English Advanced Grammar Exercises – Reporting exercise

A. Complete each second sentence so that it has a similar meaning to the first sentence.

1   Jimmy said that he definitely wasn’t going to the match on Saturday.

     ‘……………………………………………….,’ said Jimmy.

2   Alison told Ben that he’d forgotten to do the washing-up.

     ‘………………………………………………., Ben!’ said Alison.

3   Jason admitted that he had been lying when he’d said he had nothing to do with the breakages.

      ‘Actually, I ……………………………………………….,’ admitted Jason.

4   Paul told me that Dawn hadn’t been particularly hard-working when she was at university.

     ‘……………………………………………….,’ said Paul.

5   Sharon shouted that she hadn’t finished yet.

     ‘……………………………………………….!’ shouted Sharon.

6   Rudy said he’d meet us all at the cafe in half an hour.

     ‘……………………………………………….,’ said Rudy.

7   Belinda’s mum told her that she didn’t have to eat her sprouts if she didn’t want to.

     ‘………………………………………………., Belinda,’ said her mum.

8   Sebastian announced that he and Tristan were going to set up a website.

     ‘Tristan ……………………………………………….,’ announced Sebastian.

9   Karen asked Diana when she had got married.

     ‘………………………………………………., Diana?’ asked Karen.

10   Freda asked Bjorn if she could borrow his bike for a couple of hours.

       ‘Bjorn, ……………………………………………….?’ asked Freda.

B. Circle the correct word or phrase. If both are correct, circle both.

1   When I told Mr Peters that the dog has / had eaten my homework, he didn’t believe me.

2   Adam told me that his girlfriend doesn’t / didn’t eat meat at all.

3   When I saw Ed yesterday morning, he told me that he is / was going to look at a flat in the afternoon.

4   Roger told me about the pop quiz. He said his team were / had been doing well in the first few rounds, but that it all went / had all gone wrong with the round about dance music.

5   When we watched Death Watch Ill, Paul said he has / had never seen a worse movie in his life!

6   Did Galileo say that the Earth goes / went round the sun?

7   Phil told me on Friday that he has / had just bumped into Wally Deacon!

8   Babs announced to us all last night that she is / was finally giving up smoking.

9   Did you say that you do / did want sugar in your coffee or not?

10   I told Brian last week that the office isn’t / wasn’t opening on Tuesday so I don’t know why he showed up yesterday morning.

C. If the word or phrase in bold is correct, put a tick. If it is incorrect, rewrite it correctly.

1   Bob did tell me that he probably wouldn’t be coming in today. ………………..

2   Last week he told us that we don’t have to do that exercise and then yesterday he said he’d made a mistake. ………………..

3   Did you say these bills had to be paid before tomorrow? ………………..

4   Steve said he could play guitar when he was two years old. Do you believe that? ………………..

5   Pauline told my mum that she’d had better get a lawyer. I think she’s right. ………………….. ..

6   When we went to the party, Claudia told me that I must be on my best behaviour all evening. It was very rude of her, I thought. ………………..

7   Darren said that Mr Taylor was to have forgotten about the meeting, but I’m not so sure. I think he just didn’t want to come. ………………..

8   When I was a teenager, my dad always told me that I’m not to stay out later than ten o’clock. ………………..

9   I was pleased when Jilly told us that she can help us paint the flat. If only I’d known then what that meant! ………………..

10   When I was at school, my English teacher always told us that we don’t have to pay attention but we do have to be quiet. ………………..

11   The letter they sent six months ago said that they shall be in touch again soon. Well, I haven’t heard anything since! ………………..

12   Seven years ago, the Prime Minister stated that his government will be corruption-free. It doesn’t look that way now, does it? ………………..

D. Write one word in each gap.

1   ‘Oh no! These shoes don’t go with that suit at all!’ I actually really liked the shoes but Maureen told me ……………….. didn’t go with the suit I was planning to wear.

2   ‘This play is rubbish!’ Susan told us in no uncertain terms that ……………….. play was rubbish.

3   ‘My sister Chloe’s coming to stay for a few days.’ Why did Derek say that ……………….. sister’s called Chloe? She’s called Clarissa, isn’t she?

4   ‘This is not what I ordered!’ Mike told the waiter – quite rudely in my opinion – that ……………….. wasn’t what he’d ordered.

5   ‘These trainers are far too expensive!’ My mum said that ……………….. trainers were too expensive so I didn’t get them in the end.

6   ‘My number’s easy. It’s 123456.’ You don’t know Sindy’s phone number, do you? She did actually tell me ……………….. number but I stupidly forgot to write it down.

7   ‘Could you put these on the table?’ Mum asked me to put ……………….. on the table.

8   ‘You won’t believe what happened to us last night.’ Angus and James told me that ……………….. house was broken into last night.

E. Write one word in each gap.

Then …

Seamus:   Hi Marios! It’s Seamus. Listen, what are you doing at the moment?

Marios:   Right now? Nothing much.Why?

Seamus:   Well, do you remember last week I told you about that new gym? I’m just about to check it out and I wondered if you’d like to come too.

Marios:   Yeah, great! Umm… to tell you the truth, Seamus, I actually went a couple of days ago. It’s really good!

Seamus:   Did you?

Marios:   Yeah, well, I’m taking part in the London Marathon next month so I’m trying to get fit.

Seamus:   Oh, of course you are. Well, you can show me round, then.

Marios:   Absolutely! Look, I was going to call you yesterday to ask you if you wanted to come with me next time, but something came up.

Seamus:   No, no problem. Don’t worry about it.

Marios:   Thanks. So, where shall we meet?

Seamus:   Well, I’m at the office right now and the gym’s only a few minutes walk from here. Do you want to come here and we’ll go together?

Marios:   Sure. See you in about half an hour.

Seamus:   Okay. Bye!

Marios:   Bye!

Now …

1   Seamus asked Marios what he was doing at ……………… moment.

2   Marios replied that right ……………… he was not doing anything much.

3   Seamus mentioned a conversation they’d had the ……………… week.

4   Marios admitted that he’d been to the gym two days ……………… .

5   Marios reminded Seamus that he was taking part in the London Marathon ……………… month.

6   Marios told Seamus that he had been planning to call him the day ……………… .

7   Seamus said he was at the office and suggested they meet ……………… .

F. Complete each second sentence so that it has a similar meaning to the first sentence.

1   ‘Carol and I went to a great museum when we were in Italy last month,’ said Shirley.

      Shirley told her friends that …………………………………… .

2   ‘I only washed these trousers yesterday, Tony!’ said his mum.

     Tony’s mum told …………………………………… .

3   ‘You have to get all the letters sent off by tomorrow,’ said Jake to his secretary as he was leaving.

      As he was leaving, Jake told …………………………………… .

4   ‘We shall meet you all back here in exactly half an hour from now.’

      Mum told me that …………………………………… .

5   ‘Luckily I don’t have to go into the office this Saturday,’ said Olivia.

      Olivia said happily that …………………………………… .

6   ‘It can’t be very nice having all these cars going by all the time.’

     Alan commented to Ros that …………………………………… .

7   ‘I’ll put these in water right now.’

      Daniel’s mum said that …………………………………… .

8   ‘I told Dan two days ago that this report would have to be rewritten,’ said Greg.

      Greg told Jeanne that ……………………………………  .

G. Complete the second sentence so that it has a similar meaning to the first sentence, using the word given. Do not change the word given. You must use between three and eight words, including the word given.

1   ‘Will you come with me to the concert next Thursday?’ Andrea asked Gareth. go

      Andrea asked Gareth if ………………………. to the concert the following Thursday.

2   ‘Does the train get in at four o’clock?’ asked Pete. whether

      Pete asked ………………………. at four o’clock.

3   ‘Have you been talking on the phone all evening, Tim?’ asked his dad. if

     Tim’s dad asked ………………………. on the phone all evening.

4   ‘Are you all coming tomorrow?’ Fiona asked us. whether

      Fiona asked ………………………. day.

5   ‘Doesn’t Jerry live near you anymore?’ asked Dominic. me

      Dominic asked whether ………………………. any more.

6   ‘Shall I send you an e-mail about it, Trevor?’ asked Kevin. him

      Kevin asked ………………………. an e-mail about it.

7   ‘Shall I help you do the dishes, Carlo?’ said Robert. offered

     Robert ………………………. the dishes.

8   ‘Do we really have to go to bed right now?’ Toby asked his parents. did

     Toby asked his parents ………………………. go to bed right then.

H. Circle the correct word or phrase.

1   Kostas didn’t dare ask Eleni where had she / she had been the previous evening.

2   I was tempted to ask why did Ranji want / Ranji wanted to sit next to Li Han so badly.

3   We did ask Carol who she had / had she invited but for some reason she wouldn’t tell us.

4   Can you believe it? Fred actually asked me how to / could he send an e-mail!

5   No one has asked me why didn’t I / I didn’t come to work yesterday.

6   I’m going to ask them what on earth did they think / they thought they were doing.

7   Ask that man over there who should we / to complain to.

8   Doug and Sally didn’t even ask me how the website was / was the website going.

I. Write a verb from the box in the correct form in each gap.

1   You’d better ask the security guard how …………………….. into the building at the weekend.

2   That was so nice of them to ask whether I …………………….. to stay the night.

3   I know you asked me …………………….. the washing-up now but it’ll only take a minute, I promise.

4   Why did the officer order his men …………………….. when he knew they were outnumbered?

5   I would ask you …………………….. judgement until you know all the facts.

6   I couldn’t believe it when Sandy came out and asked me if I …………………….. drugs before.

7   I don’t like asking you …………………….. on a Saturday, but I’m afraid there’s no alternative.

8   You should have asked your mother which cloth …………………….. . She’d know.

9   It was funny when you were asked by the technician how …………………….. the computer on.

10   She very kindly asked me if I …………………….. fruit cake and said there was a fruit salad if I preferred.

11   Go and ask your dad …………………….. us a coffee, would you?

12   I’m sorry, but we’ve been instructed …………………….. to reporters under any circumstances.

J. Choose the correct answer.

5   The kids suggested ……………… a pizza tonight. What do you think?

      A to get   B we’ll get

      C getting   D for getting

6   I do agree there ……………… simple solution to this problem.

      A is no   B be not

      C not to be   D not being

7   Tammy responded ……………… that at least she’d never lied to her parents.

      A to say   B that she said

      C by saying   D with having said

8   I’m begging ……………… .

      A you to stay   B that you stay

      C your staying   D you for staying

K. Write one word in each gap.

Hobbies

The next time someone asks me (1) …………………. my hobbies are, or, indeed, (2) …………………. I have any hobbies, I’m tempted to refuse (3) …………………. answer. Better still, I’ll turn the question round and ask them to (4) …………………. me what their hobbies are. Doubtless they’ll claim to (5) …………………. an avid collector of rare postage stamps, or an expert builder-of-cathedrals-out-of-matchsticks, but I shan’t believe it. I don’t think we should deny (6) …………………. any longer: the hobby is dead. I would like to suggest (7) …………………., from now on, the word ‘hobby’ is erased from our vocabulary. You may accuse me (8) …………………. being naive, but I strongly believe the facts support my case. Ask any teenager – or adult, for that matter – how they (9) …………………. their spare time. They’ll respond (10) …………………. a list of activities – going to the gym, playing computer games, watching TV, downloading music, hanging out with friends, surfing the Internet, going to the pub, playing football – none of which can sensibly be called a hobby.