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Giggs111984 Posted 12 years ago
Grammar

Reported speech

Just had a few questions with Reported Speech/Reporting Speech. Hoping people in this forum may be able to help and give some suggestions and explanations.

For the first question, students were supposed to use ask, say, or tell to change the direct speech into reported speech.

Question 1: the lady said: "Would you mind waiting a moment please?"
A.)She asked me to wait a moment.
B.)She asked me IF I would mind waiting a moment
c.)She asked me to wait

A,B, and C are generally the answers most my students put on their test. In my eyes, they all seem to be the correct and also acceptable responses to reporting speech. My only qualm might be answer C. In my eyes there is a difference between asking someone to wait and asking someone to wait a moment. A moment can been seen as somewhat quantitative, time related if you will...but I am not too sure how I would explain that to my class for them to understand the significance and difference between A and C.

Question 2: "What are you doing tomorrow?"
1.) He/She asked me what I was doing the day after
2.) He/She asked me what I was doing the next day
3.) He/She asked me what I was doing the following day
4.) He/She asked me what I was doing tomorrow

Again, these were the various answers from my students on their test. According to most grammar books I've researched in the library as well as renowned University English Grammar websites it seems to be the consensus that for reported speech, answers 1-4 are all acceptable...however question one still seems a bit of an unorthodox or uncommon response to me...I always thought the day after was a shortened version of the day after tomorrow to mean you were suggestion in two days. So for example, if today is Friday and I say "I'll see you the day after.." I would be seeing you on Sunday. So I am a bit confused about that. So if anyone else can please give me clear and detailed feedback about response number 1 that would be great.

For the following questions below, they had to change the direct questions to PRESENT SIMPLE reported questions:

Question 3: "Who is the Prime Minister of Canada?"
1.) She asked me who the Prime Minister of Canada was
2.) She asked me who was the Prime Minister of Canada
3.) She asked me who the Prime Minister was of Canada

All three seem plausible and acceptable. But in my eyes, number three just sounds awkward and even possibly grammatically incorrect but I just can't figure out why! Any suggestions???

Question 4: "Where are the glasses?"
1.)She asked me where were the glasses
2.)She asked me where the glasses were
3.)She asked me where the glasses was Here, according to my research...grammatically all three are correct but again because glasses is plural, shouldn't answer number 3 be incorrect???

Question 5: "Who is the woman in the red dress"
1.)She asked me who the woman in the red dress was
2.)She asked me who was the woman in the red dress
3.)She asked me who the woman was in the red dress

For this question, I believe and feel like all three are correct grammatically and accurate reported responses that don't change the meaning of the original direct question. However, how do I explain to students why all 3 are correct. Is it because in reported speech Auxillary verbs such as (was/were/does/had etc) act sort of like Adverbs and can be placed almost anywhere in the reported question or sentence without changing it's meaning? or is there some other explanation??
  

Top answer

)She asked me to waitA,B, and C are generally the answers most my students put on their test. In my eyes, they all seem to be the correct and also acceptable responses to reporting speech. My only qualm might be answer C.

  • )She asked me to waitA,B, and C are generally the answers most my students put on their test.
  • In my eyes, they all seem to be the correct and also acceptable responses to reporting speech.
  • My only qualm might be answer C.
  • In my eyes there is a difference between asking someone to wait and asking someone to wait a moment.
  • but I am not too sure how I would explain that to my class for them to understand the significance and difference between A and C.
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1 Answers
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giggs111984For the first question, students were supposed to use ask, say, or tell to change the direct speech into reported speech.Question 1: the lady said: "Would you mind waiting a moment please?"A.)She asked me to wait a moment.B.)She asked me IF I would mind waiting a momentc.)She asked me to waitA,B, and C are generally the answers most my students put on their tes

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