INDIRECT

QUESTIONS

 Consider the following situation:

You are talking to a man at a meeting
that you have never met. However,
you know his name and also that this
man knows a colleague named Jack.
You turn to him and ask:
Where is Jack?
This question is not very friendly...

Indirect Phrases
1) Can you tell me
2) Could you tell me
3) I'd be interested to hear
4) I'd like to know

5) Would you mind telling me

Here's how to do it:

Introductory phrase
question word (or if)
positive sentence

+
+

Examples:
Where is Jack?
I was wondering if you know where
Jack is?

When does Alice usually arrive?

Do you know when Alice usually
arrives?

Example
"Can you tell me what you like
most about your present job?

Can you tell me what do you

like?"

Direct question:
What is he doing?

Indirect question:
Do you know what he is
doing?

Reported speech

Backshift of tenses
from
Simple Present

to
Simple Past

Simple Past
Present Perfect

Past Perfect

Past Perfect
will

would
Progressive forms

am/are/is

was/were

was/were
has been
had been

had been

Backshift of tenses
from
Peter: "I work in the garden."

to
Peter said that he worked in the
garden.

Peter: "I worked in the garden."

Peter: "I have worked in the
garden."

Peter said that he had worked in the

garden.

Peter: "I had worked in the garden."

Peter: "I will work in the garden."

Peter said that he would work in the

garden.

Peter: "I can work in the garden."

Peter said that he could work in the

garden.

Peter: "I may work in the garden."

Peter said that he might work in the

garden.

Peter: "I would work in the garden."

(could, might, should, ought to)

Peter: "I would work in the garden."

(could, might, should, ought to)

Progressive forms
Peter: "I'm working in the
garden."

Peter said that he was working in

the garden.

Peter: "I was working in the

garden."
Peter: "I have been working in Peter said that he had been
the garden."
working in the garden.
Peter: "I had been working in
the garden.

Direct speech

Reported speech

present simple
I am happy
I sleep

past simple
He said he was happy
He said he slept

present continuos
I am feeling happy
I am sleeping

past continuos
He said he was feeling happy
He said he was sleeping

past simple
I was happy
I slept

past perfect
He said he had been happy
He said he had slept

present perfect
I have been happy
I have slept

past perfect
He said he had been happy
He said he had slept

present perfect continuos

I have been feeling happy
I have been sleeping

past perfect continuos

He said he had been feeling happy
He said he had been sleeping

future
I will be happy
I will sleep

simple conditional
He said he would be happy
He said he would sleep

future perfect
I will have been happy
I will have sleep

simple conditional perfect

He said he would have been happy
He said he would have slept

positive imperative
Shut up!

tell + infinitive
He told me to shut up.

negative imperative
Don't do that again!

tell + not + infinitive

He told me not to do it again.

imperatives as requests
Please give me some
money.

ask + infinitive
He asked me to give him some
money.

Direct speech

Reported speech

CAN
I can sleep

COULD
He said he could sleep

MAY
I may sleep

MIGHT
He said he might sleep

WILL
I will sleep

WOULD
He said he would sleep

MUST
I must sleep

HAD TO
He said he had to sleep

If the sentence contains an expression of time, you must change it as

well.
Peter: "I worked in the garden yesterday."
Peter said that he had worked in the garden the day before.
Shifting of expressions of time
this (evening)

that (evening)

today/this day

that day

these (days)

those (days)

now

then

(a week) ago

(a week) before

last weekend

the weekend before /

the previous weekend

here

there

next (week)

the following (week)

tomorrow

the next/following day

then
at that moment

last week

the previous week

the week before

Tonight

That night

ago

previously
before

today

that day

here

there

2 weeks ago

2 weeks previously
2 weeks before

this

that

tonight

that night

this week

that week

Last night

The night before

tomorrow

the following day

the next day
the day after

last Saturday

the previous Saturday

the Saturday before

Next year

The year after

next week

the following
week
the next week
the week after

now

yesterday

the previous day

the day before

the following Saturday

the next Saturday
next Saturday
the Saturday after
that Saturday