reported speech british council pdf

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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!

Check your grammar: matching

Check your grammar: error correction, check your grammar: gap fill, worksheets and downloads.

What was the most memorable conversation you had yesterday? Who were you talking to and what did they say to you?

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• Cambridge Dictionary +Plus

Reported speech

Reported speech is how we represent the speech of other people or what we ourselves say. There are two main types of reported speech: direct speech and indirect speech.

Direct speech repeats the exact words the person used, or how we remember their words:

Barbara said, “I didn’t realise it was midnight.”

In indirect speech, the original speaker’s words are changed.

Barbara said she hadn’t realised it was midnight .

In this example, I becomes she and the verb tense reflects the fact that time has passed since the words were spoken: didn’t realise becomes hadn’t realised .

Indirect speech focuses more on the content of what someone said rather than their exact words:

“I’m sorry,” said Mark. (direct)

Mark apologised . (indirect: report of a speech act)

In a similar way, we can report what people wrote or thought:

‘I will love you forever,’ he wrote, and then posted the note through Alice’s door. (direct report of what someone wrote)

He wrote that he would love her forever , and then posted the note through Alice’s door. (indirect report of what someone wrote)

I need a new direction in life , she thought. (direct report of someone’s thoughts)

She thought that she needed a new direction in life . (indirect report of someone’s thoughts)

Reported speech: direct speech

Reported speech: indirect speech

Reported speech: reporting and reported clauses

Speech reports consist of two parts: the reporting clause and the reported clause. The reporting clause includes a verb such as say, tell, ask, reply, shout , usually in the past simple, and the reported clause includes what the original speaker said.

Reported speech: punctuation

Direct speech.

In direct speech we usually put a comma between the reporting clause and the reported clause. The words of the original speaker are enclosed in inverted commas, either single (‘…’) or double (“…”). If the reported clause comes first, we put the comma inside the inverted commas:

“ I couldn’t sleep last night, ” he said.

Rita said, ‘ I don’t need you any more. ’

If the direct speech is a question or exclamation, we use a question mark or exclamation mark, not a comma:

‘Is there a reason for this ? ’ she asked.

“I hate you ! ” he shouted.

We sometimes use a colon (:) between the reporting clause and the reported clause when the reporting clause is first:

The officer replied: ‘It is not possible to see the General. He’s busy.’

Punctuation

Indirect speech

In indirect speech it is more common for the reporting clause to come first. When the reporting clause is first, we don’t put a comma between the reporting clause and the reported clause. When the reporting clause comes after the reported clause, we use a comma to separate the two parts:

She told me they had left her without any money.

Not: She told me, they had left her without any money .

Nobody had gone in or out during the previous hour, he informed us.

We don’t use question marks or exclamation marks in indirect reports of questions and exclamations:

He asked me why I was so upset.

Not: He asked me why I was so upset?

Reported speech: reporting verbs

Say and tell.

We can use say and tell to report statements in direct speech, but say is more common. We don’t always mention the person being spoken to with say , but if we do mention them, we use a prepositional phrase with to ( to me, to Lorna ):

‘I’ll give you a ring tomorrow,’ she said .

‘Try to stay calm,’ she said to us in a low voice.

Not: ‘Try to stay calm,’ she said us in a low voice .

With tell , we always mention the person being spoken to; we use an indirect object (underlined):

‘Enjoy yourselves,’ he told them .

Not: ‘Enjoy yourselves,’ he told .

In indirect speech, say and tell are both common as reporting verbs. We don’t use an indirect object with say , but we always use an indirect object (underlined) with tell :

He said he was moving to New Zealand.

Not: He said me he was moving to New Zealand .

He told me he was moving to New Zealand.

Not: He told he was moving to New Zealand .

We use say , but not tell , to report questions:

‘Are you going now?’ she said .

Not: ‘Are you going now?’ she told me .

We use say , not tell , to report greetings, congratulations and other wishes:

‘Happy birthday!’ she said .

Not: Happy birthday!’ she told me .

Everyone said good luck to me as I went into the interview.

Not: Everyone told me good luck …

Say or tell ?

Other reporting verbs

The reporting verbs in this list are more common in indirect reports, in both speaking and writing:

Simon admitted that he had forgotten to email Andrea.

Louis always maintains that there is royal blood in his family.

The builder pointed out that the roof was in very poor condition.

Most of the verbs in the list are used in direct speech reports in written texts such as novels and newspaper reports. In ordinary conversation, we don’t use them in direct speech. The reporting clause usually comes second, but can sometimes come first:

‘Who is that person?’ she asked .

‘It was my fault,’ he confessed .

‘There is no cause for alarm,’ the Minister insisted .

Verb patterns: verb + that -clause

Word of the Day

have your head in the clouds

to not know the facts of a situation

Apples and oranges (Talking about differences, Part 2)

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British Council Teaching English Africa

Reported speech – say and tell.

Author: British Council | Published on 1 November 2022

Stage 1: Present examples

Write these sentences on the board with the words underlined as shown. Ask. “What do you notice about the underlined words in the sentences?”

a) She said they would be late.

b) She told me they would be late.

c) She said to me she was cold.

d) She told me she was cold.

e) “I’m cold,” she said.

To help learners, ask:

•  “What’s the difference between sentence a & b?
•  “What’s the difference between sentence c & d?

Stage 2: Take feedback

Ask learners to share their feedback on what they noticed in the examples. Some key points you might want to share with them include:

• With ‘said’ we don’t need to say who is being spoken to, but with tell we do. (Sentences a & b)
• If you want to say who is being spoken to with ‘said’ you need ‘to’ (Sentence c) 
• We usually use ‘said’ not ‘told’ to introduce direct speech .

Stage 3: Use the grammar

A. say or tell.

Write up some sentences with a choice between ‘say’ and ‘tell’ and say: Choose the correct word to complete each sentence. 

• They said / told us they were coming soon.
• Abdoulaye said / told he loves Ethiopian food.
• What did she say / tell ?
• What did she say / tell you?
• “I’ll be there by 3 o’clock.” he said / told .

b. Matching

Write up some half sentences on the board and say: “Match the correct ending to the correct sentence start.”

1. He saida) me he was sorry.

2. He told b) he was sorry.

3. She saida) to me that she had finished her homework.

4. She toldb) me that she had finished her homework.

5. She saida) him she was tired.

6. She toldb) “I’m tired.”

7. He saida) her he liked her.

8. He toldb) to her that he liked her.

c. An interview

Choose a learner to come and sit at the front of the class. Say: Ask <learner’s name> some questions about their hobby. The other learners interview the learner sitting at the front for a few minutes.

Put the learners in groups and say: “Now try and remember what <learner’s name> said and write up a short report about the interview.”

In large classes, you can do this in groups rather than as a whole class activity.

Direct speech : a sentence in which the exact words spoken are reproduced in speech marks

• Reported speech

• Teaching adults
• Intermediate B1

Eavesdropping

This is an activity for students to practise reporting speech. It provides a situation for reporting what others have said that can be more realistic than some of the exercises that are found in textbooks, and great fun!

My students particular enjoy the fact that in this activity they are encouraged to listen in to each other’s conversations: the concept of ‘eavesdropping’.

You will need to decide on a context that will be of interest to your class. One idea that works well with my students is that of 'first dates', with conversations taking place between two people in a cafe. Preparation

You may have to explain the concept of eavesdropping (listening to someone else's conversation). With lower levels it may be easier to explain spying.

Before starting the activity, I do a short revision session on reported speech, eliciting from students what happens to speech when it is reported and some of the constructions we can use to do so. I write on the board sentence starters such as:

- First he said… - And she replied.. - So he then said... - Only for her to say that... - He then went on to ask her ...

I also remind students that reported speech is rarely a word per word account, but often more of a summary of what was said.

• I then start by introducing the context of the a 'first date' in a cafe, brainstorming ideas about who the people might be and what they might talk about in this situation.
• Next I put students in pairs, of 'first date couples', asking them first to decide on their new names and characters (real or imaginary), and then giving them around ten minutes to prepare a short conversation, which they should write down. I remind students that their conversations can be serious or, if they prefer, humorous!
• Once students are ready, I set up the classroom as if it is a cafe, with couples sitting face to face. To add interest to the role-play, I ask the students to come up with the name of their cafe and sometimes even allocate a few students to the roles of waiter / waitress.
• I then explain to students that some of the people in the bar will be eavesdropping on others, as obviously the conversations taking place are very interesting! Couples should start talking, and if I, the teacher, tap someone on the shoulder, s/he should get up and go and eavesdrop on another couple’s conversation (of their choice). S/he then goes back to his/her partner and reports what was being said.
• I usually tap students on the shoulder to get enough people eavesdropping, and then place myself discreetly at the back of the classroom to observe the activity.
• This process can continue for up to fifteen minutes, with different students having an opportunity to eavesdrop and report back.
• The class then comes back together, for each couple to report to everyone what another couple said. The couple in question can then explain to what extent this corresponded to their original conversation!
• The activity can also be followed-up by a writing stage, where students report the speech in writing, and then compare it with the original conversation.

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Verbs and tenses

• 1 Verbs and tenses
• 2 Lesson Share: Reported speech 1 – article
• 3 Past perfect aspect – article
• 4 Past perfect aspect – tips and activities
• 5 Present perfect aspect – article
• 6 Present perfect aspect – tips and activities
• 7 Reported speech – tips and activities
• 8 Reported speech 2 – article
• 9 The passive in English – article
• 10 The passive in English – tips and activities
• 11 Modal verbs 1 – article
• 12 Modal verbs 1 – tips and activities
• 13 Modal verbs 2 – article
• 14 Modal verbs 2 – tips and activities

Reported speech – tips and activities

By Kerry G. Maxwell and Lindsay Clandfield

• No comments

Tips and ideas from Kerry Maxwell and Lindsay Clandfield on teaching reported speech.

Introduction

Reported speech is a very rich grammar area to teach because:

• It can involve considerable manipulation of form.
• It’s a very easy piece of grammar to locate and exploit with texts.

The activities here are divided into different kinds of drill, ways of exploiting texts and analysis.

Activity: Basic substitution

At it’s most basic, you can simply read out a sentence and ask the students to rephrase it beginning with He said …/She said…  For example:

• T: I don’t like it.
• Ss: He said he didn’t like it.
• T: I hate it.
• Ss: He said he hated it.

This can be made a little more interesting in the following ways:

Activity: Chain reports

Version 1 The following activity is a variation of the well-known 'broken telephone'. Whisper a sentence in English to a student. That student then whispers it to another and so on until the last student has to say aloud what was said originally.

Version 2 If the above seems too easy, ask students to alternate reported speech/direct speech. If they hear it in reported speech they put it back to direct speech and vice versa. For example:

• T: I like it.
• S1: He said he liked it.
• S2: I like it.

Activity: I didn't get that. What did she say?

This is a quick question drill. Ask a student a question. After they answer, ask another student what was said. For example:

• T: Tomas, how did you get to class today?
• S1: I came by car.
• T: Sorry, I didn’t get that. Yvonne, what did Tomas say?
• S2: He said he had come by car.

Activity: Mingle

Prepare a series of cards/slips of paper, each with a different sentence. Here are some examples:

Remember me? We met at last year’s party.

Create enough cards so that each student has one. You can repeat the same sentences on other cards.

Explain that you want the students to role-play the following situation. They are all at a very formal cocktail party. Everybody must circulate and talk to each other. The trick is they must say what is on their card and as little else as possible. If you have a CD player or cassette player in the classroom, you could play some quiet music in the background during the mingle.

After five minutes (or however long it takes for most students to have spoken to each other) tell everyone to sit down again. Ask people to report back on what other people told them, using reported speech.

Activity: Text clarifications

This is another teacher-led activity that also focuses on listening skills. It uses an oral text generated by the teacher. For this activity you need to prepare the following:

• a short anecdote (2 minutes long) related to the topic that you are already doing in class (e.g. if you are doing holidays, make it about holidays);
• four or five sentences that contradict things in your anecdote.

Write the sentences on the board. Read them out to the students. Now explain that you are going to tell a story, but that some of the facts in the story are different. The students must listen carefully. When they hear a fact that is different from those on the board, someone must interrupt you and seek clarification, using the following structure:

Excuse me, but didn’t you say that …? (include what you had said earlier, the facts that are on the board).

Here is an example: T writes on the board:

• I live in a big house.
• I’m married.
• I don’t have any children.

The teacher reads out the sentences and then she gives the instructions for the activity. She begins the story:

• T: Well, the other day I was in my flat. It’s a small flat in the city centre …
• S: Excuse me, didn’t you say you lived in a big house?
• T: Ah yes, I did say that. So, it was in my big house. My boyfriend was at work …
• S: Excuse me, didn’t you say you were married?
• T: Of course. I’m married, I meant to say my husband was at work and the baby was crying …
• S: Excuse me, didn’t you say you didn’t have any children?
• T: That’s right. It isn’t my baby, it’s my sister’s baby.

Activity: Reported interviews

For this activity, search around the internet for an interview. This kind of activity works best if the interviewee is someone that your class is interested in, or at least someone they have heard about.

• Select some of the interview from the webpage and paste into a word document. Make copies for every two students in the class. In class, divide the students into pairs.
• Distribute the interview and ask them to work together and make a reported version it.
• Give them a word limit (150 words). When they have finished their draft report, have them swap reports with another pair. Ask them to reduce the report now to 100 words. Circulate and help.

Activity: Reporting back – famous interviews

In this activity, students create the interview themselves. Divide students into groups. Tell the groups that they must do the following:

• Decide on a famous person (living or dead) who they would like to interview.
• Nominate ONE person in that group to be the famous person.
• Once groups have nominated their famous people ask those people to come up to the front and form a new group.
• Explain that the famous people are all on a panel to be interviewed by the class, who are journalists.
• Give the journalists some time to think of questions. During this time the famous people can talk about what they are going to say.
• When the journalists are ready, begin moderating the interview by asking for questions.
• Once all the famous people have answered the questions send them back to their original seats.
• Now ask everybody to write a report with at least two things they remember from the interview. They should include examples of reported speech in their report. Ask students to compare their reports in pairs.
• Circulate and help. At the end, ask different pairs to read out their reports.

Activity: The news

Prepare for this activity by going to a news website and looking around for short news stories with examples of reported speech. Don’t worry about not finding any, there are usually lots.

• Select examples of these texts and create a small worksheet. First, ask students to read the excerpts and tick the stories they already know about.
• Then ask them to speculate as what the direct speech was. Tell them to write in direct speech the reported speech. They can add more detail if they like.
• At the end, have different students read their quotes and ask the others if they can see what story it came from.

Activity: Shades of meaning 1

The choice of whether or not to 'backshift' the tenses in reported speech often has to do with the reporter’s interpretation. You can ask students to compare the meanings between two examples of reported speech (minimal pair sentences).

For example:

See the section on tense choices in reported and reporting clauses for further examples that you could use and explanation of the differences in meaning.

Activity: Shades of meaning 2

You can also do the above exercise with examples from the news stories. Give the example and ask students to speculate why the tense was chosen. For example:

Why not … that Madonna owed them …?

Activity: What I think and don't think

This activity is a dictation activity. Prepare some sentences that are opinions on a certain topic that you’ve covered recently in class. There should be a mixture of affirmative and negative sentences. Here are some examples on the topic of ART for an intermediate class (some of these are stronger opinions – you may want to change them to reflect your own opinion).

• A lot of modern art isn’t very good.
• Art galleries are great places for conversation.
• There aren’t many famous painters from my country.
• Graffiti isn’t art.
• Art shouldn’t be only for rich people.
• Some art is worth far too much money.

Explain that you are going to dictate these sentences, but that the students must write down a report of each one beginning with The teacher thinks  … or The teacher doesn’t think … (see grammar explanation on negatives in reporting for when to use which stem). The above sentences would give the following:

The teacher thinks art galleries are great places for conversation.

Ask students to compare their answers in pairs, and then decide if they agree or disagree with you. Ask different groups to report back and have a short open class discussion.

Activity: Reacting to the news

Prepare a series of slips of paper each with a sentence beginning You’ve been asked to… or You’ve been told to… Prepare a mixture of good and bad things. For example:

• You’ve been asked to work next Saturday morning.
• You’ve been told to not drink any more wine.
• You’ve been asked to present an award at a film festival.
• You’ve been told to go the principal’s office.
• You’ve been asked to participate in a television show.
• You’ve been told to stay in bed for three weeks.

Pre-teach common social expressions for reacting to good or bad news, for example:

• That’s great!
• Congratulations!
• That’s good news
• That’s too bad.
• Oh dear. Oh no.
• That’s terrible!

Distribute the slips of paper to the students and ask them to read them silently. Then tell them to move around the class and 1) tell other students what they’ve been asked or told to do. 2) react to what other students tell them.

As a follow-up, you could ask them to work in groups and transcribe what they think was probably originally said.

Activity: Conspiracy theories

Prepare a small handout with the following 'claims' on it.

Elvis lives? It’s claimed that the singer Elvis is still alive today.

Think of four or five other conspiracy claims that you could add (you can add local ones too). Include one or two which are more 'believable' than the others (maybe even true ones). Write them in a similar style (i.e. headline, then the sentence stem It is claimed/said/believed that … ). Make one copy of this handout for every three or four students in the class.

Divide students into groups and give each group a card. They must read the card and then assign a score (0 to 5) to each theory 0 = we don’t believe this at all to 5 = we believe this is true . Do some feedback at the end, then collect the handouts. Ask students to try and rewrite from memory what the theories were, paying attention to the reporting structure.

Activity: Drill sergeant

This is another simple drill for reporting orders. Explain that you are going to be a drill sergeant: you are going to give four different students orders and then ask someone to report back what was said. Give short simple orders to different students in a brisk, sergeant-like voice. For example:

• Put down your pen!
• Listen to me!
• Pick up your bag!
• Answer your mobile phone!

The students must carry out the orders. Once you’ve given orders to four students, ask a fifth: What did I just say? The fifth student must report the orders (e.g. You told Maria to put down her pen, you told Giovanni to listen to you. ). If they can do it correctly, they become the drill sergeant.

This is a drill but with a role play element (that of being the sergeant) – to make the role even more effective you could use a prop, like a ruler or some kind of stick to wave around. You then give the prop to the next drill sergeant. Make sure nobody gets hit with the prop though!

Activity: things I was asked/told to do

To provide more practice in reporting structures with ask/tell, ask students to make a list of things they were asked or told to do in different situations. For example:

• when they were a child
• when they first started learning English
• in their first job
• on their first day at school/university

Tell students to compare with each other once they have written their lists. Then ask different students to report back.

Activity: Survivors mingle

This is a group role play, where students imagine that they have survived a plane accident and are stranded on a desert island. Prepare a series of cards/slips of paper, each with a different suggestion for the situation. Here are some examples:

• We should just wait for someone to come and find us.
• Why don’t we explore the island?
• Let’s get wood for a fire.
• We should all stay together. There are dangerous animals around here.
• I think you and I should try to escape together.
• Let’s build a boat.
• We should try and fix the plane.

(you can make your own. Begin with Why don’t we… Let’s …. We should…) Create enough cards so that each student has one. You can repeat the same sentences on other cards.

Explain that you want the students to role play the situation described above (to make it more 'real' you could elaborate on the story of how they got there). Everybody must circulate and talk to each other. They must say what is on their card and as little else as possible.

After five minutes (or however long it takes for most students to have spoken to each other) tell everyone to sit down again. Ask people to report back on what other people told them, using one of the following reporting verbs: suggest, advise or recommend .

Here is a variation which lets the students choose more of the language. Set up the scene, then give the students the sentence stems: Why don’t we … Let’s …. We should … and ask them to write a suggestion. Give them one of the above as an example. Then continue the activity.

Activity: Election pledges

To practise the structures following verbs like promise and offer , you can ask students to imagine they are speechwriters for a candidate for President or Prime Minister of their country. They must prepare a very short speech. You could give them the following outline to help:

• I know that …
• So I promise to … and to …
• If we are elected, my government pledges* to …
• My opponent has promised to …
• But we all know that …
• Together we can …

* pre-teach pledge – it has the same reporting structure as promise, or offer

Students can write this in groups. Then have different students read out their election speeches. Who is the most convincing?

• British English
• Reference Material
• Reported speech

Lesson Share: Reported speech 1 – article

Past perfect aspect – article

Past perfect aspect – tips and activities

Present perfect aspect – article, present perfect aspect – tips and activities.

Reported speech 2 – article

The passive in english – article, the passive in english – tips and activities, modal verbs 1 – article, modal verbs 1 – tips and activities, modal verbs 2 – article, modal verbs 2 – tips and activities, related articles.

Articles, tips and activities on teaching adjectives, from our panel of expert authors.

An article by Kerry Maxwell and Lindsay Clandfield on approaches to teaching reported speech.

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Nouns and phrases

Our experts provide a compendium of tips and ideas for teaching nouns, prepositions and relative clauses in English.

Tips and ideas from Kerry Maxwell and Lindsay Clandfield on teaching the passive in English.

An article by Kerry Maxwell and Lindsay Clandfield on approaches to teaching the passive in English.

LESSON PLAN FOR ENGLISH TEACHERS

Reported speech.

Level: Intermediate (B1-B2)

Type of English: General English

Tags: reported speech Grammar practice

Publication date: 08/17/2021

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. 

Thank you for this lesson. I recently taught my students reported speech, but very briefly. It's a manner of speech that we actually use quite often, from everyday conversations to business communication. I may teach a full lesson about this topic and use this worksheet as a guideline. Thank you again!

I'd like to thank you for the lesson. It is really useful when you teach reported speech in statements. Tenses do not change in reported speech in my mother tongue, so it's important to see what you report and what changes you make when transform direct speech into reported one, and the presentation appeared practical and helpful. I'd probably add an example with the verb in one of the present tenses in the main sentence in direct speech to see how the verb behaves in the reported statements. That's what I did when we were doing the presentation part. My students especially liked a task about Daniella and Martin. That was something from real life and fun.

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Student worksheet

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

COURSE PLANS

This comprehensive course plan covers the full range of language needs – listening, role play, vocabulary development.

Worksheets in English Grammar Reference course plan

Type of English: General English Level: Intermediate (B1-B2)

Type of English: General English Level: Upper-intermediate (B2-C1)

Type of English: General English Level: Intermediate

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General election latest: Starmer gives blunt response on potentially rejoining EU - as police drop investigation into his deputy

Greater Manchester Police will take no further action after an investigation into Labour's Angela Rayner. Meanwhile, Rishi Sunak continues to sing the virtues of his national service policy proposal.

Tuesday 28 May 2024 21:00, UK

• General Election 2024

Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player

Election news

• Abbott given back Labour whip
• Police drop Rayner investigation | Labour deputy hits out at Tories
• Explained: What Starmer's deputy was being investigated for
• Starmer: 'No case' for rejoining EU | Reeves won't rule out tax rises
• Daily Podcast: How long will Labour's promise on taxes last?
• Live reporting by Faith Ridler  and (earlier)  Ben Bloch

Expert analysis

• Gurpreet Narwan: Farage already has eyes on elections to come
• Adam Boulton: What makes this election particularly exciting
• Sam Coates: Labour could have difficult decisions to make

Election essentials

• Trackers: Who's leading polls? | Is PM keeping promises?
• Campaign Heritage: Memorable moments from elections gone by
• Follow Sky's politics podcasts: Electoral Dysfunction | Politics At Jack And Sam's
• Read more: What happens next? | Which MPs are standing down? | Key seats to watch | How to register to vote | What counts as voter ID? | Check if your constituency's changing | Sky's coverage plans

What are the rules on voter ID?  How does tactical voting work? In what different ways can you cast your ballot?

The countdown to the election is on - and already the amount of information can seem overwhelming. 

We cut through the noise to bring you what you need to know, from registering to vote, to election day and what happens next.

Read on here...

We're still very much in the early days of the election campaign - but policy announcements are coming in thick and fast from the main two parties.

Here's a breakdown of what we've heard so far...

The Conservative Party

National service - The Conservatives have vowed to bring back a "modern" form of national service for 18-year-olds in the UK, which could involve military service of volunteer work.

'Triple lock plus' -   The party has promised to cut taxes for pensioners by creating a new "age-related" tax-free allowance - dubbed "triple lock plus". In short, a pensioner's allowance would rise in line with either average earnings, inflation or by 2.5% - whichever is higher - from next April.

Education - The Tories have promised to create a new qualification framework called the Advanced British Standard for those aged 16 to 18. The party also proposed making "some form" of maths and English compulsory up to the end of school.

Environment - Rishi Sunak has said he remains committed to plans to reach net zero by 2050, a goal adopted under Theresa May in 2019.

The Labour Party

Taxation - Labour has pledged not reverse the two recent cuts to national insurance - and not to increase income tax. 

Economy - Two flagship economic pledges from Labour are the abolition of the non-dom tax status held by some wealthy foreign nationals, and the introduction of VAT to private school fees.

Waiting lists - The party has said it will get the NHS "back on its feet" by delivering 40,000 more evening and weekend appointments per week.

Environment - A major policy pushed by Labour is the formation of Great British Energy, which would be publicly owned. The party claims this would reduce household energy bills and create jobs.

Education - Also a headline policy from Labour is a plan to recruit around 6,500 new teachers in key subjects - and create a "national excellence programme" to support professional development.

Until voters go to the polls on 4 July, the Politics Hub will be looking back at some memorable moments from previous general election campaigns.

The big winner from the UK's first ever TV prime ministerial debate in 2010 wasn't primary contenders David Cameron and Gordon Brown.

No, it was Nick Clegg.

As the Tory and Labour leaders looked to take chunks out of one another, they saved their more conciliatory side for the insurgent Lib Dem.

He could do no wrong that night, with Messrs Cameron and Brown both finding it completely irresistible not to simply "agree with Nick".

Cleggmania took him all the way into Number 10 as part of the coalition, where he stayed until his party was turfed out by voters in 2015.

Previous entry: The Prescott punch

By  Gurpreet Narwan , political correspondent

Recent polling suggests Reform could cost the Tories as many as 100 seats, paving the way for a Labour government by splitting the right. 

It's something Tory MPs are highly anxious about and explains why the Conservatives are pushing the following message hard: a vote for Reform is a vote for Labour. 

It's a tactic they deployed against the Liberal Democrats in 2015, warning voters that they had a choice between Ed Miliband and David Cameron. 

Farage had a comeback ready in Dover today.

In stark contrast to Richard Tice, leader of Reform UK, he conceded the election result was a foregone conclusion. 

"Labour have won, so why not vote for something you believe in," he said. 

He argued this campaign wasn't about the current election but about building the Reform movement, a process that could take six years and was focused on turning the party into a sustainable force on the right of British politics. 

This is something parties to the right of the Tories have not managed. He wants to determine the shape of conservative opposition in the UK. 

That could also have an impact on the direction of travel that the Conservative Party takes after the election. 

It was the most salient point to emerge from today's campaign event. 

We end tonight's show with a new classic of the Lib Dem election stunt genre.

Sir Ed Davey fell off a paddleboard multiple times during a campaign stunt in Windermere - admitting one of his plunges into the water was intentional.

The Liberal Democrat leader said his leap into the cold waters of the Lake District was for the benefit of the cameras - but he "just kept falling in" after that.

Despite the footage causing a splash online, he stressed there was a "serious message" behind the stunt.

"Lakes like Lake Windermere are so precious," he said. "Our environment and our wonderful country is so critical to so many people.

"It's important for public health, it's important for the environment, it's important for the tourist economy."

That's it for tonight's Politics Hub With Sophy Ridge - the show will be back at the same time tomorrow.

Adam Boulton , Sky News's election commentator, is now joining Sophy Ridge to discuss his history covering general elections - starting in 1983.

This was the poll in which Margaret Thatcher was re-elected after winning the Falklands.

"I've covered I think 10 general elections," Adam says, pointing out the July election - for which he will join Sky News - will be his 11th.

But this only includes two changes of party in government, he says.

"What makes this election particularly exciting is the possibility, according to the opinion polls, that we're going to get another change in government."

Adam adds: "We had 17 or 18 years of Thatcher, and then 12 or 13 years of Blair and Brown, and now we've had 14 years from Cameron to Sunak."

If there is a change of party in July - what will this day look like?

"It's always very interesting," he says, explaining it is "quite emotional" because you see the "utter desolation of the side that's been defeated".

Adam is then asked how much a campaign can make a difference.

He says: "I just wonder how much difference this campaign is going to make to voting intention, it's clearly going to be very important in terms of formulating what the policies are for the parties, testing the leaders."

Adam adds this is an election in which "both leaders are not known quantities, neither of them have led a party into a general election before".

However, he says, another "exceptional thing" of this election is the amount of times the opinion polls have "said the same thing", which is Labour's on course for a majority.

Diane Abbott has been handed back the Labour whip, Sky News understands.

The MP for Hackney North and Stoke Newington was suspended by the party more than a year ago after suggesting Jewish people did not experience racism, but rather prejudice similar to red heads.

She swiftly apologised and withdrew her remarks.

While a Labour investigation into her comments ended in December, she was made to wait for the outcome.

A report in The Times earlier this evening suggested she'd been banned from standing for the party at the election on 4 July.

Ms Abbott was Britain's first ever black female MP.

It's not yet been confirmed whether she will stand for election again.

Labour's deadline for picking candidates is 4 June.

This is fast shaping up to be the biggest spending election ever - and already the Conservatives are spending their cash begging their voters not to defect to Reform.

Take paid political adverts on Meta, which owns Instagram and Facebook. Labour started strong and is still seriously outpacing the Conservatives.

And the picture on Google-owned sites - we're mainly talking about YouTube - is even more stark.

Here, the Conservatives have spent £50,200 since May 22, according to Who Targets Me. Labour has spent £250,350 - more than five times more.

Put it another way - that's roughly 10 million advert plays versus 50 million.

Our online campaign correspondent Tom Cheshire has been diving into these quite extraordinary numbers:

Bim Afolami, the economic secretary to the Treasury, is asked if he would like to apologise to Angela Rayner after Greater Manchester Police dropped an investigation into her housing situation.

He says: "No."

"The investigation has happened and the correct authorities... have made their judgement. I have nothing else to add."

The minister goes on to say that deputy Labour leader Ms Rayner "could have put an end to this much earlier" if she was "open" about the situation.

You can read more about this situation below:

Sophy Ridge  asks Bim Afolami what the Conservative policy is on national insurance, after it was reduced twice in the last year.

There have also been suggestions of plans to scrap the tax.

He says: "We would like - only when the government finances and public services funding allows - to eliminate the double taxation on work, which is what national insurance is.

"And we could do that but only when it is appropriate to do so."

Sophy pushes back, saying this is a meaningless statement.

Mr Afolami says it is "very important" to have this priority.

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