Report the dialogue:
reported speech conversation

Exercise 2

Read the following conversation and report the dialogue in the reported speech.

Mike: "What are you doing here, Liz? I haven't seen you since June."
Liz: "I've just come back from my holiday in Ireland."
Mike: "Did you enjoy it?"
...

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clear show check

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Mike: "What are you doing here, Liz? I haven't seen you since June." Liz: "I've just come back from my holiday in Ireland." Mike: "Did you enjoy it?" Liz: "I love Ireland. And the Irish people were so friendly." Mike: "Did you go to the Wicklow Mountains?" Liz: "It was my first trip. I can show you some pictures. Are you doing anything tomorrow?" Mike: "I must arrange a couple of things. But I am free tonight." Liz: "You might come to my place. What time shall we meet?" Mike: "I'll be there at eight. Is it all right?" Mike asked Liz . And he said since June.

Liz explained that back from her holiday in Ireland.

Mike wondered if it.

Liz told him that she Ireland and that the Irish people so friendly.

Mike wanted to know to the Wicklow Mountains.

Liz said that it first trip and that she some pictures.

And then she asked him if he .

Mike explained that he a couple of things.

But he added that he free at night.

Liz suggested that he place and asked him what time .

Mike said he there at eight.

And then he asked all right.

clear show check

Reported speech exercises with answers and grammar rules.

How to report a dialogue in narration

If we report a conversation in narration, we use a reporting verb ('say' and 'tell' are the most common, but there are a lot of other verbs like 'claim', 'admit', 'explain'...). If the reporting verb is in the past tense (I said that... He told us that...), we have to change the following:

• Tenses (one tense back in time)
  "I am hungry," I said. - I said I was hungry.
  "Jim has gone away," Betty told me. - Betty told me that Jim had gone away.

• Pronouns
  They called us," said Tom. - Tom said they had called them.
  "I like this," Sarah told me. - Sarah told me she liked that.

• Time and place
  Harry: "She will come tomorrow." - Harry said she would come the next day.
  "I'll be here on time," he said. - He said he would be there on time.

• Word order in reported questions
  "How old are you?" asked Peter. - Peter wanted to know how old I was.

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