7 structures · CEFR B1–C1
English reported speech
Reported speech is how you say what somebody else said without quoting them. English shifts the tense one step back when you do — "I am busy" becomes "he said he was busy" — and it changes the pronouns and the time words along with it. Indian English very often keeps the original tense, which is understood but marks the sentence immediately.
Common reported speech mistakes
Every one of these is a sentence Indian-English speakers genuinely produce — not a textbook example.
| Commonly said | Correct English |
|---|---|
He said he is busy. | He said he was busy. Reporting later pushes "is" back to "was". Reported speech → |
He said me that he was busy. | He told me that he was busy. With a person straight after it, the verb is "told". say or tell? → |
She said she will call me. | She said she would call me. After a past reporting verb, "will" becomes "would". When the tense steps back → |
Yesterday he said he would come tomorrow. | Yesterday he said he would come the next day. His "tomorrow" was today — reporting it as "tomorrow" moves the day by one. here → there, today → that day → |
He asked me where do I live. | He asked me where I lived. A reported question has no "do" and no swap. Reported questions → |
He told me that I should not to go. | He told me not to go. The negative goes before "to" and nothing else is needed. Reported orders and requests → |
He denied to take the money. | He denied taking the money. "Deny" takes -ing; "refuse" is the one that takes "to". admit, deny, suggest, promise → |
All 7 reported speech structures
Grouped by CEFR band so you can start where you actually are, rather than at the top.
B1 · Independent
1 structure at this level.
B2 · Confident
5 structures at this level.
- Reported speechB2Tell somebody what another person said
- When the tense steps backB2Move every tense back by one, and know when not to
- here → there, today → that dayB2Report a sentence from where you are standing now
- Reported questionsB2Report a question without leaving it looking like one
- Reported orders and requestsB2Report an instruction somebody gave you
C1 · Fluent
1 structure at this level.
Dimmed tiles are structures whose example bank is still being written. The explanation and the mistake are there; the sentences are not, yet.
Reading it is not the same as saying it.
CoCap turns reported speech into practice you can actually do: a Hindi sentence, your English answer, and one correction at a time.
Practise this, free →