Reported Speech, Gerunds and Infinitives Cheat Sheet

📌 Reported Speech Cheat Sheet

🔹 Tense Changes

• Present simple → Past simple
  👉 “I play” → he said he played
• Present continuous → Past continuous
  👉 “I am studying” → he said he was studying
• Past simple → Past perfect
  👉 “I went” → he said he had gone
• Present perfect → Past perfect
  👉 “I have eaten” → he said he had eaten

Pronoun changes (depending on the speaker):
I → he/she | my → his/her | you → I/we/they | me → him/her | our → their | us → them

🔹 Reported Speech Structures

• Statements: said (that)
• Orders: told/ordered + person + to + verb
  👉 “Close the door” → he told me to close the door
• Questions:
  • Yes/No: use if
    👉 “Did you go?” → he asked if I had gone
  • WH-questions: use normal word order
    👉 “Where did you go?” → he asked where I had gone

📌 Gerunds & Infinitives

🔹 Gerund (-ing) Usage

• After prepositions: (for, of, in, etc.)
  👉 apologized for taking
• Common expressions:
  • feel like going
  • worth repairing
  • give up smoking
  • mind carrying
• Verbs: enjoy talking
• Structures: difficulty understanding

🔹 Infinitive (to + verb) Usage

• Verbs: want, decide, intend, manage, afford
  👉 managed to get
• Structure: tell / advise / persuade + person + to
  👉 advised me to go

🔹 Key Cases

• Forget:
  • forget to do → you didn't do it
    👉 forgot to call
• Used to + verb:
  👉 used to read

🔹 Practice Examples

Examples: worth repairing, forgot to call her, feel like going, apologized for taking my notebook, persuaded her to give me a look into her diary, mind carrying them, used to read stories to us, difficulty understanding her, enjoyed talking to his friends, managed to get there in time, give up smoking, intends to enrol in a vocational course, advised me to go to the doctor, can’t afford to buy such an expensive car.

🔹 Rewrite Exercises

“I can help you with your website,” Lisa told Ben. OFFERED
Lisa offered to help with his website.

1. “I’m sorry I didn’t say hello to you,” Jo told Al. APOLOGISED
   Jo apologised for not saying hello.
2. “Don’t forget the meeting tonight,” Ava said to us. REMINDED
   Ava reminded us about the meeting tonight.
3. “Don’t tell anyone about the new campaign,” said the manager. WARNED
   The manager warned us not to tell anyone about the new campaign.
4. “You uploaded copyrighted films!” the police said to Dan. ACCUSED
   The police accused him of uploading copyrighted films.
5. “I’ve gained 300 followers this week,” said Alex. HAD
   Alex said that he had gained 300 followers that week.