the class (student B) a copy of the Trace Effects Chapter 1 comic.

4.     Instruct student A to fill in the blanks in their comic by asking student B what was said by the characters with the missing text. Student B should give the missing lines using reported speech. Student A should listen to the reported speech and convert it to direct speech and fill in the words missing in the speech bubbles.

• Note: to extend the activity and give both students in the pair the opportunity to work with reported speech, hand out only half of the comic (pages 3-5) to the students. Then, once the pairs have completed those pages, have them switch roles and to complete the second half of the comic (pages 6-8).

High-Intermediate to Advanced

Speaking, reading (primary focus); writing, listening (secondary focus)

Students will practice using reported speech by giving news reports.

• Teacher: whiteboard/chalkboard, markers or chalk, copies of the article “ Scott Kelly Reflects On His Year Off The Planet ”.

This week’s Teacher’s Corner practices reported speech through reporting on news stories. Reporting on events, such as news stories, allow students to practice a larger variety of verbs when using reported speech.

• Read through all the materials carefully before starting the activity.
• Read the article “ Scott Kelly Reflects On His Year Off The Planet ” before class to identify vocabulary that may be new or challenging to students. Identify the quotes made by astronaut Scott Kelly in the article; students will convert these quotes to reported speech.
• Print a copy of the article for each student to read or, if possible, complete part one of the activity in a computer lab.

Part 1 – In-Class Practice

1.     Pass out copies of the article “ Scott Kelly Reflects On His Year Off The Planet ”, or provide students a link to the article if working in a computer lab.

2.     Have the students read the article.

3.     Once the students have finished reading, have the students underline or highlight the quotes made by astronaut Scott Kelly in the article. If students are reading the article online, have them write the quotes on a sheet of paper.

4.     Next, have the students write a short summary of the article. Instruct them to use at least two quotes from astronaut Kelly. These quotes must be changed to reported speech.

a.     For lower level classes, students can do the summary in pairs or small groups.

b.     Advance classes can use this opportunity not only to practice reported speech but to cite sources as well.

• For example, with Scott Kelly’s quote, "I have taken a lot of pictures because I've been up here for a long time," can be changed to: Kelly told reporters that he had taken a lot of pictures because he had been up there a long time .
• More advanced classes can also use reported speech to summarize what the author of the article wrote, such as: Brumfiel states that when Kelly had returned to Earth he had spent 340 days aboard the International Space Station .

5.     Have students switch summaries with another student. The students read their partner’s summary and analyze how closely it matches the information in the article. Instruct the students to make corrections to any errors they see in the reported speech contained in the summary.

a.     Optional: The summaries can be collected and corrections made to the reported speech.

Part 2 – Homework

1.     Now that students have practice with the in-class article, assign them homework to find a new article on which to report.

2.     Encourage students to find an article on a topic they enjoy. A resource for articles designed for learners of English is Voice of America .

3.     Have the students summarize their article and, as in the class example, include at least two instances of reported speech.

Part 3 – In-Class Report

1.     In the next class, have the students present their article summary to the class. Give each student two minutes to present their summary to the class.

2.     Encourage students not to rely on their writing but to try giving the summary from memory.

Optional variations

1.     Make this a regular activity in your class by requiring students to present a news report each week. Each class period, a set number of students can provide a report, such as two students at the start of each class.

2.     If class time is limited, have the students record their summaries and submit them as audio journals. For ideas on student recordings, see the September 2015 Teacher’s Corner on using Audacity recording software.

For more ways to incorporate global affairs and news into your classroom check out the Teacher’s Corner for March 2016 .

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• B1-B2 grammar

Reported speech

Daisy has just had an interview for a summer job. 

Instructions

As you watch the video, look at the examples of reported speech. They are in  red  in the subtitles. Then read the conversation below to learn more. Finally, do the grammar exercises to check you understand, and can use, reported speech correctly.

Sophie:  Mmm, it’s so nice to be chilling out at home after all that running around.

Ollie: Oh, yeah, travelling to glamorous places for a living must be such a drag!

Ollie: Mum, you can be so childish sometimes. Hey, I wonder how Daisy’s getting on in her job interview.

Sophie: Oh, yes, she said she was having it at four o’clock, so it’ll have finished by now. That’ll be her ... yes. Hi, love. How did it go?

Daisy: Well, good I think, but I don’t really know. They said they’d phone later and let me know.

Sophie: What kind of thing did they ask you?

Daisy: They asked if I had any experience with people, so I told them about helping at the school fair and visiting old people at the home, that sort of stuff. But I think they meant work experience.

Sophie: I’m sure what you said was impressive. They can’t expect you to have had much work experience at your age.

Daisy:  And then they asked me what acting I had done, so I told them that I’d had a main part in the school play, and I showed them a bit of the video, so that was cool.

Sophie:  Great!

Daisy: Oh, and they also asked if I spoke any foreign languages.

Sophie: Languages?

Daisy: Yeah, because I might have to talk to tourists, you know.

Sophie: Oh, right, of course.

Daisy: So that was it really. They showed me the costume I’ll be wearing if I get the job. Sending it over ...

Ollie: Hey, sis, I heard that Brad Pitt started out as a giant chicken too! This could be your big break!

Daisy: Ha, ha, very funny.

Sophie: Take no notice, darling. I’m sure you’ll be a marvellous chicken.

We use reported speech when we want to tell someone what someone said. We usually use a reporting verb (e.g. say, tell, ask, etc.) and then change the tense of what was actually said in direct speech.

So, direct speech is what someone actually says? Like 'I want to know about reported speech'?

Yes, and you report it with a reporting verb.

He said he wanted to know about reported speech.

I said, I want and you changed it to he wanted .

Exactly. Verbs in the present simple change to the past simple; the present continuous changes to the past continuous; the present perfect changes to the past perfect; can changes to could ; will changes to would ; etc.

She said she was having the interview at four o’clock. (Direct speech: ' I’m having the interview at four o’clock.') They said they’d phone later and let me know. (Direct speech: ' We’ll phone later and let you know.')

OK, in that last example, you changed you to me too.

Yes, apart from changing the tense of the verb, you also have to think about changing other things, like pronouns and adverbs of time and place.

'We went yesterday.'  > She said they had been the day before. 'I’ll come tomorrow.' >  He said he’d come the next day.

I see, but what if you’re reporting something on the same day, like 'We went yesterday'?

Well, then you would leave the time reference as 'yesterday'. You have to use your common sense. For example, if someone is saying something which is true now or always, you wouldn’t change the tense.

'Dogs can’t eat chocolate.' > She said that dogs can’t eat chocolate. 'My hair grows really slowly.' >  He told me that his hair grows really slowly.

What about reporting questions?

We often use ask + if/whether , then change the tenses as with statements. In reported questions we don’t use question forms after the reporting verb.

'Do you have any experience working with people?' They asked if I had any experience working with people. 'What acting have you done?' They asked me what acting I had done .

Is there anything else I need to know about reported speech?

One thing that sometimes causes problems is imperative sentences.

You mean like 'Sit down, please' or 'Don’t go!'?

Exactly. Sentences that start with a verb in direct speech need a to + infinitive in reported speech.

She told him to be good. (Direct speech: 'Be good!') He told them not to forget. (Direct speech: 'Please don’t forget.')

OK. Can I also say 'He asked me to sit down'?

Yes. You could say 'He told me to …' or 'He asked me to …' depending on how it was said.

OK, I see. Are there any more reporting verbs?

Yes, there are lots of other reporting verbs like promise , remind , warn , advise , recommend , encourage which you can choose, depending on the situation. But say , tell and ask are the most common.

Great. I understand! My teacher said reported speech was difficult.

And I told you not to worry!

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• English Grammar
• Clause structure and verb patterns

Reported speech

Level: intermediate

Reporting and summarising

When we want to report what people say, we don't usually try to report their exact words. We usually give a  summary , for example:

Direct speech (exact words) :

Mary :  Oh dear. We've been walking for hours! I'm exhausted. I don't think I can go any further. I really need to stop for a rest. Peter :  Don't worry. I'm not surprised you're tired. I'm tired too. I'll tell you what, let's see if we can find a place to sit down, and then we can stop and have our picnic.

Reported speech (summary) :

When Mary complained that she was tired out after walking so far, Peter said they could stop for a picnic.

Reporting verbs

When we want to report what people say, we use reporting verbs . Different reporting verbs have different patterns, for example:

Mary complained (that) she was tired . (verb + that clause) She asked if they could stop for a rest . (verb + if clause) Peter told her not to worry . (verb + to -infinitive) He suggested stopping and having a picnic . (verb + - ing form) 

See reporting verbs with that , wh-  and if clauses , verbs followed by the infinitive , verbs followed by the -ing form .

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Tenses in reported speech

When reporting what people say or think in English, we need to remember that the rules for tense forms in reported speech are exactly the same as in the rest of the language.

This is a letter that Andrew wrote ten years ago:

If we wanted to report what Andrew said in his letter, we might say something like this: 

Andrew said that when he  was  22, he was an engineering student in his last month at university. He wanted  to travel abroad after he  had finished  his course at the university, but he would need to earn some money while he was abroad so he wanted  to learn to teach English as a foreign language. A friend  had recommended  a course but Andrew needed more information, so he wrote to the school and asked them when their courses started  and how much they were . He also wanted to know if there was  an examination at the end of the course.

We would naturally use past tense forms to talk about things which happened ten years ago. So, tenses in reports and summaries in English are the same as in the rest of the language.

Sometimes we can choose between a past tense form and a  present tense  form. If we're talking about the past but we mention something that's still true , we can use the present tense:

John said he'd stayed at the Shangri-la because it' s the best hotel in town. Mary said she enjoyed the film because Robert de Niro is her favourite actor. Helen said she  loves visiting New York.

or the past tense:

John said he'd stayed at the Shangri-la because it was the best hotel in town. Mary said she enjoyed the film because Robert de Niro was her favourite actor. Helen said she  loved visiting New York.

If we're talking about something that  everybody knows is true , we normally use the present tense :

Michael said he'd always wanted to climb Everest because it' s the highest mountain in the world. Mary said she loved visiting New York because it' s such an exciting city.

Hi! I found the following paragraph from a grammar site while I was studying the reported speech. Can you help me? It says; --> We can use a perfect form with have + -ed form after modal verbs, especially where the report looks back to a hypothetical event in the past: He said the noise might have been the postman delivering letters. (original statement: ‘The noise might be the postman delivering letters.’)

And my question is: How do we understand if it is a hypothetical event in the past or not? We normally don't change 'might' in reported speech. (e.g. ‘It might snow tonight,’ he warned. --> He warned that it might snow that night.) But why do we say 'He said the noise might have been the postman delivering letters.' instead of 'He said that the noise might be the postman delivering letters.’ What's the difference between these two indirect reported speeches? Could you please explain the difference? And I also found this example which is about the same rule above: --> He said he would have helped us if we’d needed a volunteer. (original statement: a) ‘I’ll help you if you need a volunteer’ or b) ‘I’d help you if you needed a volunteer.’) Can you also explain why we report this sentence like that. How can we both change a) and b) into the same indirect reported speech? Thank you very much!

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Hello Melis_06,

1. He said the noise might have been the postman delivering letters. 2. He said that the noise might be the postman delivering letters.

In sentence 1 it is clear that the noise has ended; it is a noise that 'he' could hear but it is not a noise that you can hear now. In sentence 2 the noise could have ended or it could be a noise that you can still hear now. For example, if the noise is one which is constant, such as a noise that comes from your car engine that you are still trying to identify, then you would use sentence 2. In other words, sentence 2 allows for a wider range of time possibilities - both past (ended) and present (still current).

Your second question is similar:

He said he would have helped us if we needed a volunteer - you no longer need a volunteer

He said he would help us if we needed a volunteer - this could still be relevant; you may still need a volunteer.

The LearnEnglish Team

Hello my friend : what are you doing now? me : I'm eating an apple now and My friend repeated his question now

my question

Can I repeat the sentence in the past ( I was eating an apple) and mean( I'm eating an apple now) ?

You can but it is unusual. If you say  I was eating an apple  (past continuous), it means that it was in the past. You already finished eating the apple and you are not eating it now. But if your friend asked you just a moment ago, I guess you are still eating the apple when she/he asks the second question, so I would say  I'm eating an apple  (because you are still doing it).

Alternatively, you can use a past tense reporting verb e.g. I said I was eating an apple  (referring to the time of the first question), or  I said I 'm eating an apple  (to show that you are still eating it now, at the moment of speaking).

LearnEnglish team

Am I correct then? When someone wants us to repeat the sentence we have just said a moment ago we say 'I said I am doing...' if we are still doing that action. But if we are done with that action, then we say 'I said I was doing...' Did I get it right? Thanks!

Hello Meldo,

Yes, that's correct. Well done!

Hi. I wish to enquire if the verb tense used after a conjunction also changes in complex sentences as per tense transition rules, especially if it is already in simple past tense. In order to explain, could you please solve the following for me: 1. It has been quite a while since I last saw you. 2. Nevertheless, she has been quite desensitized to such perverse actions to the extent that it seldom ever seems obnoxious to her. 3. Let me keep this in my cupboard lest I misplace this. 4. I had arrived at the station before you even left your house. 5. I met my grandfather before he died.

Hi Aamna bluemoon,

The verb may or may not be backshifted, depending on whether the original speaker's point of view and the reporter's point of view are the same or not. For example:

• She said it had been quite a while since she last saw me . (it seems relatively recent, for both the original speaker and the reporter)
• She said it had been quite a while since she had last seen us . (a lot of time has passed between speaking and reporting this, or the situation has changed a lot since then e.g. they have met frequently since then)
• She said she had met her grandfather before he died . (seems quite recent)
• She said she had met her grandfather before he'd died . (a lot of time has passed between speaking and reporting this)

I hope that helps.

Hi, can you help me, please? How could I report this famous quotation: 'There's no such things as good news in America'.

Hi bri.q630,

First of all, the sentence is not grammatically correct. The phrase is 'no such thing' (singular), not 'things'.

How you report it depends. Using 'said' as the reporting verb we have two possibilities:

1. They said (that) there's no such thing as good news in America. 2. They said (that) there was no such thing as good news in America.

Sentence 2 tells that only about the time when 'they' said it. It does not tell us if it is still true or not.

Sentence 1 tells us that what 'they' said is still relevant today. In other words there was no good news (in their opinion) when they spoke, and there is still no good news now.

Thank you Peter,

All things are getting clear to me.

So, you mean, I can use both sentences depending on what I want to indicate, can't I?

then the possible indications are bellow, are those correct?

1-a I remembered the World War 2 ended in 1945. (This would be indicated the statement is still ture.)

1-b I remembered the World War 2 had ended in 1945. (This would be indicated I might missunderstand.)

2-a I felt time is money. (This would be indicated the statement is still ture.)

2-b I felf time was money. (This would be indicated I might not feel any more.)

3-a I knew the sun rises in the east. (This would be indicated the statement is still true.)

3-b I knew the sun rase in the east. (This would be indicated I might misunderstand or forget.)

4-a I guessed* that Darth Vader is Luke's father. (This would be indicated I still believe he is.*sorry for the typo)

4-2 I guessed that Darth Vader was Luke's father. (This would be indicated I might know he is not.)

Thank you in advance.

Hello again Nobori,

1-a I remembered the World War 2 ended in 1945. (This would be indicated the statement is still ture.) 1-b I remembered the World War 2 had ended in 1945. (This would be indicated I might missunderstand.)

Both forms are possible here. The 'ending' is a moment in the past; after this there is no war. By the way, we treat 'World War 2' as a name so there is no article before it.

2-a I felt time is money. (This would be indicated the statement is still ture.) 2-b I felf time was money. (This would be indicated I might not feel any more.)

That's correct. Remember that backshifting the verb does not mean something is no longer true; it simply does not tell us anything about the present. Here, it tells the reader how you felt at a given moment in time; you may 

3-a I knew the sun rises in the east. (This would be indicated the statement is still true.) 3-b I knew the sun rase in the east. (This would be indicated I might misunderstand or forget.)

That's also correct. Again, remember that backshifting the verb does not mean something is no longer true; it simply does not tell us anything about the present.

4-a I guessed* that Darth Vader is Luke's father. (This would be indicated I still believe he is.*sorry for the typo) 4-2 I guessed that Darth Vader was Luke's father. (This would be indicated I might know he is not.)

Again, correct. In the second example it might still be true that he is Luke's father, or it might have turned out to be not true. The sentence does not tell us.

Hi Peter, Thank you for your thoughtful answer. Allthing is now very clear to me. Best

Hi, I am translating a fiction novel into English and need your help regarding the reporting speech as for few things I am not getting any clear understanding over the internet. As you know in fiction, we need to write in non-ordinary way to create unique impressions of the word and academic writing is different than speaking. Will be grateful if you could give your insight below, especially considering in the context of fiction/academic writing.

1) Let’s say If someone is giving a speech or presentation, I want to mix their speech, indirect-direct and past tense- present tense. Below are three examples:

-He said, their company makes excellent profit every year OR their company made excellent profit every year ( can both be correct? As the sentence)

- Roger had given his speech yesterday. He said, their company makes excellent profit every year and your company will sustain for next hundred years.(Can YOUR be used in the sentence)

- Roger said people wants to feel important OR Roger said people wanted to feel important (which will be correct as this is a trait which is true in past and present)

2) He thought why he is talking to her OR He thought why he was talking to her (are both write? As usually I see in novels the second example with WAS)

3) Gia was sitting with Jake and she told him she had met with her last year. Her mother had taken her to the dinner. Her mother had told her about her future plans. Her mother also had paid the bill for the dinner. (Do I need to use every time past perfect in this example though it doesn’t feel natural? As a rule of thumb I think past perfect needs to be used when we talk about another past event in the past )

Hello Alamgir3,

We're happy to help with a few specific grammar questions, but I'm afraid we can't help you with your translation -- I'd suggest you find an editor for that.

1) In the second clause, you can use present or past. We often use the present when it's still true now, but the past is not wrong. FYI we don't normally use a comma after 'said' in reported speech.

2) 'Why was he talking to her?' he thought.

3) This is really more of a question of style than grammar. Here I would suggest doing something like combining the four sentences into two and then leaving out 'had' in the second verb in each sentence. Even if it isn't written, it's understood to be past perfect.

All the best, Kirk LearnEnglish team

Hello teachers, I'm sorry, I could not find where to new post. Could you tell me about the back-sifting of thoughts bellow? Which forms are correct?

1-a I remembered the World War 2 ended in 1945. 1-b I remembered the World War 2 had ended in 1945.

2-a I felt time is money. 2-b I felf time was money.

3-a I knew the sun rises in the east. 3-b I knew the sun rase in the east.

4-a I guess that Darth Vader is Luke's father. 4-2 I guessed that Darth Vader was Luke's father.

Do those questions have the same conclusion as indirect speech, such as say and tell?

Hello Nobori,

The verb form remains the same when we want to make it clear that the situation described by the verb is still true, and this works in the same way as indirect speech. For example:

She said she loves me. [she loved me then and she loves me still] She said she loved me. [she loved me then; no information on how she feels now]

Other than this rule, the choice is really contextual and stylistic (up to the speaker). Sometimes a choice implies something. For example, the saying 'time is money' is a general statement, so if you choose to backshift here the listener will know it is an intentional choice and suspect that something has changed (you no longer believe it).

Hi teachers, I've read almost the section of comments below and my summarize is the present tense only can be used if the statement is still true now and past simple only tells the statement was true in the past and doesn't tell the statement is true or not now. Just to make sure, I wanna ask, If I'm not sure whether the statement is still true or not now, can I choose backshift instead (this is still apply to past tense become past perfect)? Thank you

Hello rahmanagustiansyah,

It sounds to me as if you've got the right general idea. Could you please give a couple of example sentences that illustrate your question?

Thanks in advance, Kirk The LearnEnglish Team

For example, Steve said "Anna hates you." Then I wanna tell about that to my friend, but I'm not sure whether Anna still hates me or not now. What should I choose between these two options. Answer 1:Steve said Anna hates me or Answer 2 : Steve said Anna hated me. Thank you

Hi rahmanagustiansyah,

In that case, I would choose answer 2. I might even add "... but I don't know if she still does" to the sentence to clarify, if that is the key point you want to communicate.

Jonathan The LearnEnglish Team

Hello Natasa Tanasa,

Both sentences are grammatically possible.

The first sentence is only possible if when the person asks the original question the woman is no longer there (she has already gone). The second sentence can be used in this situation too, or in a situation in which the woman was still there when the original question was asked. As the past tense is used in the original question ( Who was... ), both sentences are possible.

Hello Ahmed Imam,

When the situation is still true at the time of reporting, we can leave the verb form unchanged. For example:

1. She told me she loved me.

2. She told me she loves me.

In sentence 1 we know she loved me when she told me but we don't know whether or not she loves me now. In sentence 2, we know she loved me when she told me and we know that she loves me now.

In your example, if the supermarket is still in the same place then we can use either form. If the supermarket has been closed down or moved to another location then we need to use was .

As for which is 'safer', you'll need to make your own mind up! Keeping the verb in the same form carries more specific information and that may be appropriate or even important.

Hello eugelatina87,

I'll give you a hint: a verb is missing from the question.

Does that help you complete it?

All the best,

The first two sentences are possible and they can both mean that he is still Mary's boyfriend now. The first one makes this more clear, but the second one doesn't only refer to the past.

Hello magnuslin

Regarding your first question, the most common way of saying it is the second one. In some very specific situation, perhaps the first option would be possible.

This also answers your second question. It is not necessary to always backshift using the tenses you mention.

As for your third question, no, it is not necessary. In fact, it is probably more common to use the past simple in the reported speech as well. 

All the best

Hello manu,

Both forms are possible. If you use  had been  then we understand that he was there earlier but not when he said it - in other words, when he said it he had already left. If you use was then he may have left at the time of speaking, or he may have still been there.

Hello _princess_

I would recommend using answer a) because this is the general pattern used in reported speech. Sometimes the verb in the reported clause can be in the present tense when we are speaking about a situation that is still true, but the reported verb in the past tense can also have the same meaning. Since here the time referred to could be either past or present, I'd recommend using the past form.

Hello mwright,

This is an example of an indirect question. An indirect question reports a question, but is not a question itself, which is why we do not use a question mark at the end. Since it is not a question, we use the normal word order without inversion or auxiliary verbs. For example:

Indicative: He lives in Rome. Interrogative: Does he live in Rome? (Where does he live?) Reported: She asked if he lives in Rome. (She asked where he lives.)  

Hello ahlinthit

There are different styles of punctuating direct speech -- in other words, you might find other sources that will disagree with me -- but what I would use here is something different: "The boss is dead!" said the doctor.

Hope this helps.

Best wishes

Hello Timmosky,

The form that comes after the auxiliary verb 'do' (or 'does' or 'did') is not the plural present simple verb, but rather the bare infinitive (also known as 'base form' or 'first form') of the verb. Does that make sense?

All the best, Kirk The LearnEnglish Team

Hello sky-high,

This is very formal language. The phrase 'to the effect that' means 'with the meaning that'. In this context it can be understood to mean 'with the result that'.

Best wishes,

The difference is quite logical. If we use 'said' then we are talking about a claim by Peter in the past which he may or may not still maintain. If we use 'says' then we are talking about an opinion expressed by Peter which he still holds.

The reported information (whether or not Rooney is in good shape) can refer to only the past or to the present as well and the statement (what Peter thinks) can separately refer to only the past or the present as well. Of course, all of this is from the point of view of the person reporting Peter's opinion, and whether or not they think that Peter still thinks now what he thought then.

Both are possible. If you use the present tense then it is clear that the statement is still true (i.e. the business was not growing when Mary spoke and is still not growing now). If you use the past tense then no information is given regarding the present (i.e. the business was growing when Mary spoke and may or may not be growing now).

Hello aseel aftab,

It should be 'if they had'. This is not from this page, is it? I don't see it anywhere here, but if I've missed it please let me know.

ESL Worksheets for Teachers

Check out our selection of worksheets filed under grammar: reported speech. use the search filters on the left to refine your search..

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Worksheet type

Intermediate (B1-B2)

In this lesson, students learn language related to government and human rights by discussing control of technology and information. The control of technology and information is important to lawyers working in diverse fields, ranging from human rights to business.

by Susan Iannuzzi

This worksheet teaches reported speech . The rules for changing the tense of the verb from direct speech are presented and practised. The worksheet is suitable for both classroom practice and self-study. 

Pre-intermediate (A2-B1)

In this lesson, students read an article about pros and cons of Sweden's six-hour work day. The 5-page worksheet includes a grammar activity on reported speech.

The first of a two-part lesson plan that looks at the causes and impact of stress in the workplace. Students read about how stress is affecting small and medium-sized businesses in the UK. The lesson rounds off with a grammar exercise on reported speech in which students complete a stressful negotiation dialogue using the target language structures.

This lesson is based on an article about a woman from New Zealand who became an 'accidental millionaire' when her partner's bank mistakenly increased his overdraft limit by nearly £5 million ($8 million). There is plenty of crime and punishment vocabulary as well as banking terms and expressions (which should be familiar to students who have done the worksheet Banking ). In the grammar section, there is an exercise on the past perfect simple , which is used throughout the article. Use this worksheet with a strong intermediate or upper intermediate class. Important notes are included in the key.

Upper-intermediate (B2-C1)

This lesson teaches the vocabulary and grammar necessary for taking meeting minutes in English. Students listen to a dialogue of a meeting and read an extract from the minutes. After studying the vocabulary and grammar used in the text, they practise reporting statements and taking minutes.

This lesson is based on an article on the nascent space tourism industry. The text focuses on the different companies that will be operating in this market, including Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic, as well as the future costs and environmental impact of commercial space flights. In the grammar section of the worksheets, reported statements and questions are studied and practised. At the end of the lesson, students discuss whether they believe space tourism could become mass market.

The theme of this lesson is prediction. Students read an amusing article on eight embarrassing predictions made by well-respected experts at different periods of modern history. In the grammar exercises, structures for reporting a prediction made in the past are learnt and the use and omission of the definite article for talking in general is studied. At the end of the lesson, students practise making and reporting predictions.

Teaching Grammar and Readers

Reported Speech (Junior Secondary)

Lesson/Unit Summary: 

This unit (secondary level) aims to help learners develop competence to report statements and questions in meaningful contexts. This unit is comprised of three lessons, with the first two lessons (junior secondary) focusing on reporting statements and questions and the last lesson (senior secondary) focusing on the use of reported speech to write news stories.

To increase learning interest, the language input developed for this lesson is about what happened to Doraemon’s family. The lesson adopts an inductive learning approach. Students have to complete guided questions to discover the different structures of direct speech and reported statements, as found in the dialogues between Doraemon’s family members. To make the learning close to students’ life experience, the theme “office gossip” is chosen for the second half of the lesson. Audio-visual aids are used to show how gossip is spread in the office, and students are given opportunities to spread ‘gossip’ using reported speech. Finally, the game Chinese whispers is played to reinforce students’ learning in a fun way.

Level of Students: Junior Secondary

Lesson Duration:  90 mins

Learning Objectives:

By the end of the lesson, students will be able to 

1. Differentiate between reported speech and direct speech by comparing their features and use;

2. Rewrite sentences in direct speech into reported speech by changing the pronouns, verb tenses and time words;

3. Use reported speech to report what others say.

Lesson Plan:  Reported Speech (Junior Secondary)

Teaching Materials: 

Useful Websites:

• http://edition.tefl.net/ideas/games/reported-speech/
• https://www.stlcc.edu/docs/student-support/academic-support/college-writing-center/reported-speech.pdf

Acknowledgements:

The copyright of the learning materials belongs to The Education University of Hong Kong. We are grateful to the original authors for granting us the right to share their ideas. Please fully acknowledge the source of the materials and the authors.

Duplication of the materials is restricted to non-profit making educational purposes only. Otherwise, no part of these materials may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means without the prior permission of the Project Supervisor.

To cite this resource:

Poon, K. C. J., & Lee, F. K. J. (2020). Reported speech. Retrieved from https://lml.eduhk.hk/grammar/?page_id=298 .

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Reported Speech Exercises

Perfect english grammar.

Here's a list of all the reported speech exercises on this site:

( Click here to read the explanations about reported speech )

Reported Statements:

• Present Simple Reported Statement Exercise (quite easy) (in PDF here)
• Present Continuous Reported Statement Exercise (quite easy) (in PDF here)
• Past Simple Reported Statement Exercise (quite easy) (in PDF here)
• Present Perfect Reported Statement Exercise (quite easy) (in PDF here)
• Future Simple Reported Statement Exercise (quite easy) (in PDF here)
• Mixed Tense Reported Statement Exercise (intermediate) (in PDF here)
• 'Say' and 'Tell' (quite easy) (in PDF here)

Reported Questions:

• Present Simple Reported Yes/No Question Exercise (intermediate) (in PDF here)
• Present Simple Reported Wh Question Exercise (intermediate) (in PDF here)
• Mixed Tense Reported Question Exercise (intermediate) (in PDF here)

Reported Orders and Requests:

• Reported Requests and Orders Exercise (intermediate) (in PDF here)
• Reported Speech Mixed Exercise 1 (difficult) (in PDF here)
• Reported Speech Mixed Exercise 2 (difficult) (in PDF here)

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General objective: to practice and use the reported speech.* * Grammatical objective: to be acquainted with the changes required to Report a direct statement.

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Presentation on theme: "General objective: to practice and use the reported speech.* * Grammatical objective: to be acquainted with the changes required to Report a direct statement."— Presentation transcript:

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'It's on everybody's mind': Morehouse faculty and students raise concerns about Biden's graduation speech

ATLANTA — Morehouse College’s leadership is set to hold a call on Thursday — where faculty will get the chance to speak — to address concerns over having President Joe Biden as the school’s commencement speaker next month.

“From our perspective, really having a sitting president come to Morehouse offers an incredible opportunity,” said Morehouse Provost Kendrick Brown, who, along with the president of the school, will be conducting the call this evening, adding: “This is something that is in line with Morehouse’s mission and also with this objective of being a place that allows for engagement of social justice issues and moral concerns.”

Commencement season is traditionally a time for presidents to engage with younger audiences and all the energy they bring. But this year, with pro-Palestinian protests — and protests against Biden’s support for Israel —  dominating college campuses , these speeches are more fraught. The White House announced this week that Biden will be doing just two commencement addresses this year, at Morehouse and at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point.

Morehouse professor Andrew Douglas said many students and faculty are “wrestling” with whether — or how — to protest next month’s commencement.

“I’ve spoken with several faculty members who say under no conditions are they going to sit on a stage with Joe Biden,” Douglas said, adding: “It’s on everybody’s mind.”

Douglas, a political science professor in his 13th year at Morehouse, is a member of the school’s faculty council, the 15-member body that wrote a letter to the school’s president last week expressing “disappointment” upon hearing rumors that Biden had been invited to speak.

After those concerns came out, Morehouse’s leadership decided to hold its call with faculty members, though officials have made clear Biden’s invitation will not be rescinded.

“This was a decision that should have included more members of the campus community — students and faculty,” Douglas said. “And if those conversations had happened, I’m not sure that the decision to move forward would have been made.”

He pointed to “very serious and widespread concerns” over the war in Gaza, arguing that “the Biden administration has had a hand in seven months of death and destruction in ways that we don’t condone or support.”

On Wednesday, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre responded to the backlash, telling reporters that commencements were meant to focus on the graduates and their families.

“It’s not the first time, obviously, that he’s given commencement speeches," she said. "I understand this is a different moment in time that we’re in. But he always takes this moment as a special time to deliver a message, an encouraging message, a message that’s hopefully uplifting to the graduates and their families. And we’re going to continue to have these conversations that I’ve just mentioned, with the different communities about what’s happening right now. We get it. It’s painful."

Calvin Bell, a senior at Morehouse who voted for Biden in 2020, has similar concerns. While he described Biden’s speech as a “distraction” from celebrating students during commencement, he also sees the visit as a chance to take student concerns over Gaza directly to the president.

“This is also an opportunity for students to make their voices heard during a time of increasing war and genocide in the Middle East,” Bell said. 

While Douglas acknowledged the call with leadership is “unlikely” to result in Biden’s speech being canceled, Douglas says the priority among faculty is to protect students’ rights to protest, noting that a protest at Morehouse — the nation’s only college dedicated to educating Black men — could bring a different risk than similar protests at other campuses across the country.

 “Our priority should be … to try and ensure that under no circumstances are the police brought to bear on our students,” Douglas said. 

“Our students do not have the same privileges that Ivy League students typically do, and confrontations with the police can turn deadly for our students,” he added.

“We have a legacy of being at the forefront of justice movements,” Brown said. “We certainly encourage our students, our faculty, our staff, to form strong opinions and to come together peacefully and engage in that. So the way I see this is, this is certainly an opportunity … for our community to engage with the president to express the range of views that exist on the present issues, certainly in Israel and Gaza.”

Politically, the speech holds several layers of significance for Biden. Morehouse is located just west of downtown Atlanta in battleground Georgia — a state Biden barely won in 2020. Some state Democrats have expressed concern about his ability to repeat that victory.

A speech at the lauded alma mater of Martin Luther King Jr. would also give the president a unique opportunity to appeal to young Black voters — a group where polls show his support is lagging.

But while commencement is still a month away — enough time for minds to change — Douglas said the early signs do not point to a warm welcome: “I have not had a conversation with a student who’s happy about this.”

Nnamdi Egwuonwu is a 2024 NBC News campaign embed.

Blayne Alexander is an NBC News correspondent, based in Atlanta.

College students across the US are holding pro-Palestinian protests. What about in Iowa?

Student-led protests calling for a cease-fire in the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza are expanding to college campuses in Iowa.

In Iowa City, students at the University of Iowa have announced plans for a three-day demonstration starting Friday in solidarity with other student protests.

The plans have been shared on social media by Students for Justice in Palestine — Iowa City, which describes itself as a collective of students, university faculty and staff and Iowa City community members.

The group's mission is to create a community that has “the tools to support the liberation of Palestinians” and all oppressed peoples, as written in a statement that can be found through its social media accounts.

The three-day demonstration scheduled to begin May 3 is not an encampment, the collective stated on social media. The demonstrations are scheduled for noon to 7 p.m. at the Pentacrest each day.

Students for Justice in Palestine's goal is to reiterate its demand that the University of Iowa divest funds from weapon manufacturers that aid Israel and to show support for encampments that have been established at dozens of universities in the nation.

These encampments have been the site of increasingly hostile confrontations between pro-Palestinian demonstrators and police, resulting in hundreds of arrests and reports of injuries .

As some Iowans have and are poised to take part in planned demonstrations, here’s why students across the nation are protesting and what they are seeking.

Why are college students protesting in America in support of Palestinians?

Protesters at Columbia University, in New York City, established an encampment on April 17 that led to over 100 arrests, USA TODAY reported .

Columbia is just one of many universities where students have led protests in support of Palestinians, including through encampments.

The Hamas-led attack on Israel on Oct. 7 killed about 1,200 people, and more than 200 people were kidnapped and taken as hostages. Israel responded with immediate airstrikes on Gaza and an ongoing war that has killed more than 30,000 Palestinians and has left the population displaced and in need of food, water and medicine, USA TODAY reported.

Protests have been organized by Columbia University Apartheid Divest, a coalition of more than 100 student groups that include the university chapters of Jewish Voice for Peace and Students for Justice in Palestine, Reuters reported .

Some of the protesters' demands of the university, as described on the coalition’s Instagram account in an April 2 post, include divestment; severing ties between Columbia and Israeli universities such as study-abroad programs; an end to “targeted repression of Palestinian students”; and for Columbia to release a public statement calling for an immediate, permanent cease-fire in Gaza and to call on government officials to do the same.

Generally, student protesters across the nation are demanding a cease-fire in Gaza, a halt of U.S. military aid to Israel, an end of universities investing endowment money in Israel and in companies supporting Israel and the right to protest on campus without retribution.

What does divest from Israel mean?

The term divest is defined as “when a business sells off its subsidiaries, investments or other assets for a financial, ethical or political objective,” according to the dictionary from the Legal Information Institute of Cornell Law School.

Pro-Palestinian student protesters are seeking to put an end to their schools' investment of endowment money, which can be used to fund operations and grows through investments, in Israeli companies and other businesses that "profit from the war in Gaza," USA TODAY reported .

Where are US college students protesting in support of Palestinians?

More than 50 schools have reported on-campus protests as of late April, including Harvard University, University of Southern California, University of New Mexico and Indiana University.

What are students at the University of Iowa, Iowa State University protesting?

Students for Justice in Palestine — Iowa City was one of several organizations that invited people to show up for a demonstration near an event for U.S. Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks and House Speaker Mike Johnson in Iowa City on April 29.

There, about 100 Iowa City community members called for a permanent cease-fire in the Israel-Hamas war.

Some of the collective’s demands include that the University of Iowa, Carver College of Medicine and UIHC call on Israel’s government to cease the “assault on Gaza’s health system"; an immediate end to the war in Gaza and U.S. military funding to Israel; for University of Iowa to “fully divest from weapons manufacturers” that arm Israel’s assault on Gaza; and cut ties with Israeli academic institutions.

About 50 people were protesting in support of Palestinians at Iowa State University on Wednesday afternoon . Protesters pointed to Iowa State's connections to Collins Aerospace, a weapons manufacturer in Iowa that produces weapons provided to Israel.

"We want full divestment by ISU from these engineers and weapons manufacturers," said Duncan Vernett, an activist protesting with Iowa State students. "It's really not the role of education to be funding military endeavors, or to be reimbursed by military contractors."

Does the Iowa Board of Regents have investments in Israel?

The Iowa Board of Regents oversees Iowa State University, the University of Iowa and the University of Northern Iowa. The board and individual universities don't have direct investments with Israel or companies working directly with Israel, said Josh Lehman, the board's senior communications director.

"Regent investment portfolios consist of indirect holdings (mutual funds, fund of funds, index funds, etc.) managed by external fund managers that include other investors," Lehman said. "Each fund contains many different individual securities or fund of funds. We cannot readily determine if the individual securities within these externally managed funds are Israeli companies or do business with Israel."

What is Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds saying about pro-Palestinian protests?

Gov. Kim Reynolds pointed to a 2021 law that increased penalties for some protest-related crimes, including blocking roadways, saying Iowa has significant laws in place to address behavior that goes too far.

“Of course we want to protect the First Amendment right to protest, but we’re going to do it peacefully,” Reynolds told reporters Wednesday afternoon in Des Moines. “We’re not going to allow hate speech. We’re not going to allow destruction. We’re not going to allow what we see happening in some of the universities across this country. It’s ridiculous. It’s putting people at risk. We’re seeing just a tremendous increase in antisemitism.”

Reynolds said schools like Columbia University in New York have let protests get out of hand and disrupt classes and potentially graduation.

“As long as they abide by the laws and do it peacefully, then great,” she said of protests in Iowa. “But if it crosses that line, we will be ready.”

Des Moines Register reporter Stephen Gruber-Miller, Ames Tribune reporter Celia Brocker and USA TODAY reporters George Petras, Carlie Procell, Cecilia Garzella, Janet Loehrke and Suhail Bhat contributed to this article.

Paris Barraza is a trending and general assignment reporter at the Des Moines Register. Reach her at  [email protected] . Follow her on Twitter @ParisBarraza.