REPORTED SPEECH

How do we report questions asked ?

How to change interrogative sentences to indirect speech?

These examples given below should help.

·       She said to me, “How are you related to that person?”

·       She asked me how I was related to that person.

·       Doctor said to him, “What is your age?”

·       Doctor asked him what his age was.

·       Dad said to her, “Why are you so late?”

·       Dad asked her why she was so late.

·       The teacher said, “When will they return?”

·       The teacher enquired when they would return.

·       I said to his brother, “Why are you crying?”

·       I asked his brother why he was crying.

·       I said to him, “Are you feeling alright?”

·       I enquired if he was feeling alright.

·       We said to the child, “Do you speak English?”

·       We asked the child whether she spoke English.

Here are some more examples:

Direct Question	Reported Question
Where is the Post Office, please?	She asked me where the Post Office was.
What are you doing?	She asked me what I was doing.
Who was that fantastic man?	She asked me who that fantastic man had been.

Direct Question	Reported Question
Do you love me?	He asked me if I loved him.
Have you ever been to Mexico?	She asked me if I had ever been to Mexico.
Are you living here?	She asked me if I was living here.

Reported Requests

Here are a few more examples: 

Direct Request	Reported Request
Please help me.	She asked me to help her.
Please don't smoke.	She asked me not to smoke.
Could you bring my book tonight?	She asked me to bring her book that night.
Could you pass the milk, please?	She asked me to pass the milk.
Would you mind coming early tomorrow?	She asked me to come early the next day.

To report a negative request, use 'not':

• Direct speech: Please don't be late.
• Reported speech: She asked us not to be late.

There are instances when the tense does not

change :

In the case of modals such as WOULD, COULD, MIGHT, 

SHOULD and OUGHT TO, the tense remains unchanged in the 

reported speech. 

For eg;

She said, " She could play a piano".

She said that she could play the piano.

He said, " I might not come tomorrow".

He said that he might not come the next day.

I said, " We should meet the teacher".

I said that we should meet the teacher. 

I trust these posts on reported speech have been enlightening !