Your four questions
Read out your four questions in their original words, then try reporting each one immediately. Your partner listens for a question mark in your voice.
A reported question is a statement. If your voice rises at the end, something has gone wrong before the intonation did.
Six reporting verbs. Match each to where the person goes.
Four questions, reported
What was asked, and how it comes out
"Did you send the invoice?" → She asked whether I had sent the invoice.
"What time does the meeting start?" → He asked what time the meeting started.
"Can you help?" → She asked whether I could help.
"Why didn’t you tell me?" → He asked why I had not told him.
Four questions about what happens to a question when it is reported.
1. What happens to did and does?
2. What happens to the word order?
3. What introduces a reported yes/no question?
4. Where have you met this word order before?
Questions, and the verbs that carry meaning
Reporting a question
| Original | Reported | What changed |
|---|---|---|
| "Did you send it?" | She asked whether I had sent it. | did gone, order flipped, tense stepped |
| "Are you coming?" | He asked if I was coming. | Inversion gone |
| "What time is it?" | She asked what time it was. | Inversion gone; wh- word stays at the front |
| "Why didn’t you call?" | He asked why I had not called. | didn’t becomes had not on the verb |
| "Who wrote this?" | She asked who had written it. | Subject question — no inversion to lose |
| A request: "Please sign it." | She asked me to sign it. | ask somebody to do |
Verbs that carry meaning, and the pattern each takes
| Verb | Pattern | Example |
|---|---|---|
suggest | + -ing or + that … should | She suggested moving it. |
offer · promise · refuse · agree · threaten | + to | He offered to circulate the note. |
admit · deny | + -ing or + that | He admitted forgetting. |
warn | somebody + not to / about | She warned us not to promise a date. |
insist | + on -ing or + that | She insisted on seeing the figures. |
apologise | + for -ing | He apologised for missing it. |
accuse | somebody + of -ing | He accused them of moving it twice. |
Four sentences have been removed from this report. Put each back where the verb pattern fits.
The testing lead opened by asking whether the release date had moved. [1]
Two people objected to the three-week window. [2] She replied that it had been agreed in June.
[3] Nobody could produce the note, and she did not say who had signed it off.
The meeting closed with two action points. [4]
Patterns, drilled
One to four words per gap. Statement order, no auxiliary, no question mark.
She asked sent the invoice. He asked what time the meeting . They asked help with the migration. She asked why we told her earlier, and I asked her the note.
Nine sentences. Errors of word order, of auxiliary, and of verb pattern.
1. She asked did I send it.
2. He asked what time does the meeting start.
3. She told that she disagreed.
4. He explained me the process.
5. She suggested to move the meeting.
6. He offered circulating the note.
7. She warned us about not to promise a date.
8. He admitted to forget.
9. She insisted seeing the figures.
Eight sentence beginnings. Match each to the pattern that must follow it.
Report the interview
Task card · Speaking · Groups of three · 4 minutes each
One of you interviews another about their work for two minutes. The third takes notes and then reports it.
A report containing at least four reported questions and four verbs that carry meaning.
- Interviewer: eight questions, at least three of them yes/no.
- Reporter: She asked whether… · He asked what… · She explained that… · He admitted…
- No question marks anywhere in the report, and no inversion.
- At least one suggested, one offered or promised, and one insisted or denied.
The interviewee’s job. Object to any reporting verb that says something about you that you did not mean. You are the only person who knows.
From the reports
Four sentences from the reports. Fix each.
1. He asked me where do I work.
2. She asked if did I enjoy it.
3. He suggested me to apply.
4. She promised sending it on Friday.
No inversion, no auxiliary
Three questions.
1. "Did you send it?" She asked ___
2. Which is right?
3. Which verb requires a person straight after it?
Before next lesson. Think of a real work or study conversation with at least three people in it and at least one disagreement. Write the participants and the outcome. Nothing else.
Next lesson you report the whole thing for four minutes, and somebody will check whether the reporting verbs were fair.