Reported speech (indirect speech) exercises in English

Reported Speech, or indirect speech, often causes confusion: what is correct – “He said that he was tired” or “He said he is tired”? These exercises will help you understand the rules of tense agreement, learn to transform direct speech into indirect speech and consolidate the skill through practice.
In this selection:

• exercises with transforming direct speech into indirect speech;
• tests with multiple choice answers;
• tasks for error correction;
• real-life situations;
• and, of course, answers for self-testing.

Ideal for independent practice, exam preparation or just refreshing the topic.

Table of contents

• Exercise 1. Transform direct speech into indirect speech
• Exercise 2. Choose the correct form of indirect speech
• Exercise 3. Find and correct the error
• Exercise 4. Come up with indirect phrases for real situations
• Exercise 5. Insert the correct form of indirect speech

Exercise 1. Transform direct speech into indirect speech

Transform each sentence from direct speech into indirect speech. Pay attention to tense, pronouns and time markers.

1. She said, “I am tired.”
2. He said, “I will call you tomorrow.”
3. Tom said, “I’m reading a book.”
4. Mary said, “I have done my homework.”
5. They said, “We went to the cinema.”
6. He said, “I don’t like this movie.”
7. She said, “I can drive a car.”
8. Jack said, “We are going to the party.”
9. Lucy said, “I may be late.”
10. Anna said, “I must go now.”
11. Mike said, “I saw her yesterday.”
12. Emma said, “I am learning French.”
13. He said, “It is raining.”
14. She said, “I have been waiting for you.”
15. They said, “We will help you.”

✅ You will find the answers to all the exercises at the end of the page.

Exercise 2. Choose the correct form of indirect speech

Choose one correct version of indirect speech. Watch the tense, pronouns and changes in time markers.

Exercise 3. Find and correct the error

Each sentence contains an error in the construction of indirect speech. Find it and rewrite the phrase correctly.

1. He said that he is tired.
2. She said she will come.
3. They said that they has finished.
4. I said that I don’t know him.
5. He said he can drives.
6. She said she was go to school.
7. Mike said he had saw the movie.
8. Lucy said she must to leave.
9. Emma said that she are happy.
10. He said he don’t like fish.
11. She said she have done it.
12. They said that they will helps me.
13. Tom said he has saw her.
14. She said I will be late.
15. Jack said he going to the gym.

✅ You will find the answers to all the exercises at the end of the page.

Exercise 4. Come up with indirect phrases for real situations

Here are 15 real-life situations where someone says something. Your task is to imagine that you are retelling these words from a third person and to design each phrase as indirect speech. Use different tenses, change pronouns and time markers, as in real English.

1. Mail – letters arrive every day.
2. Road repairs – they recently finished.
3. Festival – they will hold it in the summer.
4. New cafe – it opened last week.
5. Cleaning – the apartment has already been cleaned.
6. News – they show it on TV.
7. House – it was built in 2020.
8. Phone – it was stolen at a party.
9. Exam – will be written tomorrow.
10. Bridge – it is being built now.
11. TV series – it is being filmed in London.
12. Letter – has just been sent.
13. Film – has already been watched.
14. Photos – are being taken in the studio.
15. Textbooks are distributed during the first lesson.

✅ You will find the answers to all the exercises at the end of the page.

Exercise 5. Insert the correct form of indirect speech

Choose the correct form of indirect speech from the two suggested ones. The exercise will help to consolidate the rules of tense agreement and the correct replacement of pronouns and modal verbs.

Answers

Exercise 1

1. She said (that) she was tired.
2. He said (that) he would call me the next day.
3. Tom said (that) he was reading a book.
4. Mary said (that) she had done her homework.
5. They said (that) they had gone to the cinema.
6. He said (that) he didn’t like that movie.
7. She said (that) she could drive a car.
8. Jack said (that) they were going to the party.
9. Lucy said (that) she might be late.
10. Anna said (that) she had to go then.
11. Mike said (that) he had seen her the day before.
12. Emma said (that) she was learning French.
13. He said (that) it was raining.
14. She said (that) she had been waiting for me.
15. They said (that) they would help me.

Exercise 2

1. a
2. a
3. c
4. a
5. b
6. c
7. c
8. c
9. a
10. b
11. a
12. a
13. c
14. c
15. a

Exercise 3

1. He said that he was tired.
2. She said she would come.
3. They said that they had finished.
4. I said that I didn’t know him.
5. He said he could drive.
6. She said she was going to school.
7. Mike said he had seen the movie.
8. Lucy said she had to leave.
9. Emma said that she was happy.
10. He said he didn’t like fish.
11. She said she had done it.
12. They said that they would help me.
13. Tom said he had seen her.
14. She said I would be late.
15. Jack said he was going to the gym.

Exercise 4

1. Mom said (that) it was raining.
2. The teacher said (that) the test would be the next day.
3. She said (that) she had gone to London.
4. He said (that) he was tired.
5. They said (that) they were going to the cinema.
6. The girl said (that) she was cold.
7. The boss said (that) the report was ready.
8. John said (that) he had bought a new car.
9. She said (that) she didn’t like fish.
10. We said (that) we were waiting for you.
11. Dad said (that) he was busy.
12. She said (that) she wasn’t sure.
13. The policeman said (that) everything was fine.
14. The boy said (that) he had lost the book.
15. The friends said (that) they were already leaving.

Exercise 5

1. a
2. a
3. a
4. a
5. a
6. a
7. a
8. b
9. a
10. b
11. a
12. a
13. a
14. a
15. a