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Class 10 English — Reporting a whole conversation

Report several turns of a conversation, keeping the tense shift, the pronouns and the reporting verbs consistent throughout.

Name: ________________________

  1. 1.Which is the correct reported form? The original was: "Please shut the window."

    • a) He said that shut the window.
    • b) He said me to shut the window.
    • c) He told that I shut the window.
    • d) He requested me to shut the window.

  2. 2.Priya asked me, "Where do you live?" How is that reported?

    • a) Priya asked where I lived.
    • b) Priya asked where do I live.
    • c) Priya asked that where I lived.
    • d) Priya asked where did I live.

  3. 3.Sort each reported sentence by the kind of thing that was originally said.

    Groups: A statement · A question · A command or request

    • He said that the gate was locked.
    • She asked when we had finished.
    • She begged him to finish quickly.
    • He told us to lock the gate.
    • She said that she had finished.
    • He asked whether the gate was locked.

  4. 4.Ravi said, "I am waiting for the bus." How is that reported?

    • a) Ravi said that he waited for the bus.
    • b) Ravi said that he is waiting for the bus.
    • c) Ravi said that I was waiting for the bus.
    • d) Ravi said that he was waiting for the bus.

  5. 5.A teacher says to one student, "You have done well." When that student reports it later, which pronoun does "you" become?

    • a) he
    • b) they
    • c) I
    • d) you

  6. 6.Sort each reporting verb by what it usually introduces.

    Groups: A statement · A command or request

    • replied
    • ordered
    • remarked
    • begged
    • instructed
    • explained

  7. 7.Put this reported conversation back into the order it must have happened.

    • Anil replied that it was blue and had his name on it.
    • The conductor asked him what the bag looked like.
    • The conductor told him to come back to the office the next morning.
    • Anil said that he had lost his bag on the bus.

  8. 8.When the words being reported state a general truth, what may happen to the tense?

    • a) It may stay in the present.
    • b) It must move into the future.
    • c) The sentence cannot be reported at all.
    • d) It must always shift back one step.

Answer key — Class 10 English — Reporting a whole conversation

  1. 1. d) He requested me to shut the window.
  2. 2. a) Priya asked where I lived.
  3. 3. He said that the gate was locked. → A statement; He asked whether the gate was locked. → A question; He told us to lock the gate. → A command or request; She said that she had finished. → A statement; She asked when we had finished. → A question; She begged him to finish quickly. → A command or request
  4. 4. d) Ravi said that he was waiting for the bus.
  5. 5. c) I
  6. 6. replied → A statement; ordered → A command or request; explained → A statement; begged → A command or request; remarked → A statement; instructed → A command or request
  7. 7. 1. Anil said that he had lost his bag on the bus. 2. The conductor asked him what the bag looked like. 3. Anil replied that it was blue and had his name on it. 4. The conductor told him to come back to the office the next morning.
  8. 8. a) It may stay in the present.