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When you tell someone about something that someone else asked you, you need to use a ‘reported question’.

Normally, in reported speech we change verbs into the past tense :

• “I’m going out.” –> “He said he was going out.”
• “I have to work.” –> “He told me he had to work.”
• “I’ve never been there.” –> “He said he had never been there.”
• “The roads will be very crowded.” –> “He said the roads would be very crowded.”

Reported questions change in the same way. Also, you have to change the order of the words, just as in ‘Indirect Questions’ which we studied in the last post; for example :

• Is he coming?
• Do you know if he is coming?

So, reported questions turn out like this - (there is a change in the order of the words and in the tense of the verb) :

• “How are you?” –> “He asked me how I was.”
• “What are you doing?” –> “She asked me what I was doing.”
• “Have you been drinking?” –> “He asked me if I had been drinking.”
• “Will you be free tonight?” –> “She asked me if I would be free that night.”

Let’s try a quick exercise to see if you have got the idea. Use ‘He asked me…’ or ‘She asked me…’ in your answers.

1. Where are you?
2. Where have you been?
3. What are you doing now?
4. Why did you do that?
5. Are you glad to be back?
6. Do you have any plans to go away again?
7. Can you lend me some money?

How did you do? Next time, I will talk about ‘reported speech’ and introduce a range of verbs that can be used.