Page 139 - IELTS Preparation Grammar and Vocab

Reporting 19

The usual word order in the reported wh-, Y.- or whether-clause is the one we would use in a statement, and we
don't use a question mark or the do auxiliary:
'How exactly will it boost tourism? 4 I asked how exactly it would boost tourism.
Where did you get your figures from?' —) She asked where they had got their figures from.
We can use a negative form of do to report a negative question:
Why don't you want the airport to expand?* 4 He asked why I didn't want the airport to expand.
If the original question begins what, which or who, followed by be + complement, we can put the complement
before or after be in the report:
'Who's Sue Ray?' 4 He asked who Sue Ray was. or He asked who was Sue Ray.
To report a question with should asking for advice or information, we can use a to-infinitive:
'What should we do to protest?' 4 Someone asked Sue what to do to protest. or ... what we should do to protest.
We don't use a to-infinitive to report a why question:
'Why should we believe them?' 4 She wanted to know why we should believe them. (not Site-wenneel-te-knew-why-
to-believe-therm)

I Grammar exercises

lJ Complete the sentences with an appropriate form of the reporting verbs in the box.
Add a preposition or pronoun if necessary.
cheek claim commiserate emphasise explain grumble persuade reassure reveal whisper

Before I parked my car outside Diego's house, I °lecke& wall him that it was okay.
1
2 It took ages to feed all the customers, and by the time we got around to the last ones they
that their food was cold. But I just ignored their complaints.
I know that Tomas enjoys his work as a gardener, but when he
3 to be the best job in the
world, I wasn't sure whether he was being serious or not.
4 The company hadn't paid me for the work I'd done for them, but when I phoned, they
that my payment was on its way.
anyone that he knew
5 Carlson didn't want to speak to the police yet. He didn't want to
who the murderer was until he had concrete evidence.
that it should remain
6 Teresa gave me the report but said it was only a first draft. She
confidential until the statistics had been checked.
7 Just before I stood up to make my speech, my friend Jamir came up close and me that my
shirt was hanging out at the back.
that this was a
8 Terry said that he was going to re-paint the car himself, but I managed to
bad idea.
her.
9 When I heard about her disastrous job interview, I phoned Martha to
10 At first, the security guard stopped me going in, but when I
him that I had an
appointment he let me through the barrier.

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