Can you use reported speech correctly? Test your understanding of reported speech with this grammar exercise.
1He asked if I ............... the right person to talk to.
Wrong!
When the reporting verb is in the past tense, use a past tense in the reported speech as well.
2People often wonder ............... there is a God.
Select 2 answers.
Wrong!
We can use if/whether to report an Yes/No question.
3The teacher asked why ............... absent the previous day.
Wrong!
In reported questions, the auxiliary verb goes after the subject. When the reporting verb is in the past tense, use a past tense in the reported speech as well.
4He asked me if I ............... Australia.
Wrong!
5She ............... why I didn't listen to her.
Wrong!
6She asked me if I ............... do her a favor.
Wrong!
7She said that she ............... home.
Wrong!
8She asked me if I ............... the invitation.
Wrong!
'Have you received the invitation?' she asked. She asked if I had received the invitation. Present perfect in the direct speech becomes past perfect in the indirect speech.
9The mother asked the boy where he ............... all the time.
Wrong!
10The boy asked where he ............... that book.
Wrong!
11The man asked the servant where he ............... the previous day.
Wrong!
12He asked me when ............... leaving for Manchester.
Wrong!
Done.
Score: 0/12
Answers
- He asked if I was the right person to talk to.
- People often wonder if/whether there is a God.
- The teacher asked why I was absent the previous day.
- He asked me if I had ever visited Australia.
- She asked why I didn’t listen to her.
- She asked me if I would do her a favor.
- She said that she was going home.
- She asked me if I had received the invitation.
- The mother asked the boy where he had been all the time.
- The boy asked where he could buy that book.
- The man asked the servant where he had gone the previous day.
- He asked me when I was leaving for Manchester.
