Mastering Relative Clauses and Reported Speech

Posted on Mar 6, 2025 in English

Defining Relative Clauses

Defining Relative Clauses

The teacher is the person who decides the final mark (defining)

Non-Defining Relative Clauses

The teacher, who gave me a zero in the exam, is always grumpy.

Formal Structures

The preposition goes before the relative pronoun.

Ex: This is the school in which I study.

Ex: The teacher to whom I talked yesterday is the best ever.

Informal Structures

The preposition goes after the relative pronoun (normally at the end) + (the relative pronoun can be omitted).

Ex: This is the school (which) I study in.

Ex: The teacher (who) I talked to yesterday is the best ever.

Reported Speech

Example:

“The mugger wore a carnival mask to hide her face”

Reported speech:

The witness said/told that the mugger had worn a carnival mask to hide her face.

The Key: To Go One Step Backwards in the Verb Tense!

Example 1:

“Meet me at the train station tonight” told my mother (reported order/request)

My mother told me to meet her at the train station that night.

Example 2:

“Did you talk to Irati yesterday?” asked my friend (reported question)

My friend asked me whether/if I had spoken to Irati the previous day/the day before.

Example 3:

“I am the most intelligent person in the entire world now” Ane said (statement)

Ane said she was the most intelligent person in the entire world then.

Statements

“I am guilty” said Ibon

Ibon said that he was guilty.

Questions

“Have you bought cans of beer for tonight´s dinner?” asked Luisa.

Luisa asked whether/if I had bought cans of beer for that night´s party.

Orders/Requests

“Don’t be silly” my friend told me.

My friend told me not to be silly.

Suggestions

“Let’s meet here tonight” suggested Josu.

Josu suggested that we meet there that night.

Josu suggested meeting there that night.

STATEMENTS

(reporting verbs: tell/say/admit, announce, answer, apologise, boast, claim, complain, declare, explain, inform, insist, mention, offer, remind, reply, state)

“I have to take up yoga” said Ane.

Ane said that she had to take up yoga”

NOTE: When the uttered statement is a general/popular belief, we do not need to change the verb tense one step backwards.

Ex: “Crime is punishable by law” Pablo Casado said.

Pablo Casado said that crime is punishable by law”.

QUESTIONS

(reporting verbs: request, enquire, want to know, wonder)

YES/NO QUESTIONS (whether/if subject+verb)

Ex: “Have you decided where to go on holidays?” asked Jon.

Jon asked me if/whether I had decided where to go on holidays.

WH-QUESTIONS (wh-particle+subject+verb)

Ex: “When did you pierce your belly button?” wanted to know Nile

Nile wanted to know when I had pierced my belly button.

ORDERS/REQUESTS

(reporting verbs: demand, warn, order, shout)

In order to report orders or requests, you need to swap the sentence from imperative to infinitive.

Ex: “Pay attention to your mobile phone when you travel abroad” my father told me.

My father told me to pay attention to my mobile phone when I travelled abroad.

NOTE: When the order/request comes in negative form, particle “not” should be placed before “to”.

Ex: “Don’t be late again or I’ll call your parents” warned us the history teacher.

The History teacher warned us not to be late again or she would call our parents.

SUGGESTIONS

(reporting verbs: advise, invite, recommend, suggest)

Structure: Subject+ verb (suggest/recommend in the past tense) + a) “That” clause b) Gerund (-ing)

Ex: “Let’s go to Ibiza” Mikel suggested.

a) Mikel suggested that we go to Ibiza.

b) Mikel suggested going to Ibiza.

Direct Speech vs. Reported Speech