Reported Speech Worksheets

Related ELA Standard: SL.3.4

Core Standard
Answer Keys Here

Have you ever played the telephone game? This is where you have a group of people and the first person whispers something into the person's ear next to them. This person repeats that to the person next to them. This continues until it reaches the last person in the group and that person says it aloud. The outcome will amaze you! It may not even be in the same ballpark. Reporting speech is when we discuss what was verbalized by someone else. Obviously, this is most journalist's sweet spot, but we often use this in our own conversations. These worksheets will help you prepare and collect how to present the speech of another speaker.

Reported Speech Worksheets To Print:

Reported Statements - Report back what you hear here. You will need to flex your journalistic muscles to make well thought out statements.

People's Statements - Take the quote and redirect it into a well reported thought that you may see published in a newspaper.

Present Tense Report - The first column is the reported speech of what was spoken. The right column is what the people stated in present tense. Rewrite the present tense of what was detailed in the recount of it.

The Spoken Word - This series of exercises is very tense oriented! Get it?

Lasso It! - Pull it all together and see what you have. This is a really nice way to approach reviewing these topics.

The Big Speech - Read the Speech Statements. Next, rewrite the statements as reported statements.

Reporting Back - More practice on a familiar topic for you. You will need to take into account the speakers in each instance.

Short Statements - These are short and sweet. When you put them in a reported form, they tend to grow quickly.

The Last Word... - Do you always try to get the last words in? Me too... These will direct you slightly differently as to who the main speaker is.

What Was Reported? - See what you get from this account. This is how a journalist would approach saying these statements.

Lots to Reports Back - What if you had multiple reports to read through? Would you approach this is a different way or just keep on pushing through?

Verb Tensing - Select the correct verb tense to complete the reported speech sentence. Write out the reported speech sentence.

Speech Sentences - We take apart pieces of a speech and create slightly complex sentences that push it forward.

Reports of Ninjas - Yes, Ninjas it is! They are all over the place. Aren't they supposed to be hiding?

What Speakers? - All of these statements are involved in a very active practice by all those included.

What Are Reported Statements?


The statements that are used to express another statement, questions or expressions without quoting it directly are called reported statements. These statements are usually a modified form of direct statements. Reported statements are mostly constructed by changing the tense, auxiliaries or expressions of time and place used in the direct statements. Given below are some changes that, when followed will help one in constructing strong reported statements:


Changing Introductory Sentences of Past Tense


In the case where introductory sentences are in simple past tense, they need to be changed. For example, in a direct speech, a statement is written as: "James: Kate love to eat" but when it is converted to reported statements it will be written as: "James said that Kate loves to eat".


Changing Pronouns


The personal pronouns used in direct speeches can be changed for writing the reported statements. For example, in a direct statement it is written as: "Mariana: I love my mother" but when converted to a reported statement, it is written as: "Marina said that she loves her mother". In this sentence, personal pronoun ‘I' is converted to pronoun ‘she'.


Changing Auxiliaries or Modals


Auxiliaries in indirect statements must also be changed while writing reported statements. For example, we can change will to would, can to could, and may to might. For example, the direct statement "Susan: I will drive the car" in reported statements is changed to "Susan said that she would drive the car"


Changing Time or Place of Expression


If the direct statements include the place or the time of an expression, it is also changed while writing reported statements. For example, "Cole: I lost my keys here this morning" the reported statement for this dialogue, if written next day, will be written as "Cole said that he lost his keys in that room yesterday morning".

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



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