Reporting Speech: Statements and Questions

Lesson 7: Reported Speech (Statements and Questions).

1. Overview
Learn how to report what someone else said, shifting tenses, pronouns, and time expressions back appropriately.

2. Backshifting Tenses
- Present Simple -> Past Simple ("I code daily" -> He said that he coded daily).
- Present Continuous -> Past Continuous ("I am working" -> She said she was working).
- Past Simple / Present Perfect -> Past Perfect ("I built an app" -> He said he had built an app).

3. Reporting Questions
- Wh- questions keep the question word and use statement word order: He asked me where I lived (not where did I live).
- Yes/No questions use "if" or "whether": She asked me if I liked coding.

4. Practice Exercise
Convert the direct speech into reported speech:
1. Direct: "I am learning advanced English," he said.
Reported: He said that he _____ .
2. Direct: "Where do you work?" she asked me.
Reported: She asked me where _____ .