ESL Grammar - Reported Speech Worksheet

Match the quotes to the people and report what they said.

1. “Do not worry about your difficulties in Mathematics. I can assure you mine are still greater.”

2. “I think Smithers picked me because of my motivational skills. Everyone says they have to work a lot harder when I'm around.”

3. “I fear not the man who has practised 10,000 kicks once, but I fear the man who has practised one kick 10,000 times.”

4. “Success is often achieved by those who don't know that failure is inevitable.”

5. “We think, sometimes, that poverty is only being hungry, naked and homeless. The poverty of being unwanted, unloved and uncared for is the greatest poverty.”

1. Homer Simpson

2. Mother Teresa

3. Bruce Lee

4. Coco Chanel

5. Albert Einstein

   
   

   
   

.

Report these questions using the person in the brackets.

1. Do you smoke? (Maria)

2. When will you get back? (Fred)

3. Do you know when the bank opens? (Sammy)

4. How often do you visit your Grandmother? (Jessica)

5. Can I park here? (Tourist)

6. When did you start working at the company? (The boss)

7. Why did Mallory leave on Thursday? (Maria)

8. How much time have they been standing there? (Tim)

9. Is this the right platform? (James)

10. Do you know how to get there by car? (Angela)

Match the subject, verb and the saying. Then report the sentence in the correct tense.

1. The doctor...
2. Carlos...
3. The criminal...
4. Beatriz...
5. The waitress...
6. My mother...
7. Mike...
8. The bus conductor...
9. The secretary...

.

1. Fill in the Spaces

• Emily said that she was happy.

• Emily said that she was going to the market.

• Emily said that she hadn’t been to the market.

• Emily said that they had been thinking of moving for years.

• Emily asked me if I had been to the shop.

• Emily told me they had been walking.

• Emily said that she had already seen that movie.

• Emily told me that they hadn’t been studying.

• Emily asked me if I would save her a seat.

• Emily said she couldn’t run to school with her injury.

  
  

2. Quotes

1-E Albert Einstein said not to worry about our difficulties in Mathematics. He could assure us his were still greater.

2-A Homer Simpson said that he thought Smithers had picked him because of his motivational skills. Everyone said they had to work a lot harder when he was around.

3-C Bruce Lee said that he feared not the man who had practiced 10,000 kicks once, but he feared the man who had practiced one kick 10,000 times.

4-D Coco Chanel said that success was often achieved by those who didn’t know that failure was inevitable.

5-B Mother Teresa said that we thought, sometimes, that poverty was only being hungry, naked and homeless. The poverty of being unwanted, unloved and uncared for was the greatest poverty.

3. Reported Speech Questions

1. Maria asked me if I smoked.

2. Fred asked me when I would get back

3. Sammy asked me if I knew when the banks opened

4. Jessica asked me how often I visited my Grandmother.

5. The tourist asked me if he/she could park there.

6. The boss asked me when I had started working at the company.

7. Maria asked why Mallory had left on Thursday/that day.

8. Tim asked me how much time they had been standing there.

9. James asked me was that the right platform.

10. Angel asked me if I knew how to get there by car.

    
    

4. Matching exercise

• The doctor advised me to do more exercise.
• Carlos/Beatriz warned me not to touch the fire.
• The criminal admitted that he had robbed the jeweller’s.
• Beatriz/Carlos suggested we go for a walk.
• My mother reminded me not to forget my prescription.
• Mike promised not to be late.
• The bus conductor asked to see my ticket.
• The waitress suggested we sit over there.
• The secretary requested my personal details.

5. Match the changes in reported speech

I - He/She

Here - There

Tomorrow - The next day/the following day

Yesterday - The day before/the previous day

My - His/Her

Last week - The week before/the previous week