English Grammar Drills

262 Sentences
8. Terry said, “We can still get reservations for the weekend.”
9. The contractor said, “The electricians will finish the wiring Friday.”
10. I said, “I know you are right.”
Here are some examples of backshifted past tenses:
Past tense ⇒ past perfect tense
Direct:
I said, “I was a little disappointed.”
Indirect:
I said that I had been a little disappointed.
Past progressive ⇒ past perfect progressive
Direct:
She said, “I was looking forward to it.”
Indirect:
She said that she had been looking forward to it.
Past perfect: no change possible because sentence is already in past perfect tense
Direct:
They said, “Bill had made a reservation.”
Indirect:
They said that Bill had made a reservation.
Past modal: no change possible because there are no past perfect modals
Direct:
We said, “Sam would take care of it.”
Indirect:
We said that Sam would take care of it.
Exercise 15.2
Convert the following direct quotations to indirect quotations. Be sure to use that in the indirect
quotations.
She said, “Ron already filled out the forms.”
She said that Ron had already filled out the forms.
1. He said, “They have really done a great job.”
2. I said, “We were busy all afternoon.”