reported speech past perfect exercises pdf

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Past Perfect worksheet - English exercises

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• English tenses
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• 01 Past Perfect
• 02 Past Perfect exercises
• 03 Past Perfect examples
• 04 Past Perfect use
• 05 Past Perfect use
• 06 Irregular verbs
• 07 Past Perfect sentences
• 08 Word order exercises
• 09 Word order exercises
• 10 Word order exercises
• 11 Past Perfect questions
• 12 Past Perfect questions
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• 14 Past Perfect questions
• 15 Past Perfect questions
• 16 Questions word order
• 17 Questions word order
• 18 Word order Past Perfect
• 19 Negative Past Perfect
• 20 Negative exercises
• 21 Negative exercises
• 22 Negative sentences
• 23 Past Perfect negative
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• 26 Signal words
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• 28 Word order
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• English Tenses
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Past Perfect 30 worksheets

Past perfect worksheet exercises.

1 Past Perfect rules and explanations PDF 2 Past Perfect regular verbs PDF exercises 3 Past Perfect exercises answers PDF 4 Past Perfect regular verbs PDF exercises 5 Past Perfect exercises answers PDF 6 Past Perfect regular verbs PDF exercises 7 Past Perfect exercises answers PDF

Questions Past Perfect - worksheets

8 Past Perfect exercises PDF 9 Past Perfect questions answers - PDF worksheet 10 Past Perfect exercises PDF 11 Past Perfect questions answers - PDF worksheet 12 Past Perfect questions 13 Past Perfect questions answers PDF

Past Perfect negatives - worksheets

14 Past Perfect negative exercise PDF 15 Past Perfect negative answers - PDF worksheet 16 Past Perfect negative exercise PDF 17 Past Perfect negative answers - PDF worksheet

Past Perfect signal words exercises pdf

18 Past Perfect signal words exercise PDF 19 Past Perfect signal words answers - PDF worksheet 20 Past Perfect signal words PDF 21 Past Perfect signal words answers - PDF worksheet

Past Perfect test

22 Past Perfect mixed exercise PDF 23 Past Perfect mixed exercise - answer PDF worksheet

Past Perfect crosswords

24 Past Perfect crossword exercises PDF 25 Past Perfect crossword answers - PDF worksheet 26 Past Perfect crossword exercises PDF 27 Past Perfect crossword did answers - PDF worksheet 28 Past Perfect crosssword with did 29 Past Perfect crossword answers PDF

Online exercises Past Perfect

01 Past Perfect rules 02 Past Perfect exercises ... 11 Past Perfect questions 12 Questions exercises ... 19 Past Perfect negative ... 20 Past Perfect negative exercises ... 24 Positive - negative sentences 25 Negative and positive sentences ... 31 Test 1 Past Perfect ...

Past Perfect worksheets - exercises

Past Perfect English Tenses and English grammar worksheets, grammar rules, grammar exercises. English Past Perfect worksheet review to help advanced level English classes and students review for all major tenses.  

• B1-B2 grammar

Reported speech: statements

Do you know how to report what somebody else said? Test what you know with interactive exercises and read the explanation to help you.

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

direct speech: 'I love the Toy Story films,' she said. indirect speech: She said she loved the Toy Story films. direct speech: 'I worked as a waiter before becoming a chef,' he said. indirect speech: He said he'd worked as a waiter before becoming a chef. direct speech: 'I'll phone you tomorrow,' he said. indirect speech: He said he'd phone me the next day.

Try this exercise to test your grammar.

Grammar B1-B2: Reported speech 1: 1

Read the explanation to learn more.

Grammar explanation

Reported speech is when we tell someone what another person said. To do this, we can use direct speech or indirect speech.

direct speech: 'I work in a bank,' said Daniel. indirect speech: Daniel said that he worked in a bank.

In indirect speech, we often use a tense which is 'further back' in the past (e.g. worked ) than the tense originally used (e.g. work ). This is called 'backshift'. We also may need to change other words that were used, for example pronouns.

Present simple, present continuous and present perfect

When we backshift, present simple changes to past simple, present continuous changes to past continuous and present perfect changes to past perfect.

'I travel a lot in my job.' Jamila said that she travelled a lot in her job. 'The baby's sleeping!' He told me the baby was sleeping. 'I've hurt my leg.' She said she'd hurt her leg.

Past simple and past continuous

When we backshift, past simple usually changes to past perfect simple, and past continuous usually changes to past perfect continuous.

'We lived in China for five years.' She told me they'd lived in China for five years. 'It was raining all day.' He told me it had been raining all day.

Past perfect

The past perfect doesn't change.

'I'd tried everything without success, but this new medicine is great.' He said he'd tried everything without success, but the new medicine was great.

No backshift

If what the speaker has said is still true or relevant, it's not always necessary to change the tense. This might happen when the speaker has used a present tense.

'I go to the gym next to your house.' Jenny told me that she goes to the gym next to my house. I'm thinking about going with her. 'I'm working in Italy for the next six months.' He told me he's working in Italy for the next six months. Maybe I should visit him! 'I've broken my arm!' She said she's broken her arm, so she won't be at work this week.

Pronouns, demonstratives and adverbs of time and place

Pronouns also usually change in indirect speech.

'I enjoy working in my garden,' said Bob. Bob said that he enjoyed working in his garden. 'We played tennis for our school,' said Alina. Alina told me they'd played tennis for their school.

However, if you are the person or one of the people who spoke, then the pronouns don't change.

'I'm working on my thesis,' I said. I told her that I was working on my thesis. 'We want our jobs back!' we said. We said that we wanted our jobs back.

We also change demonstratives and adverbs of time and place if they are no longer accurate.

'This is my house.' He said this was his house. [You are currently in front of the house.] He said that was his house. [You are not currently in front of the house.] 'We like it here.' She told me they like it here. [You are currently in the place they like.] She told me they like it there. [You are not in the place they like.] 'I'm planning to do it today.' She told me she's planning to do it today. [It is currently still the same day.] She told me she was planning to do it that day. [It is not the same day any more.]

In the same way, these changes to those , now changes to then , yesterday changes to the day before , tomorrow changes to the next/following day and ago changes to before .

Do this exercise to test your grammar again.

Grammar B1-B2: Reported speech 1: 2

Language level

Good evening from Turkey.

Is the following example correct: Question: When did she watch the movie?

She asked me when she had watched the movie. or is it had she watched the movie. 

Do Subjects come before the verbs? Thank you. 

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Hello muratt,

This is a reported question, not an actual question, as you can see from the fact that it has no question mark at the end. Therefore no inversion is needed and the normal subject-verb word order is maintained: ...she had watched... is correct.

You can read more about this here:

https://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/grammar/b1-b2-grammar/reported-speech-questions

The LearnEnglish Team

Thank you for your response.

Hello Sir, kindly help with the following sentence-

She said, "When I was a child I wasn't afraid of ghosts." 

Please tell me how to write this sentence in reported/ indirect speech.

Hello! I was studying reported speech and I didn't really understand the difference between 'need' and 'need to' when we shift them. Could you please explain a little bit about the semi-modal need? I came across to this while I was studying: Backshift Changes need (no change) ‘You needn’t come till six o’clock,’ he said. He said we needn’t come till six o’clock. AND need to (becomes needed to) She said, 'I need to have a party.' She said she needed to have a party. Why do we change 'need to' but not 'need'? Could you also please give a positive indirect reported speech with the word 'need' and a negative indirect speech with the word 'need to'? Thanks in advance!

Hello Meldo,

'need' can be used -- and is most often used -- as an ordinary verb. In the text you copied above, this is the second entry ('need to'). Since it is an ordinary verb, in indirect speech, it backshifts in the way other ordinary verbs do. An example of a negative form here is 'They told me I didn't need to bring my passport'.

Particularly in British English (only very rarely in American English), 'need' can also be used as a modal verb. In this case, it behaves as a modal verb, i.e. no 's' is added to a third person singular form, infinitives after it are used without 'to' and 'do/does/did' is not used to form questions, negatives or past simple forms. This is also why '-ed' is not added for a backshift.

When 'need' is a modal, it's most commonly used in the negative. It is possible to use it in questions (e.g. 'Need I bring my passport?' or 'I asked if I need bring my passport'), but it's generally not used in the affirmative.

You might find this BBC page and this  Cambridge Dictionary explanation helpful if you'd like to read more.

Hope this helps.

Best wishes, Kirk LearnEnglish team

Do we change 'had better' in indirect reported speech? I think no, but I just wanted to make sure. Can you also give an example with 'had better' in an indirect speech? Thanks a lot! The best English grammar site ever!

Hello Melis_06,

'had better' is not generally changed in reported speech. Here's an example for you:

• direct: 'You had better be on time!'
• indirect: They told us we had better be on time.

Glad you find our site useful!

Could you tell me why say is sometimes used in reported speech instead of said?

Hello Khangvo2812,

In general, it's used when it's something that people say not just in one specific situation, but in general. 

We also sometimes use the present simple to talk about the past when telling stories. You can read more about this on our Present simple page -- scroll down to the very end of the explanation, just after the Present simple 8 exercise.

If there's a specific sentence you want to ask about, please include it in your comment.

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Reported speech (b1).

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Reported Speech – Free Exercise

Write the following sentences in indirect speech. Pay attention to backshift and the changes to pronouns, time, and place.

• Two weeks ago, he said, “I visited this museum last week.” → Two weeks ago, he said that   . I → he|simple past → past perfect|this → that|last …→ the … before
• She claimed, “I am the best for this job.” → She claimed that   . I → she|simple present→ simple past|this→ that
• Last year, the minister said, “The crisis will be overcome next year.” → Last year, the minister said that   . will → would|next …→ the following …
• My riding teacher said, “Nobody has ever fallen off a horse here.” → My riding teacher said that   . present perfect → past perfect|here→ there
• Last month, the boss explained, “None of my co-workers has to work overtime now.” → Last month, the boss explained that   . my → his/her|simple present→ simple past|now→ then

Rewrite the question sentences in indirect speech.

• She asked, “What did he say?” → She asked   . The subject comes directly after the question word.|simple past → past perfect
• He asked her, “Do you want to dance?” → He asked her   . The subject comes directly after whether/if |you → she|simple present → simple past
• I asked him, “How old are you?” → I asked him   . The subject comes directly after the question word + the corresponding adjective (how old)|you→ he|simple present → simple past
• The tourists asked me, “Can you show us the way?” → The tourists asked me   . The subject comes directly after whether/if |you→ I|us→ them
• The shop assistant asked the woman, “Which jacket have you already tried on?” → The shop assistant asked the woman   . The subject comes directly after the question word|you→ she|present perfect → past perfect

Rewrite the demands/requests in indirect speech.

• The passenger requested the taxi driver, “Stop the car.” → The passenger requested the taxi driver   . to + same wording as in direct speech
• The mother told her son, “Don’t be so loud.” → The mother told her son   . not to + same wording as in direct speech, but remove don’t
• The policeman told us, “Please keep moving.” → The policeman told us   . to + same wording as in direct speech ( please can be left off)
• She told me, “Don’t worry.” → She told me   . not to + same wording as in direct speech, but remove don’t
• The zookeeper told the children, “Don’t feed the animals.” → The zookeeper told the children   . not to + same wording as in direct speech, but remove don’t

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Reported Speech Past to Past Perfect

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This is a worksheet on reported speech going from past to past perfect. It includes time and place changes.

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Past perfect simple 1

Past perfect simple 2

Past perfect continuous

Worksheets - handouts

Past perfect

Worksheets - pdf exercises.

• Past simple / past perfect - pdf
• Past perfect - worksheet
• Past perfect - exercises pdf
• Past simple / past perfect pdf
• Past perfect or past tense
• Past perfect or past tense - simple and progressive
• Past perfect - worksheets
• Past perfect - negative
• Past perfect - questions
• Worksheet - exercise 29 pdf
• Worksheet - exercise 30 pdf
• Worksheet - exercise 31 pdf
• Worksheet - exercise 32 pdf Answer_Key.pdf / more exercises
• Past simple / past perfect - worksheet
• Past perfect - past simple - pdf
• Past and past perfect tense
• Past perfect continuous: negative
• Past perfect continuous: questions
• Past perfect simple - worksheet
• Simple past / past perfect - worksheet
• Present, past and present perfect
• Past simple / continuous / perfect
• Present perfect and past perfect
• Past and past perfect simple  
• Present - past - progressive
• Worksheets pdf - print
• Grammar worksheets - handouts
• Worksheet - exercise 33 pdf
• Worksheet - exercise 34 pdf
• Worksheet - exercise 35 pdf
• Worksheet - exercise 36 pdf / Answer_Key.pdf
• Past perfect continuous - exercises pdf
• Past perfect continuous / present perfect continuous - exercises
• Past perfect continuous - worksheet
• Past perfect progressive - pdf

Grammar lessons

• Past perfect - grammar notes
• Past perfect continuous - grammar