REPORTED

QUESTIONS AND COMMANDS

SWOOSH 9
Cláudia Regina Abreu | Cidália Sousa | Vanessa Reis Esteves
 Reported questions
• We use reported questions to tell
someone what someone else asked.
• As we are reporting a question we
don’t use question marks.

Where is my book?

Steven asked where his book was.

 Reported questions
• When we report questions,
the word order is affirmative.

Where is my book?

Steven asked where his book was.

 Reported questions
• In reported questions we do
not use the auxiliary verb do,
does, did.
Where do you live?

Anne asked me where I lived.

NOTE:
In reported questions the word
order is always
subject + verb
 Reported questions
• In reported wh questions the
word order is always…
wh-word + subject + verb

When does he arrive? He asked when he arrived.

Why are you so sad? He asked why I was so sad.

In this sentence we don’t have the auxiliary “DO”, so all we do

is change the word order.
 Reported questions
• In reported yes/no questions
the word order is…

if / whether + subject + verb

Is she your sister? He asked if she was my sister.

Does Peter like tattoos? He asked if Peter liked tattoos.

In this sentence we have the auxiliary “DO”,

so we omit it.
 Reported questions
• In reported wh questions the
word order is…
wh-word + subject + verb

• In reported yes/no questions the

word order is…
if / whether + subject + verb
 Reported questions
• The most common introductory
reporting verbs that we use to
report questions are: ask, want
to know.
Where do you live?

Anne wanted to
know where?????
I lived.
 Time to
PRACTISE
 Complete.

Who is José Saramago?

Anne wanted to know who José Saramago

????? was.
 Complete.
John, are you reading the
book “If Stay”?

Anne asked John if he was reading

?????
the
book “If I Stay”.
 Complete.

What are you doing?

Anne asked me what I was?????

doing.
 Complete.

Do you know of any Scottish

authors?

Ana asked Rebecca if she knew

?????
of any
Scottish authors.
 Complete.

Who is your favourite author?

Anne asked Rebecca who her?????

favourite
author was.
 Complete.

Peter, where have you been?

Anne asked Peter where ?????

he had been.
 Complete.

Do you like the “Harry Potter”

books?

Anne asked Peter if he liked?????

the “Harry
Potter” books.
 Reported speech
• We can also report a command,
a request or a suggestion.
• In this case we use different
reporting verbs.
Be careful!
Depending on the
reporting verb, the
sentence structure
may vary!
 A command or a request
To report a command / order or a
request we use:

reporting verb to infinitive

ask(ed), told, warn(ed) not to infinitive
“Stop making that noise!”

He told me
to stop making that noise.
He ordered me
 A command or a request
To report a command / order or a
request we use:

reporting verb to infinitive

ask(ed), told, warn(ed) not to infinitive
“Don’t buy that book.”

He told me
not to buy that book.
He ordered me
 Time to
PRACTISE
 Complete.
Look after your little sister
while I’m cooking.

Mum told me to look after my?????

little sister while
she was cooking.
 Complete.

Don’t use your mobile phones

while you are in class.

He ordered us not to use our ?????

mobiles
phones while we were in class.
 Complete.

Don’t step on the grass.

He told me not to step on

?????the grass.
Complete.
Mark, close the window, please!

Mrs. Stone asked Mark

?????
to close
?????
the
window.
 Reported speech
• To report a suggestion we can
use the reporting verb “suggest”
but the word order is different.
reporting verb
-ing form
suggest
 Time to
PRACTISE
 Complete.

Let’s write a story for the

school competition.

John suggested writing a story for the school

?????
competition.
 Complete.

Why don’t we go to the cinema

tomorrow?

John suggested going to ?????

the cinema
the next day.
 Write the sentences
in direct speech.
- I told them not to interrupt me.

Don’t interrupt me!

 Write the sentences
in direct speech.
- Diana said she was going to buy
a new book.

I’m going to buy a

new book.
 Write the sentences
in direct speech.
- Mary suggested going to the
beach the next day.

Let’s go to the
beach tomorrow!
 Write the sentences
in direct speech.
- Sarah asked how long the film
lasted.

How long does

the film last?
 Write the sentences
in direct speech.
- My teacher told me not to worry
and to relax. He said I was a
good student.
Don’t worry and relax!
You are a good student.
 Write the sentences
in direct speech.
- Mr. Johnson asked me if I was in
class 9B.

Are you in
class 9B?
 Write the sentences
in direct speech.
- He wanted to know if there were
any foreign students in my class.

Are there any foreign

students in your class?
 To PRACTISE
some more…
Open your books on page 155.