REQUESTS
There are different ways to make a request, e.g:
- Sarah: ‘Please wait a minute, Tom.’
- Sarah: ‘Will you wait a minute, please?’
- Sarah: ‘Tom, could you wait a minute, please?’
We can report all of these requests in the same way, using asked:
- Sarah asked Tom to wait a minute.
We do not usually use please in a reported question.
ORDERS
There are different ways to give an order:
- ‘Stand up, John.’
- ‘You must work harder.’
You can report orders like this, using told:
- He told John to stand up.
- He told me to work harder.
ADVICE
We can give advice like this:
- ‘You should get married, Peter.’
- ‘You ought to stop smoking, Jane.’
We can report advice like this, using advised:
- He advised Peter to get married.
- He advised Jane to stop smoking.
In reported speech, we use ask, tell, and advise like this:
VERB + | OBJECT + | to + INFINITIVE | |
Sarah | asked | Tom | to wait. |
She | told | him | to stand. |
He | advised | Jane | to stop smoking |
Here is a list of common verbs that we use in this structure:
advise | ask | tell | order |
persuade | remind | forbid | warn |
Examples:
- I’ll remind them to come early.
- I advised them to go to the police.
We cannot use say in this structure:
- She said (that) he should wait. (NOT She said him to wait.)
To report a negative request, order, etc. (e.g. ‘Don’t laugh.’), we use not + to + infinitive:
VERB + OBJECT + not + to + INFINITIVE |
Sarah told Tom not to laugh. |
They warned Ian not to borrow money. |
I reminded John not to be late. |
PRACTICE
Now it is time to practise what you have learned.
- For each Practice Test, read the instructions carefully.
- Complete the exercise and press 'Check' to get your results.
Practice Test A
Practice Test B
Practice Test C
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