Reported Requests
There's more! What if someone asks you to do something (in a polite way)? For example: Direct speech:
Close the window, please. Or: Could you close the window please? Or: Would you mind closing the
window please? All of these requests mean the same thing, so we don't need to report every word
when we tell another person about it. We simply use 'ask me + to + infinitive': Reported speech: She
asked me to close the window. Here are a few more examples: Direct Request Reported Request "Please
help me". She asked me to help her. "Please don't smoke". She asked me not to smoke. "Could you bring
my book tonight?" She asked me to bring her book that night. "Could you pass the milk, please?" She
asked me to pass the milk. "Would you mind coming early tomorrow?" She asked me to come early the
next day. To report a negative request, use 'not': Direct speech: Please don't be late. Reported speech:
She asked us not to be late
Reported Orders And finally, how about if someone doesn't ask so politely? We can call this an 'order' in
English, when someone tells you very directly to do something. For example: Direct speech: Sit down! In
fact, we make this into reported speech in the same way as a request. We just use 'tell' instead of 'ask.'
Reported speech: She told me to sit down. Direct Order Reported Order "Go to bed!" He told the child
to go to bed. "Don't worry!" He told her not to worry. "Be on time!" He told me to be on time. "Don't
smoke!" He told us not to smoke.
Time Expressions with Reported Speech Sometimes when we change direct speech into reported speech
we have to change time expressions too. We don't always have to do this, however. It depends on when
we heard the direct speech and when we say the reported speech. For example: It's Monday. Julie says
"I'm leaving today". If I tell someone on Monday, I say "Julie said she was leaving today". If I tell
someone on Tuesday, I say "Julie said she was leaving yesterday". If I tell someone on Wednesday, I say
"Julie said she was leaving on Monday". If I tell someone a month later, I say "Julie said she was leaving
that day". So, there's no easy conversion. You really have to think about when the direct speech was
said. Here's a table of some possible conversions. now then / at that time today yesterday / that day /
Tuesday / the 27th of June yesterday The day before yesterday / the day before / Wednesday / the 5th
of December last night the night before, Thursday night last week the week before / the previous week
tomorrow today / the next day / the following day / Friday
