Mastering English Reported Speech and Question Forms

Interrogative Pronouns and Adverbs

• Who? (¿Quién?) - Who sings in the bath every morning?
• Whom? (¿A quién?) - Whom did you meet? (Rarely used in modern English)
• Whose? (¿De quién?) - Whose book is this?
• What? (¿Qué?) - What is this?
• Which? (¿Qué? ¿Cuál?) - Which book do you want?
• How? (¿Cómo?) - How do you get to school?
• Where? (¿Dónde?) - Where is the Post Office?
• When? (¿Cuándo?) - When do you get up?

Time and Place Transformations

• Tomorrow → The next day / The following day
• Yesterday → The day before
• Here → There
• This / That → The
• This morning → That morning
• Today → That day
• Tonight → That night
• Next Tuesday → The following Tuesday
• Last Tuesday → The previous Tuesday
• The day after tomorrow → In two days' time
• Ago → Before / Previously

Verb Tense Changes

• Present Simple → Past Simple
• Present Continuous → Past Continuous
• Present Perfect → Past Perfect
• Past Simple → Past Perfect
• Past Continuous → Past Perfect Continuous
• Is going to → Was going to
• Must → Had to
• Can → Could
• Will → Would
• Shall → Should
• Imperative → Infinitive

Relative Pronouns

• That (que)
• Which (cual/que)
• Who (que/quien)
• Whom (que/a quien)
• Whose (cuyo)

Conjunctions

• After (después de que)
• As (cuando)
• As long as (en tanto en cuanto)
• As soon as (tan pronto como)
• Before (antes de que)
• Since (desde que)
• Till / Until (hasta que)
• When (cuando)
• While (mientras)

Indirect Questions and Commands

Indirect Questions

Indirect questions change the word order of the original question and require verb tense shifts.

• What is the time? → She asked what time it was.
• How is your mother? → He asked me how my mother was.

Use if or whether when the question does not contain a Wh- interrogative particle:

• Did you see the film? → She asked whether I had seen the film.

Indirect Imperatives

Indirect commands use an indirect object and an infinitive:

• Stop! → He told them to stop.
• Don't go. → He told me not to go.

Distinction between indirect offers and requests:

• Offer: "Would you like a cigarette?" → He asked if I would like a cigarette.
• Request: "Would you pass me a cigarette?" → He asked me to pass him a cigarette.