At the lower level - B1, we looked at the basic rules for indirect speech and the verbs say and tell. However, there are many more verbs for reporting. For example, we can report direct speech with such expressions as: He predicted that…, She complained that …, etc.

Exercise 1

Use the right forms of the expressions to complete the reports of what was said. Make them negative if necessary, using the short forms.

explain predict complain expect lend would was could

We should remember the verb patterns, i.e., whether the verb is followed by an infinitive, -ing form, or the “that” clause. Below are several examples:

• advise someone to do something
• advise that somebody does something
• agree to do something
• agree that somebody does something
• apologize to somebody for doing something
• encourage somebody to do something
• explain something to somebody
• insist on doing something
• promise to do something
• recommend doing something
• remind somebody to do something
• suggest doing something
• warn someone not to do something

Source https://www.perfect-english-grammar.com/reporting-verbs.html

Exercise 2

Use the right forms of the expressions to complete the reports of what was said. Make them negative if necessary, using the short forms.

Reporting with passive verbs

We can report what people say about somebody else by using the structure subject + passive verb + to-infinitive

Example in the present: Everyone says that Peter is very good at languages. Peter is said to be very good at languages.

Exercise 3

Report these sentences using the passive structure.