Grammar guide Updated 2026-09-16

Reported Speech: Rules, Backshifting and Classroom Drills

Reported speech turns a spoken sentence into a sentence about it, and every change comes from one decision: how far the original moment is from the report. Once learners see the shift as a move away from the speaker, the backshift, the pronoun swaps and the time words stop looking like a list. Teach the table first, then questions and commands, and drill until the pattern runs without it.

Direct and reported speech in one line

Direct speech quotes the words; reported speech stands one step back from them. I'll call you tomorrow becomes She said she would call me the next day. Nothing happened between the two sentences: the tense, the pronoun and the time word all moved because the reporting point moved. Write it on the board: the words move because the moment moves.

The backshift table

The reporting verb is usually past (said, told, asked), and that past pulls the original verb one step back. Leave the table up all lesson.

Pronouns and time words

Pronouns move to the reporter's point of view: I becomes he or she. Time words move too, and this is the part learners drop under pressure.

One caution: if the class reports something said five minutes ago in the same room, here and now can stay. The rule follows the meaning, not the table.

say and tell

Tell takes a person; say does not. She told me she was leaving and She said she was leaving are both correct, but She said me is not. Fix it with said to me or switch to told. Keep the pair on the board: three verbs like say (explain, add, reply), three like tell (tell, remind, warn). The relative clauses guide uses the same board shape: one form, examples, then drilling.

Reported questions

Two changes matter: do, does and did disappear, and word order becomes statement order.

• Wh- question: Where do you work? becomes She asked where I worked.
• Yes/no question: Are you ready? becomes He asked whether I was ready. If works the same way.
• No question mark, no inversion: He asked what time the shop opened.
• Requests: Could you help me? becomes She asked me to help her.

Reported commands and requests

The pattern is verb + person + to infinitive: Wait outside becomes She told me to wait outside. Please close the door becomes He asked me to close the door. Negatives put not before to: She told us not to touch it. The choice between tell and ask is about power: learners who use only tell sound aggressive when they report a polite request.

Where the errors come from

• She said me that... Tell takes the person: She told me that...
• He asked where did I live. Drop did, keep statement order.
• She said she is tired. With a past reporting verb, backshift to was.
• They said they will come tomorrow. Time words move too: would come the next day.

A board plan for one lesson

One decision at a time, with speaking after each step.

Drills that turn the pattern into a habit

Recognition is easy; production under time pressure is not. Three drills do most of the work.

1. Chain report. One learner says a sentence about their evening, the next reports it, the next reports the report. The tense usually breaks at the second link — that is the useful part.
2. Same sentence, five reports. One quote on the board, five reporting verbs: admitted, insisted, warned, promised, complained.
3. Board relay. Two columns, direct on the left, blanks on the right; teams complete the reported version, one word per person.
4. Back to back. Pairs sit facing away, ask three questions, then report the answers to a third learner.

The classroom grammar drills page has more of this shape, including timed rounds for a forty-minute lesson.

Practice that keeps the table alive

Ten items a day, checked straight away, beat one long session on a Friday. Print a set with an answer key as a worksheet, or build one from this week's vocabulary in the worksheet builder. The grammar drills cover indirect forms one question at a time, and the used to guide follows on neatly, since past habits reuse the backshift.

Browse the grammar drills Print a worksheet Build your own set

Frequently asked questions

What is backshifting in reported speech?

Backshifting means moving the verb one step further into the past when the reporting verb is in the past: I am tired becomes She said she was tired. The present perfect moves to the past perfect, and will becomes would.

What is the difference between say and tell?

Tell needs a person after it and say does not: tell me, but say something. Say something to someone is also correct. Both take that, and that can be dropped in speech.

How do I report a question in English?

Keep the question word, drop do, does and did, and use statement word order with no question mark: Where do you live becomes She asked where I lived. Yes and no questions take if or whether: Are you ready becomes He asked whether I was ready.

Do I always have to backshift?

No. There is no backshift when the reporting verb is in the present, or when the fact is still true: He says he is busy works because he is still busy. A past simple may also stay when the time is stated: She said she left in 2019.

How do I report a command or a request?

Use tell or ask plus the person plus a to-infinitive: She told me to wait outside. He asked me to close the door. The negative takes not before to: She told us not to touch anything.

Keep reading

• Quantifiers: How to Teach Much, Many and A Lot Of
• Relative Clauses: How to Teach Who, Which and That
• Classroom Grammar Drills That Work in a 40-Minute Lesson
• Used To: How to Teach Past Habits

Every guide on this blog is paired with a free drill: the same rules, applied question by question, with explanations and a printable worksheet.