Reported Speech Exercises

Complete the sentences in reported speech.

1. John said, "I love this town."
   John said
2. "Do you like soccer ?" He asked me.
   He asked me
3. "I can't drive a lorry," he said.
   He said
4. "Be nice to your brother," he said.
   He asked me
5. "Don't be nasty," he said.
   He urged me
6. "Don't waste your money" she said.
   She told the boys
7. "What have you decided to do?" she asked him.
   She asked him
8. "I always wake up early," he said.
   He said
9. "You should revise your lessons," he said.
   He advised the students
10. "Where were you born?" he asked me.
    He wanted to know

Reported Speech Grammar Part II

Place, demonstratives and time expressions

Place, demonstratives and time expressions change if the context of the reported statement (i.e. the location and/or the period of time) is different from that of the direct speech.
In the following table, you will find the different changes of place; demonstratives and time expressions.

Direct Speech	Reported Speech
Time Expressions
today	that day
now	then
yesterday	the day before
… days ago	… days before
last week	the week before
next year	the following year
tomorrow	the next day / the following day
Place
here	there
Demonstratives
this	that
these	those

B. Reporting Questions

When transforming questions, check whether you have to change:

• pronouns
• place and time expressions
• tenses (backshift)

Also note that you have to:

• transform the question into an indirect question
• use the question word (where, when, what, how) or if / whether

Types of questions	Direct speech	Reported speech
With question word (what, why, where, how...)	"Why" don’t you speak English?”	He asked me why I didn’t speak English.
Without question word (yes or no questions)	“Do you speak English?”	He asked me whether / if I spoke English.

C. Reporting requests / commands

When transforming requests and commands, check whether you have to change:

• pronouns
• place and time expressions

Direct speech	Reported speech
“Nancy,do the exercise.“	He told Nancy to do the exercise.
"Nancy, give me your pen, please."	He asked Nancy to give him her pen.

Tenses are not relevant for requests – simply use to  / not to + verb (infinitive without "to")

Example:
She said, “Sit down." - She asked me to sit down.
She said, "don't be lazy" - She asked me not to be lazy

For affirmative use to + infinitive (without to) For negative requests, use not to + infinitive (without to).

D. Other transformations

• Expressions of advice with must, should and ought are usually reported using advise / urge.
  Example:
  “You must read this book.“
  He advised / urged me to read that book.
• The expression let’s is usually reported using suggest. In this case, there are two possibilities for reported speech: gerund or statement with should.
  Example:
  “Let’s go to the cinema.“=
  1. He suggested going to the cinema.
  2. He suggested that we should go to the cinema.

Reported Speech Grammar

Table for change in tense of reported speech for all TENSES.

Usually in reported speech the main sentence move back into a before verb tense.

     TENSE CHANGE - IN - INDIRECT SPEECH
     Present simple tense into Past simple
     Present Continuous tense into Past continuous
     Present Perfect tense into Pas perfect
     Present Perfect Continuous into Past perfect continuous
     Past simple into Past Perfect
     Past Continuous into Past Perfect Continuous
     Past Perfect into Past Perfect
     Future simple, will into would
     Future Continuous, will be into would be
     Future Perfect, will have into would have

Examples.

DIRECT SPEECH	INDIRECT SPEECH
PRESENT TENSE
PRESENT SIMPLE changes into PAST SIMPLE
He said, “I write a letter” She said, “he goes to school daily” They said, “we love our country” He said, “he does not like computer”	He said that he wrote a letter. He said that she went to school daily. They said that they loved their country He said that he did not like computer.
PRESENT CONTINUOUS changes into PAST CONTINUOUS
He said, “he is listening to the music” She said, “I am washing my clothes” They said, “we are enjoying the weather” I said, “it is raining” She said, “I am not laughing”	He said that he was listening to the music. She said that she was washing her clothes. They said that they were not enjoying the weather. She said that she was not laughing.
PRESENT PERFECT changes into PAST PERFECT
She said, “he has finished his work” He said, “I have started a job” I said, “she have eaten the meal” They said, “we have not gone to New York.	She said that he had finished his work. He said that he had started a job. I said that she had eaten the meal. They said that they had not gone to New York.
PRESENT PERFECT CONTINUOUS changes into PAST PERFECT CONTINUOUS
He said, “I have been studying since 3 O’clock” She said, “It has been raining for three days.” I said, “She has been working in this office since 2007”	He said that he had been studying since 3 O’clock. She said that it been raining for three days. I said that she had been working in this office since 2007.
PAST TENSE
PAST SIMPLE changes into PAST PERFECT
He said to me, “you answered correctly” John said, “they went to cinema” He said, “I made a table” She said, “I didn’t buy a car”	He said to me that I had answered correctly. John said that they had gone to cinema. He said that he had made a table. She said that she had not bought a car.
PAST CONTINUOUS changes into PAST PERFECT CONTINUOUS
They said, “we were enjoying the weather” He said to me, “ I was waiting for you” I said, “It was raining” She said, “I was not laughing”	They said that they had been enjoying. He said to me that he had been waiting for me. I said that it had been raining. She said that she not been laughing.
PAST PERFECT changes into PAST PERFECT (tense does not change)
She said, “She had visited a doctor” He said, “I had started a business” I said, “she had eaten the meal” They said, “we had not gone to New York.	She said that she had visited a doctor. He said that he had started a business. I said that she had eaten the meal. They said they had not gone to New York.
FUTURE TENSE
FUTURE SIMPLE TENSE WILL changes into WOULD
He said, “I will study the book” She said, “I will buy a computer” They said to me, “we will send you gifts” I said, “I will not take the exam”	He said that he would study the book. She said that she would buy a computer. They said to me that they would send you gifts. I said that I would not take the exam.
FUTURE CONTINUOUS TENSE WILL BE changes into WOULD BE
I said to him, “ I will be waiting for him” She said,” I will be shifting to new home” He said, “I will be working hard” He said, “he will not be flying kite”	I said to him that I would be waiting for him. She said that she would be shifting to a new home. He said that he would be working hard. She said that he would not be flying kites.
FUTURE PERFECT TENSE WILL HAVE changes into WOULD HAVE
He said, “I will have finished the work” She said, “they will have passed the examination” He said, “I will have gone”	He said that he would have finished the work. She said that they would have passed the examination. He said that he would have gone.

Note: The tense of reported speech may not change if reported speech is a universal truth though its reporting verb belongs to past tense.

Reported Speech

Indirect speech, also called reported speech or indirect discourse, is a means of expressing the content of statements, questions or other utterances, without quoting them explicitly as is done in direct speech. For example, He said "I'm coming" is direct speech, whereas He said he was coming is indirect speech. Indirect speech should not be confused with indirect speech acts.
In terms of grammar, indirect speech often makes use of certain syntactic structures such as content clauses ("that" clauses, such as (that) he was coming), and sometimes infinitive phrases. References to questions in indirect speech frequently take the form of interrogative content clauses, also called indirect questions (such as whether he was coming).
In indirect speech certain grammatical categories are changed relative to the words of the original sentence. For example, person may change as a result of a change of speaker or listener (as I changes to he in the example above). In some languages, including English, the tense of verbs is often changed – this is often called sequence of tenses. Some languages have a change of mood: Latin switches from indicative to the infinitive (for statements) or the subjunctive (for questions).
When written, indirect speech is not normally enclosed in quotation marks or any similar typographical devices for indicating that a direct quotation is being made. However such devices are sometimes used to indicate that the indirect speech is a faithful quotation of someone's words (with additional devices such as square brackets and ellipses to indicate deviations or omissions from those words), as in He informed us that "after dinner [he] would like to make an announcement".

 

NOTE: To change sentences into reported speech you have to dominate English verb tenses.

Neither vs Either Grammar

Either/Neither

The English words either and neither can cause some problems for native and non-native speakers of English. Sometimes you can use either one and sometimes you have to choose either one or the other, but neither one is very difficult.
 
Either... Or
Either... or is used to offer a choice between two possibilities:

Either Mike or Lisa will be there.
Either you leave me alone or I will call the police.
We should bring either coffee or tea.
You can either help us or go to your room.

Either can also be followed by (one) of + group of two:

Either of us could do it
Either one of us could do it
Either of you should know
Either one of you should know

Not... either... or denies both possibilities:

I don't think either Mike or Lisa will be there.
He doesn't speak either English or French.

Not... either is used after a negative statement.

I don't speak French.
You don't either.
He isn't ready to go.
We aren't either.

    
Neither... nor
Neither... nor is equivalent to not... either... or.

Neither Mike nor Lisa will be there.
He speaks neither English nor French.
We brought neither coffee nor tea.
I will neither help you nor go to my room.

Neither can also be followed by (one) of + group of two:

Neither of them is ready.
Neither one of them is ready.
Neither of us has any money.
Neither one of us has any money.

Neither is used like not... either.

I don't speak French.
Neither do I.
(informal): Me neither.
He isn't ready to go.
Neither are we.

 

The Bottom Line
Either means one, neither means none, and not either equals neither. Or goes with either and nor goes with neither

They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.
Benjamin Franklin
Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/keywords/neither.html#PiJyhisWOm1D8ktl.99

They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.
Benjamin Franklin
Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/keywords/neither.html#PiJyhisWOm1D8ktl.99

Prefixes/Suffixes Exercises

PREFIXES and SUFFIXES

Task: Add a PREFIX and/or SUFFIX to the words below and put them in the correct sentence. In brackets you'll find some information on the parts of speech to use.

PROBABLE     COMMUNICATE     AGREE     CURIOUS     ANGER     HEALTH

     RESPONSIBLE     FAME     HELP     LIKE     CAREFUL     CONCLUDE

a) The lights are green, but nobody is moving. He is so  . (adjective)

b) Don't you know that saying " killed the cat?"  (noun)

c) I think you should drive more . You're scaring me. (adverb)

d) She is a very  TV star. (adjective)

e) They have different opinions on the subject. Their  will last forever. (noun with a negative meaning)

f) Brian is always late for work. He is so . (adjective with a negative meaning)

g) This Math problem is very difficult. Mary didn't come to any   .  (noun)

h) He can't see the banana peel. He will  slip and fall. (adverb)

i) You shouldn't eat so much junk food. It's very .   (adjective with a negative meaning)

j) Thanks for finding my cat. You're a very  young man.  (adjective)

k) My parents are always fighting. There is no  between them anymore.  (noun)

l) I really  my packed lunch. It doesn't smell so nice. (verb with a negative meaning)

Suffixes

art 2: suffixes

We have already seen how prefixes can change the meaning of a word. Let us now consider some suffixes, their usual meanings, and how they change the meanings of English words:

Suffixes
Nouns	Verbs	Adjectives	Adverbs
-ance	-ize	-able	-ly
-ence	-ate	-ible
-or	-fy	-less
-er	-en	-ic
-ist	-ify	-ical
		-ish
		-ive

Study these tables. Try and find additional examples using your dictionary:

1. Noun-forming suffixes:
Suffix	Meaning	Examples
-ance	state	performance
-ence	quality of	independence
-er, -or	a person who a thing which	programmer, operator, biographer compiler, accumulator, processor, calculator
-ist, -yst	a person who	analyst, typist
-ian	pertaining to	electrician
-tion, -ation	the act of	compilation
-ness	condition of	readiness, cleanliness, happiness
-ion	action/state	conversion
-ing	activity	multiplexing
-ment	state, action	measurement, requirement
-ity	state, quality	electricity
-ism	condition/state	magnetism
-dom	domain/condition	freedom
-ship	condition/state	relationship, partnership

2. Verb-forming suffixes:
Suffix	Meaning	Examples
-ize/-ise	to make	computerize
-ate		automate, activate, calculate
-ify		simplify
-en		harden, widen, lengthen, shorten

3. Adverb-forming suffix:
Suffix	Meaning	Examples
-ly	in the manner of	electronically, logically, comparably, slowly, quickly, automatically, carefully

4. Adjective-forming suffixes:
Suffix	Meaning	Examples
-al	having the quality of	computational, logical
-ar		circular, rectangular, cellular, regular
-ic		magnetic, automatic
-ical		electrical
-able	capable of being	comparable
-ble		divisible
-ous	like, full of	dangerous, insiduous, miraculous
-ful	characterized by	helpful, careful
-less	without	careless, meaningless
-ish	like	yellowish
-ed	having the quality of	computed, processed
-ive		interactive

5. Words ending in -ing

Note that words ending in -ing are formed from verbs. The -ing form may be used as a noun, part of a noun phrase, or part of a verb

Programming is an interesting job (noun) Programming in C is interesting (part of a noun phrase) He is working as a programmer (part of a verb)

Prefixes

Let us now consider some prefixes, their usual meanings, and how they change the meanings of English words.

Part 1: prefixes

Prefixes:
Negative & positive	Size	Location	Time & order	Number
un-	semi-	inter-	pre-	mono-
non-	mini-	super-	ante-	bi-
in-	micro-	trans-	fore-	hex-
dis-		ex-	post-	oct-
re-		extra-		multi-
		peri-

Study these tables. Try and find additional examples using your dictionary:

1. Negative and positive prefixes:
	Prefix	Meaning	Examples
Negative:	un-	not	unmagnetized
	in-	not	incomplete
	im-	not	impossible
	il-	not	illegal
	ir-	not	irregular, irrelevant
	non-	not connected with	non-programmable
	mis-	bad, wrong	misdirect
	mal-	bad, wrong	malfunction
	dis-	opposite feeling	disagree
	dis-	opposite action	disconnect
	anti-	against	antiglare, antistatic
	de-	reduce, reverse	demagnetize, decode
	under-	too little	underestimate
Positive:	re-	do again	reorganize
	over-	too much	overload

2. Prefixes of size:
Prefix	Meaning	Examples
semi-	half, partly	semiconductor
equi-	equal	equidistant
mini-	small	minicomputer
micro-	very small	microcomputer, microscopic
macro-	large, great	macroeconomics
mega-	large, great	megabyte

3. Prefixes of location:
Prefix	Meaning	Examples
inter-	between, among	interface, interactive
super-	over	supersonic
trans-	across	transmit, transfer
ex-	out	exclude, extrinsic
extra-	beyond	extraordinary
sub-	under	subschema, subtraction
infra-	below	infra-red
peri-	around	peripheral, periscope

4. Prefixes of time and order:
Prefix	Meaning	Examples
ante-	before	antecedent
pre-	before	prefix, preceding, precedent
prime-	first	primary, primitive
post-	after	postdated, post-natal
retro-	backward	retrograde, retroactive

5. Prefixes of numbers:
Prefix	Meaning	Examples
semi-	half	semicircle
mono-	one	monochromatic
bi-	two	binary
tri-	three	triangle
quad-	four	quadruple
penta-	five	pentagon
hex-	six	hexadecimal
sept(em)-	seven	September
oct-	eight	octal
dec-	ten	decimal
multi-	many	multiplexor, multicoloured

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6. Other prefixes:
Prefix	Meaning	Examples
pro-	before, in advance, forward	programme, progress, procreation
auto-	self	automatic
co-	together with	co-ordinate, co-operate
con-	together with	connect

Word formation Prefixes/Suffixes

An English word can be divided into three parts: a prefix, a stem, and a suffix. Pre- means 'before. A prefix, therefore, is what comes before the stem. Consider, as an example, the prefix de- (meaning 'reduce' or 'reverse') in a word like demagnetize (meaning 'to deprive of magnetism'). A suffix is what is attached to the end of the stem. Consider, as an example, the suffix -er (meaning 'someone who') in programmer ('a person who programmes').

 

Suffixes change the word from one part of speech to another. For example, -ly added to the adjective quick gives the adverb quickly. Prefixes, on the other hand, usually change the meaning of the word. For example, un- changes a word to the negative. unmagnetizable means 'not capable of being magnetized'.

Direct/Indirect Questions

Listening Comprehension Exercise

1) According your music preferences, select one video.

 2) Listen to the music.

 3)Analyze the lyrics and describe which kind
of conditionals and how many examples are in the song.                    

 4)Write them on a piece of paper.

 5)Finally check your answers.

 Note:You can use lyrics to compare your answers at the end of the exercise not at the beggining If you do it at the beggining you will be cheating.

 

English Conditionals

As is typical for many languages, full conditional sentences in English consist of a condition clause or protasis specifying a condition or hypothesis, and a consequence clause or apodosis specifying what follows from that condition. The condition clause is a dependent clause, most commonly headed by the conjunction if, while the consequence is contained in the main clause of the sentence. Either clause may appear first.
Different types of conditional sentences (depending largely on whether they refer to a past, present or future time frame) require the use of particular verb forms (tenses and moods) to express the condition and the consequence. In English language teaching the most common patterns are referred to as first conditional, second conditional and third conditional.

First Conditional:

 "First conditional" or "conditional I" refers to a pattern used in predictive conditional sentences, i.e. those that concern consequences of a possible future event.

If you make a mistake, someone will let you know
If he asks me, I will consider his proposal carefully.

Second Conditional:

"Second conditional" or "conditional II" refers to a pattern used to describe hypothetical, typically counterfactual situations. In the normal form of the second conditional, the condition clause is in the past tense and the consequence is expressed using the conditional construction with the auxiliary would.

If I (he, she, it) was/were rich, there would be plenty of money available for this project.

If I (he, she, it) was/were speaking, you would not be allowed to interrupt like that.

 

 

Structure: If+past perfect, would+have+past participle

"Third conditional" or "conditional III" is a pattern used to refer to hypothetical situations in a past time frame, generally counterfactual (or at least presented as counterfactual, or likely to be counterfactual). Here the condition clause is in the past perfect, and the consequence is expressed using the conditional perfect.