Reported questions: reported speech

Reported speech:
question forms.

Reported speech: questions

Look at these examples to see how we can tell someone what another person asked.

direct speech: 'Do you work from home?' he said.
indirect speech: He asked me if I worked from home.

direct speech: 'Who did you see?' she asked.
indirect speech: She asked me who I'd seen.

Reported speech: questions

A reported question is when we tell someone what another person asked. In order to do this, we have to do the following:

• We change the question structure (e.g. Do you like) to a statement structure (e.g. I like).

• We need to change the tenses (Ex: from present simple to past simple).

Reporting wh-questions

​Indirect reports of wh-questions consist of questions beginning with a wh-word (who, what, when, where, why, how). We don’t use a question mark.

​Direct question structure: wh- word + auxiliary verb.

​Reported question structure: wh- word + subject + verb.

Multiple Choice

"Why is Julie sad?"

• She asked me why Julie was sad.

• She asked me why was Julie sad.

• She asked me why is Julie sad.

• She asked me why was Julie sad?

Multiple Choice

"When is the party?"

• She asked me when was the party.

• She asked me when the party was.

• She asked me when the party was?

• She asked me when is the party.

Yes / no questions

This type of question is reported by using 'ask' + 'if / whether' + clause:

​Direct question structure: Auxiliary verb+subject+verb?

​Reported question structure:
Subject + asked + if/whether + subject + verb

Multiple Choice

"Am I late?"

• She asked me if was she late.

• She asked me if she was late.

• She asked me if is she late.

• She asked me if is she late?

Multiple Choice

"Is it cold outside?"

• She asked me if was it cold outside?

• She asked me if was it cold outside.

• She asked me if it was cold outside.

Complete these exercises