Study the rules, look at the examples, then do the exercises.
In the last unit you learned how to report statements (She said that she was tired). But people do not only make statements — they also ask questions and give commands. In this unit you learn how to report both of these. The big idea is the same as before: when we report someone's words later, the grammar changes.
Two changes matter most in this unit. First, a reported question loses its "question shape": there is no do/does/did, and the word order becomes the order of a normal statement. Second, a reported command or request is built with a very simple pattern: a reporting verb + a person + a to-infinitive.
When we report a wh- question, we keep the question word (where, what, why, when, how...), but three things change: we use statement word order (subject before verb), we remove do / does / did, and we usually backshift the tense one step into the past.
| Direct question | Reported question |
|---|---|
| "Where do you live?" | He asked where I lived. |
| "What are you doing?" | She asked what I was doing. |
| "Why did you leave?" | They asked why I had left. |
| "When will you arrive?" | I asked when she would arrive. |
A yes/no question has no question word, so we add one ourselves: if or whether. After it, we again use statement word order and backshift the tense. If and whether mean the same here; whether is a little more formal.
| Direct question | Reported question |
|---|---|
| "Do you like tea?" | She asked if I liked tea. |
| "Are you ready?" | He asked whether I was ready. |
| "Did you see it?" | They asked if I had seen it. |
| "Can you swim?" | I asked if she could swim. |
To report an order or a request, we do not backshift a tense — instead we use a clear, fixed pattern: a reporting verb + the person (an object) + a to-infinitive. For a negative command, we simply put not in front of to.
| Direct | Reported |
|---|---|
| "Wait here." | She told me to wait here. |
| "Please help me." | He asked me to help him. |
| "Don't be late." | They told me not to be late. |
| "Close the door." | The teacher told us to close the door. |
We use tell for a normal instruction and ask for a polite request, but English has many stronger, more exact verbs. They all follow the same pattern: verb + object + (not) to + infinitive.
| Verb | Use it for... | Example |
|---|---|---|
| tell | a normal instruction | She told me to wait. |
| ask | a polite request | He asked me to sit down. |
| order | a strong, official command | The officer ordered them to stop. |
| advise | a suggestion for someone's good | The doctor advised her to rest. |
| warn | a danger (often with 'not to') | He warned me not to touch it. |
| remind | help someone remember | She reminded me to call home. |
These are the errors B1 students make most often with reported questions and commands. Check your own sentences against this list.
| Wrong ✗ | Right ✓ | Why? |
|---|---|---|
| He asked where did I live. | He asked where I lived. | a reported question uses statement order, no 'did'. |
| She asked me what time is it. | She asked me what time it was. | drop the inversion and backshift the tense. |
| They told me wait. | They told me to wait. | tell + object + to-infinitive. |
| He said me to go home. | He told me to go home. | use 'tell' (+ object), not 'say', for a command. |
| She told me to not worry. | She told me not to worry. | negative = not + to-infinitive, in that order. |
| He asked me that I was tired. | He asked me if I was tired. | yes/no question → if/whether, never 'that'. |
A tourist stops a police officer in the street. Read the short conversation, then read how a friend reports it afterwards. Notice how each question loses its question shape and each command becomes a to-infinitive.
Choose the correct answer. — 10 questions, each one is marked instantly. Questions get harder as you go.
Learn the words, then use them to report questions and commands from your own life.
Write 8 sentences that report questions and commands from your own life. Use at least 8 of the words above.
Sentence starters (you can begin with these):
Değerlendirme öğretmenin tarafından yapılacak. (Your teacher will review your task.)
Read the text, then answer the questions.
Good readers prepare before they start. Before you read, think about these three questions (you do not need to write the answers):
Words to spot (from the Speaking section): interview · advise · reply · remind · request · permission · enquire · instruction
Getting a good job is not easy these days, and my cousin Elif knows this very well. For almost three months she had been sending her CV to different companies, but most of them never wrote back, and the few that did reply only sent short emails saying that the position was already filled. Slowly she started to lose hope. So when a large travel company finally invited her to an interview, she was both excited and a little scared. She spent the whole weekend getting ready: she read everything she could find about the company on its website, she practised her answers in front of the mirror, and she asked her family to test her with difficult questions. My aunt reminded her to print two copies of her CV, and my uncle told her not to arrive late. By Sunday evening she felt tired but ready.
Last week my cousin Elif had an important job interview, and afterwards she told me all about it. She was nervous at first, but the interviewer, Mr Kaya, was very kind. As soon as she sat down, he told her to relax and asked her if she wanted a glass of water.
The office was on the tenth floor of a modern glass building, with wide windows and a view over the whole city. While they waited for the computer to start, Mr Kaya made a little friendly small talk. He asked Elif how her journey had been and whether she had found the building easily. These easy questions helped her to calm down, and soon she almost forgot that she was nervous at all. She noticed that he kept smiling, and this made the room feel much less frightening than she had imagined.
Then the real questions began. Mr Kaya asked Elif why she had applied for the job, and she replied that she loved working with people. He wanted to know how long she had worked in her last company, and whether she could start in September. Elif said that she could.
Elif explained that she had worked for two years as a receptionist in a small family hotel near the sea. She told Mr Kaya that the job had taught her how to stay calm with difficult customers and how to solve problems quickly. He seemed interested and asked her to give a real example. Elif described a busy summer night when the hotel computer suddenly stopped working, and she explained how she had checked every guest in by hand until an engineer arrived the next morning. Mr Kaya wrote something in his notebook, nodded slowly, and said that this was exactly the kind of attitude the company was looking for.
Next, he asked her what her greatest weakness was. That was a difficult question! Elif thought for a moment and then answered honestly. Mr Kaya smiled and told her not to worry, because everybody feels nervous, so a few nerves are completely normal.
She admitted that she sometimes worried too much about small mistakes, but she added that she was slowly learning to focus on the bigger picture instead. Mr Kaya said that this was actually a good sign, because it showed that she truly cared about her work. Then he explained a few things about the job itself. He told her that the team was friendly, that the office could be very busy in summer, and that all new staff received two weeks of training before they started. He also advised her to ask questions whenever she was not sure about something, because nobody expects a new worker to know everything on the first day.
Before the end, he asked Elif if she had any questions for him. She enquired when the company would announce its decision, and he replied that they would call her within a week. Finally, he stood up, shook her hand and told her to check her email that evening.
On her way home, Elif could not stop thinking about the interview. She wondered if she had said too much or too little, and she asked herself whether Mr Kaya had really liked her answers. When her best friend sent her a message and asked how it had gone, Elif replied that it had gone well, but she added that she was still not completely sure. Her friend told her not to worry and reminded her that she had prepared very hard.
That night, Elif received a message. It asked her to come back for a second interview and reminded her to bring her certificates. She was so happy! She said that the interview had taught her something important: preparation and a calm mind always help.
When she phoned me later that night with the good news, she could hardly speak because she was so excited. She told me that all those long hours of practice had finally paid off, and she thanked our whole family for helping her get ready. I asked her what advice she would give to other people before an important interview. She thought for a second and then said three simple things: learn as much as you can about the company, listen carefully to every question before you answer, and never be afraid to take a short pause to think. I promised her that I would remember her words, because one day I will have an important interview of my own, and I want to feel as calm and ready as she did.
A week later, Elif went back for that second interview, and this time she was far more confident. The manager asked her many of the same questions, and she answered them clearly and without shaking. When it was over, she called me again and reported every single question, word for word. Listening to her, I realised how often we use reported speech in real life: whenever we tell a friend what someone asked us, or what a boss told us to do, we are turning direct words into reported ones. Elif's story is a perfect example, and it also has a happy ending, because two days later the company offered her the job. She started work the following month, and she says she has never been happier.
Choose the correct answer.
Are these sentences true or false, according to the text?
Complete each sentence with ONE word from the text. Mind the reported structure (backshift, if/whether, not to).
Write your answer in your own words. These questions are not marked automatically.
1. How did Mr Kaya help Elif feel more comfortable at the start of the interview?
2. What did the message that Elif received that night ask her to do?
3. What lesson does Elif say the interview taught her, and do you agree?
Find these connectors in the text — each one appears at least once: and, but, because, so, when, before, then, as soon as. (You will use these same connectors in the Writing section.) Note them down, then check.
Report a whole conversation in your own words, then drill the grammar with 10 quick questions.
Below is a short direct conversation. Your job is to report it — turn every line into a reported question or a reported command in your own words.
Sentence starters (you can begin with these):
Değerlendirme öğretmenin tarafından yapılacak. (Your teacher will review your task.)
10 quick questions on reported questions and commands. Each one is marked instantly. Questions get harder as you go.
Write and submit your paragraph; your teacher will review it.
A list of short, separate reported sentences is not real writing. What connects your ideas is linking words. At A2 you used and, but, so, because. At B1 you add more powerful connectors: when, before, after, then and as soon as. These let you show the order of events and the reasons behind them like a confident writer.
| Connector | Use it to... | Example |
|---|---|---|
| and | add information | She asked me my name, and then she asked where I lived. |
| but | show a contrast | I asked if I could help, but he refused. |
| so | show a result | He told me to hurry, so I ran to the bus. |
| because | give a reason | She told me not to worry, because the test was easy. |
| when | say at what time | When I arrived, the manager asked me to wait. |
| before | an earlier event | Before we left, she reminded me to lock the door. |
| after | a later event | After he asked my age, he asked where I worked. |
| then | the next step | He asked my name; then he told me to sign the form. |
| as soon as | immediately after | As soon as I sat down, she asked if I was ready. |
See the difference — the same facts, written two ways:
| Separate sentences ✗ | Connected, fluent writing ✓ |
|---|---|
| The officer stopped me. He asked me where I was going. He told me to show my ticket. He warned me not to run. I felt nervous. | When the officer stopped me, he asked me where I was going and told me to show my ticket. Then he warned me not to run, so I walked slowly, because I felt nervous. |
A "reported conversation" paragraph has three parts. The skeleton stays the same every time — you change the content, not the structure:
| Part | What to write | Example |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Opening | Say who you talked to and when | Last week I had an interview with a manager called Mr Kaya. |
| 2. Body | Report the questions (statement order, if/whether) and the commands (tell/ask + to), linked with connectors | He asked me why I wanted the job, and then he told me to describe my experience. |
| 3. Closing | Say how it ended or how you felt | Finally, he told me to wait for his email, and I felt hopeful. |
Think of a real or imagined conversation — an interview, a talk with a teacher, a chat with a police officer, or advice from a doctor. Write a paragraph that reports it.
Değerlendirme öğretmenin tarafından yapılacak. (Your teacher will evaluate your writing.)
Mixed questions from the whole unit, then check what you can do.
14 questions: grammar + vocabulary + reading + practice. Each question is marked instantly.
Tick what you can do now. Honest answers help your teacher.
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