He tells me that he cooks.

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Reported Speech I (Reported Speech With Present Tense Reporting Verb)

Intermediate

After this lesson, you will be able to tell others what your friends often say or just said.

Exercise 1

Sentence Practice

Jim says, "My dog is sick."
Arjun's friends say, "He always comes to parties."
Mary says, "Renuka hates spiders."
Peter says, "I have just arrived at the airport."

Jim says that his dog is sick.
Arjun's friends say that he always comes to parties.
Mary says that you hate spiders.
Peter says that he has just arrived at the airport.

Jim tells me that his dog is sick.
Arjun's friends tell me that he always comes to parties.
Mary tells me that you hate spiders.
Peter tells me that he has just arrived at the airport.

Grammar Focus

There are two ways to tell somebody what someone else said.

Direct vs. Indirect Reported Speech

1. 'Direct Reported Speech' is when you quote the person's exact words using quotation marks (“ “):

He says, “I love you.”

2. 'Indirect Reported Speech' is when you say it in your own words:

He says that he loves you.

In the sentences above, we changed 'I' to 'he'. When you change a sentence from direct to indirect reported speech, sometimes you will need to change the pronoun.

Tell me

We kept the reporting verb 'say' in the above sentences. However, when the reporting verb in direct reported speech is 'say to', we change it to 'tell'.

He says to me, ”I love you.”
→ He tells me that he loves me.

Tip

In conversation, we often omit 'that' from indirect reported speech. For example, we usually say "He tells me he loves me" and not "He tells me that he loves me."

Exercise 2

Sentence Practice

She says, "I miss you".
She says she misses me.
She tells me, “I miss you”.
She tells me she misses me.

They say, "We go jogging every day".
They say they go jogging every day.
They tell me, "We go jogging every day".
They tell me they go jogging every day.

Mom said, "You need to go to bed".
Mom said that you need to go to bed.

Exercise 3

Rephrasing Sentences

Rephrase the following Direct Speech sentences into Reported Speech sentences.

She says, "My husband comes home late from work."

They tell me, "You travel often."

He says, "My boss is demanding."

Experts say, "Milk is good for our bones."

Mark told Stacy, "You should take singing lessons."

She tells her husband, "I'm going on a business trip tomorrow."

Exercise 4

Sentence Building

You are meeting a relative for the first time. Your family members have told you a lot about this relative; their exact words are quoted below. Tell this relative what you have heard about him using reported speech.

Example

He has two children. → "They tell me that you have two children."

He goes to China often.
He smokes a lot.
He is a chef.
He drinks coffee ten times a day.
He knows a lot about the world.
He speaks five languages.