Basics. Reported Speech: Tense Choice and Backshifting: correct answers
Jump to answers ↓Reported Speech: Tense Choice and Backshifting
When we report what someone else said, the verb tense usually shifts one step back into the past. For example, the direct quote "I am hungry" becomes "He said he was hungry." However, this rule changes depending on the context. If the reporting verb is in the present tense ("He says he is hungry") or if the statement is a general scientific truth ("She said the earth revolves around the sun"), the original tense often remains exactly the same.
This challenge tests your ability to navigate these tricky reporting rules. You will practice applying standard tense and modal backshifts after past reporting verbs, recognizing exceptions for present-tense reporting verbs and general truths, and fixing tricky word order in indirect questions (e.g., knowing to write He asked where the restroom was, not where was the restroom).
You will work through 12 questions featuring dramatic roommates, office gossip, and confused time travelers in a varied mix of single-choice, multi-choice, drop-down, and drag-and-drop formats.
Try the quiz to check your knowledge!
Correct answers
Question 1
Help the frustrated roommate complete their dramatic text message.
When I confronted him about the missing chocolate cake, he insisted that he ___ it. However, the frosting on his nose told a different story!
The correct answer is hadn't eaten.
The reporting verb "insisted" is in the past tense. The original statement ("I didn't eat it") was in the past simple. In formal reported speech, a past simple action that happened before the reporting verb is backshifted to the past perfect ("hadn't eaten").
Question 2
The correct answers are I saw myself, I had ever been, and I was eating.
When we report questions (indirect questions), two major changes happen:
- Word Order: We stop using question word order (verb-subject) and switch to normal affirmative statement word order (subject-verb). We also drop auxiliary verbs like do/did.
- Backshifting: Because the reporting verbs (asked, wanted to know, yelled) are in the past tense, the verbs inside the questions shift back one tense (present simple $\rightarrow$ past simple, present perfect $\rightarrow$ past perfect, present continuous $\rightarrow$ past continuous).
Question 3
Help the gossip columnist finish her latest scoop by choosing the correct verb for each blank. Pay close attention to the reporting verbs!
The pop star's agent says that she is moving to Paris next week and confirms that she has already packed her bags.
The pop star's agent says that she is moving to Paris next week and confirms that she has already packed her bags.
This is a tricky exception! When the reporting verbs are in the present tense ("says", "confirms"), we do not backshift the tenses of the original quote. The original quotes ("I am moving" and "I have already packed") keep their original tenses because the reporting is happening in the present and the information is still currently true.
Question 4
The correct answers are would, had to have, and the following day.
When reporting speech in the past (using verbs like insisted or declared), we usually "backshift" the tenses and modals:
- will backshifts to would.
- must (for obligation) backshifts to had to. (Note: must have had is used for past deductions, not past obligations!)
- Time expressions also shift to reflect the new perspective. Tomorrow becomes the following day or the next day.
Question 5
Complete the office gossip's email by choosing the correct verb phrase.
Did you hear? The boss has just announced that she ___ the company next month to start a llama farm!
The correct answer is is leaving.
When the reporting verb is in a present tense or present perfect tense (like "has announced"), we do not backshift the verbs in the reported speech. Because her departure is a future arrangement, the present continuous "is leaving" remains unchanged!
Question 6
Complete the HR report about a dramatic office meeting by choosing the correct verb for each blank.
The angry manager shouted that he had been working there for ten years and declared that he would not resign under any circumstances.
The angry manager shouted that he had been working there for ten years and declared that he would not resign under any circumstances.
When the reporting verb is in the past tense ("shouted", "declared"), we typically backshift the tenses in the reported clause.
"I have been working" (Present Perfect Continuous) becomes "had been working" (Past Perfect Continuous).
"I will not resign" (Future with will) becomes "would not resign" (Conditional with would).
Question 7
The correct answers are The suspect claimed that he had eaten the entire pepperoni pizza by himself and The suspect claimed that he ate the entire pepperoni pizza by himself.
When reporting an event that was spoken in the past simple ("ate"), you can backshift it to the past perfect ("had eaten") to clearly show that the action happened before the reporting verb ("claimed").
However, it is also perfectly correct to keep the verb in the past simple ("ate") in reported speech, as long as the chronological sequence of events is clear from the context.
"Has eaten" (present perfect) and "eats" (present simple) do not follow the sequence of tenses for a past reporting verb.
Question 8
Select the grammatically correct phrase to complete the tour guide's anecdote.
A tourist came up to me yesterday looking completely lost and asked me ___.
The correct answer is where the nearest restroom was.
In reported questions, we use statement word order (Subject + Verb), so "was the nearest restroom" becomes "the nearest restroom was". Additionally, because the reporting verb ("asked") is in the past tense, we backshift the verb "is" to "was".
Question 9
The correct answers are He said he would travel to Mars, but he was terrified of aliens and He said he would travel to Mars, but he is terrified of aliens.
This question tests two advanced reporting rules at once!
First, the modal verb "would" does not change (backshift) in reported speech.
Second, the present tense "am" can either be backshifted to the past tense ("was") to match the reporting verb, OR it can remain in the present tense ("is") because his fear of aliens is a state that is still true at the time of reporting.
Question 10
The correct answers are had been sleeping, was, and will provide.
The tense of the reporting verb dictates whether we backshift:
- claimed is in the past, so the past continuous action (was sleeping) backshifts to the past perfect continuous (had been sleeping).
- insists is in the present, so we do not backshift. The fact that he was out of the country remains in the simple past (was).
- promises is also in the present, so the future intention remains in the future tense (will provide).
Question 11
The correct answers are Professor Higgins said that octopuses have three hearts and Professor Higgins said that octopuses had three hearts.
When reporting a general truth or a scientific fact, "backshifting" (changing the present tense to the past tense) is optional.
You can keep the present tense ("have") because the fact is still true today. However, standard sequence-of-tenses rules also allow you to backshift to the past tense ("had") to match the past reporting verb ("said").
"Had had" is incorrect because past perfect implies they no longer have three hearts. "Says... had" is incorrect because a present-tense reporting verb ("says") cannot be followed by a backshifted past tense if the original statement was in the present.
Question 12
Complete the journalist's article about a very confused time traveler by choosing the correct phrase for each gap.
The eccentric scientist explained that he had been trying to visit the dinosaurs when his engine failed, and muttered that he had to fix the machine before Tuesday.
The eccentric scientist explained that he had been trying to visit the dinosaurs when his engine failed, and muttered that he had to fix the machine before Tuesday.
"I was trying" (Past Continuous) backshifts to "had been trying" (Past Perfect Continuous) when reported in the past ("explained").
When "must" is used to express obligation ("I must fix it"), it changes to "had to" in reported speech. "Must have fixed" is incorrect because it expresses a past deduction (e.g., "someone must have fixed it"), not an obligation.