Reported Speech – Tense Usage Test
This worksheet is designed to test students’ understanding of tense changes in reported
speech. Each sentence must be rewritten in reported speech, ensuring correct backshifting
of tenses, pronoun changes, and time expression adjustments.
Quick Reference – Tense Changes in Reported Speech
• Present Simple → Past Simple (e.g., 'I play' → He said he played)
• Present Continuous → Past Continuous
• Present Perfect → Past Perfect
• Past Simple → Past Perfect
• Past Continuous → Past Perfect Continuous
• Future (will) → would
• Future Continuous → would be + verb-ing
• Future Perfect → would have + past participle
• No tense change when reporting something still true or a universal fact.
A. Present → Past
1. She said, "I like chocolate."
2. He said, "We are watching TV."
3. They said, "I have finished my work."
4. I said, "I play the guitar."
5. She said, "He is reading a book."
6. He said, "We have lived here for ten years."
7. They said, "She goes to school every day."
8. I said, "I am learning Spanish."
9. She said, "We have completed the project."
10. He said, "It rains a lot here in July."
B. Past → Past Perfect
1. She said, "I bought a new dress yesterday."
2. He said, "We watched that movie last night."
3. They said, "She was singing beautifully."
4. I said, "I met him two days ago."
5. She said, "We were waiting for the bus."
6. He said, "It rained heavily last night."
7. They said, "We visited the Taj Mahal in 2010."
8. I said, "I cooked pasta for dinner."
9. She said, "They arrived late."
10. He said, "I did my homework yesterday."
C. Future → Conditional
1. She said, "I will call you tomorrow."
2. He said, "We will visit Paris next year."
3. They said, "I will help you with the homework."
4. I said, "We will go shopping on Saturday."
5. She said, "I will be waiting for you at 5 pm."
6. He said, "We will finish the project soon."
7. They said, "I will send you the details."
8. I said, "We will travel to London in June."
9. She said, "I will buy a new phone."
10. He said, "We will have completed the task by Monday."
D. Mixed Tenses
1. She said, "I am cooking now but I cooked pasta yesterday."
2. He said, "I have been studying all morning and I will take a break soon."
3. They said, "I saw that movie last week and I am going to watch it again."
4. I said, "We are visiting our grandparents tomorrow and we visited them last month too."
5. She said, "I have finished my homework and I am playing video games now."
6. He said, "We were travelling last summer and we will travel again next year."
7. They said, "I will be meeting my teacher tomorrow and I met her last week too."
8. I said, "I am feeling tired because I worked late yesterday."
9. She said, "I will buy some groceries tomorrow because we ran out yesterday."
10. He said, "I have been living here for five years and I will continue to stay here."
