Reported Speech: Questions and Commands

In most situations, if and whether are interchangeable for introducing yes/no questions. Whether sounds slightly more formal and occurs in writing, business messages and when emphasising two alternatives.

In this asked + clause pattern, whether is required directly before or not. When or not comes at the end, either if or whether is possible. Other whether contexts, such as before a to-infinitive, are covered separately.

In a direct question, an auxiliary or modal precedes the subject: Can you, Are you, Have you, or do/does/did is added. In a reported question, the subject comes first and the auxiliary takes its ordinary position within the predicate.

Remove do/does/did added only to form the direct question: Does she like it? → if she liked it. Retain negative or emphatic do when needed: if she didn’t like it, if she really did like it. A statement beginning She asked … normally ends with a full stop; an outer question Did she ask …? needs a question mark.

When the conversation is in the past, the embedded question normally shifts back: present simple to past simple, present continuous to past continuous, present perfect and often past simple to past perfect. Can and will become could and would.

Person and possessives change too: pronouns must fit the reporting speaker rather than the original questioner. If Mia asked Do you like my idea?, I report Mia asked if I liked her idea.

When circumstances remain relevant, speakers sometimes retain a present tense: She asked if I like tea. The exercises below report earlier conversations with standard backshift.

Asked most commonly introduces a reported question; me/him/her after it is optional: She asked (me) if.... Alternatives include wondered, wanted to know and was wondering. Wondered needs no addressee: it can report a question that only occurred in someone’s mind.

Choose asked rather than told to report that someone asked. Told me whether … can be grammatical, but means the answer was supplied: She told me whether the shop was open. That cannot replace if/whether in an embedded yes/no question.

Real accounts rarely contain just one question. Embed each separately, applying the same rules to each: its own conjunction, statement order and appropriate tense shift.

The answer is reported with another construction, such as said that or said no, belonging to statement reporting. It appears here only to finish the account.

Reported yes/no questions differ from reported wh-questions: those put where, why or what after asked rather than if/whether. They differ from commands and requests by not using to + verb for this reporting pattern.

The content type selects the pattern: yes/no question — if/whether; wh-question — a question word; request to someone — asked + recipient + to-infinitive. If the whole sentence is a statement, it normally ends with a full stop.

For a question that is not about the subject, the pattern is: who asked + asked (+ whom) + question word + subject + verb. If the question phrase itself is the subject, we do not add another subject: asked who called.

A question word can be one word or a phrase: how long, how many, what time, whose coat. The phrase stays together: how many people, not how people many.

When reporting a past conversation, we use asked or wanted to know. A present reporting frame, asks, is also possible. After ask, the addressee comes without to: asked me, asked her.

Do/does/did, when needed only for question inversion, are not used in the embedded clause. Negative or emphatic forms remain when their meaning requires them: asked why I didn’t come; asked who did take the biscuit — a question with special emphasis on did.

The information carried by these auxiliary verbs moves to the main verb: did you stop becomes I stopped, and does she study becomes she studied.

This is the most common mistake among learners: familiar inversion is retained (where was the library), or an unnecessary did remains.

If the reporting frame is in the past (asked, wanted to know), the tense in the clause usually shifts one step back: Present Simple → Past Simple, am/is/are → was/were, Present Continuous → Past Continuous, Present Perfect → Past Perfect, will → would, can → could.

In complete backshift, Past Simple in a direct question becomes Past Perfect (had + past participle). In spoken language, simple past is often kept when the context makes the earlier event clear. In exercises, the instructions indicate when Past Perfect is specifically required.

Backshift is not needed if the reporting frame is in the present (Arturo asks where we usually have lunch) or when the statement remains true and important at the time of reporting. Therefore, practise backshift where the instructions require it.

Sometimes the question word itself is the subject: Who called you? What happened? Which bus goes to the lake? In such questions, there is no auxiliary do and the word order does not change.

In reported speech, only the verb form changes: who called becomes who had called (or who called), and who lives becomes who lived. Do not add did: this is a common mistake.

Determine the role from the meaning: in Who called you?, who is the person who called, so it is the subject. In Who did you call?, you is the doer, and who is the object. The question word’s position next to the verb is not enough to determine its role.

To report the act of asking, we usually say asked. Wanted to know expresses a desire for information, even if the question was not spoken. Said where/when … can report information that was stated, but it does not mean that the speaker asked for it.

After asked, put the object without to: asked me. Other words in the report change according to the viewpoint: you → I or he, my → his, here/there, today/that day.

An ordinary reported statement ends with a full stop. If the whole sentence is a question, use a question mark: Did she ask where I lived? The word order in where I lived remains direct.

Questions with a yes-or-no answer are reported with if or whether: this is a separate rule about reported yes/no questions. Commands and requests (told me to…) are also separate, covered by the rule for reported commands.

We see similar statement word order in polite questions such as Could you tell me where the pharmacy is? This is not reported speech, so there is no backshift: we are asking about the present.

Do not confuse reporting a question with asking it: Where did you go? is a direct question and requires the auxiliary do.

Told and asked have the same grammatical pattern. Their force differs: told reports an instruction or command, while asked reports a request. Direct-speech clues to a request include please, could you, would you, and can you; command clues include a bare imperative, an exclamation mark, and an authoritative tone.

Many everyday instructions can be reported with either verb without a grammatical problem. The impression changes: asked is softer, told more direct. Choose the verb that best preserves the original tone.

Other reporting verbs use this pattern too: ordered for a firm command, warned for a warning, advised for advice, reminded for a reminder, and begged for an urgent plea. They follow verb + person + (not) to + base verb.

When direct speech uses Don't…, put not before the to-infinitive in reported speech: told/asked + person + not to + base verb. Do not retain don't inside this reported construction or replace the infinitive with an -ing form.

To not + verb also occurs in usage, especially conversationally. Not to remains the main learning pattern; this rule's materials accept both orders where the meaning is unchanged.

Negative requests work the same way: asked + person + not to. This reports Please don't… with the softer tone of a request.

An instruction to another person needs a recipient: told us/the students not to submit late. Asked to … without a recipient is also possible, but has a different meaning: She asked to leave requests permission for her own departure. Distinguish it from She asked me to leave, where she requests my departure.

The recipient takes no preposition. Do not insert to before the person by analogy with another language: use told us, not told to us to leave.

Said does not take this person + infinitive pattern: said me to… is incorrect. For an instruction, choose told, asked, ordered, or another suitable verb. For a different meaning, such as requesting an object, ask takes for: asked for a pen. That is not the infinitive construction.

When reporting someone else's words, adopt the reporter's viewpoint. You becomes me, us, him, her, or them depending on the recipient and reporter. Possessive your becomes my, our, his, her, or their.

When reporting later or from another place, time and place expressions can change: here → there, this → that, now → then, tomorrow → the next day, today → that day. This depends on when and where you report. On the same day and in the same place, many expressions can remain unchanged.

The infinitive to bring does not backshift: the reporting verb and context establish the time. Tense backshift is possible when reporting statements, but is not automatic in every situation there either.

The pattern is not limited to told and asked. Ordered makes the instruction firm, warned gives a warning, advised gives advice, reminded recalls an instruction, and begged conveys an urgent plea. All allow a person and to-infinitive: verb + person + (not) to + base verb.

Negation also goes before to: warned me not to, advised her not to. Select the verb according to the direct utterance's function: prohibition, advice, or reminder.

Do not automatically transfer this pattern to suggest or recommend: they have their own patterns and are covered by separate rules. They are outside this material's focus.

Asked has two meanings: requesting an action and asking a question. If to + verb follows the person, it is a request. If if, whether, or a question word such as where or why follows, it is a question covered by the rules for reported questions.

Not to also appears in purpose clauses (so as not to, in order not to). There, the infinitive explains why someone acted rather than reporting another person's instruction. Compare She told me not to wake the baby, an instruction, with She left quietly so as not to wake the baby, a purpose.

This lesson practises verb + recipient + (not) to + action. Backshift in reported statements and suggestions with suggest are covered separately.