Primary 6 English | Reported Speech 備課指引（導師用）｜said and told, one tense step back, six words to swap

2026-11-10

Tutor lesson-prep guides · Primary English

Pupils copy the quoted sentence and change nothing, so “He said he is tired” appears three times in one page. This lesson fixes the rewrite into three steps, each with a small table to check.

Objectives — By the end the pupil can: (1) tell said from told and explain that told needs a listener; (2) move the tense back exactly one step and say why it is only one; (3) change the pronouns, the 6 time words and the place word together to produce a complete reported sentence.

01 Prerequisites (3-minute check)

If any of these fails, fix it before the lesson starts.

Skill	Quick check	Pass mark
Present and past	What is the past of is	was
Pronouns	What does I usually become in a report	he or she, depending on the speaker
said and told	What follows each one	said can stand alone, told needs a person

02 Lesson flow (40 minutes)

Time	Stage	Tutor does	Student does
0-6 min	Contrast	Write the direct and the reported sentence and ask what moved	Circle every change
6-18 min	said and told	Three sentences each	told always has a listener
18-30 min	Tense shift	Find the verb, step back one, check	All correct
30-40 min	Pronouns and time words	Swap 6 time words from the table	Eight of ten items done

03 Teaching script (read it out)

Scene 1: Fix who spoke to whom before touching the tense

Pupils change the tense first and lose track of who is speaking. The order is to fix the speaker and the listener, then the tense.
Three questions: who said the original line, who is being told now, and who do I and you refer to? Once those are answered the pronouns settle themselves.
Only then does the verb change: said can stand alone (He said that…), told must have a person (He told me that…), and that person is the listener.

Ask the pupil: for “I will help you,” Tom told Ann, write the three people first, then the reported line.

Scene 2: One step back, never two

The shift is one step: present to past, past to past perfect, will to would, can to could.
The usual error is two steps or half a step, writing has been for is, or would have for will. Before rewriting, put an arrow under every verb in the original and stop after one step.
Two kinds of sentence can stay in the present: general truths such as the sun rises in the east, and states still true. At Primary 6 the safe habit is to shift every time, and not to invent exceptions during a test.

Ask the pupil: why is “He said he has finished” normally marked wrong?

Scene 3: Sweep the small words with a table

Half the marks sit in the small words: now becomes then, today becomes that day, tomorrow becomes the next day, yesterday becomes the day before, here becomes there, and this becomes that.
The routine: after rewriting, sweep the original with a pen and circle every time and place word, then swap each one from the table. Eight of ten exam items contain at least one such word, and each missed word costs a mark.
Read the finished sentence aloud and ask whether it sounds right from a third person. If it reads smoothly it is usually correct.

Ask the pupil: rewrite “I will finish this today,” she said, and count how many items changed.

04 Question types and worked steps

Type	Example	Steps	Answer
Direct to reported	Rewrite the whole sentence	Fix the people, step back one, swap small words	All three parts change
said or told	Gap fill	told needs a person straight after it	said takes no person
Tense matching	Join each original verb to its reported form	One step back only	is to was, will to would
Time words	10 items, small words only	Use the table every time	now to then is the most tested

Sanity check (teach this): Check the numbers: the lesson is 40 minutes and the four stages add up to 40; the tense moves 3 step and never two; there are 6 time words and every one must be written from memory; every answer is checked in three places, pronoun, tense and small words, and a missing one means the item is unfinished.

05 Independent practice (3 questions)

Question	Answer	What to watch
10 rewrites	A mix of said and told	Check that told has a listener
Tense matching	Six verbs against six reported forms	One step back only
Time words	6 pairs from memory	All correct to pass
Two-sentence report	A short dialogue	Pronouns stay consistent

06 Common mistakes and what to say

Mistake	Student writes	Say this
told without a listener	“He told that he was busy.”	told must be followed by the listener; either add me or use said.
Two steps back	“He said he had been tired.” from is	is moves one step to was; two steps is a different tense.
Pronoun left alone	“Tom said he would help you.” when you was Ann	Fix who spoke to whom first; you means Ann, so a third listener needs her.
Time word copied	“She said she would finish this tomorrow.”	Tomorrow in a report is not the same day, so write the next day.

07 Homework (paper, section and question numbers)

Primary English chapter index — Other grammar chapters in the subject
All prep guides — Parallel chapters in other subjects
Redo this chapter — All ten items again, writing the people first

08 Exit check (last 5 minutes)

Question	Answer	Decision
What follows told	The listener, as in told me	Saying it takes a clause means restart act one
What is becomes	was	Answering had been means redo act two
What tomorrow becomes	the next day	Answering tomorrow means redo act three

09 Tutor FAQ

Must every tense shift?

At Primary 6 shifting every time is the safe habit; general truths may stay present, but exams rarely test the exception.

Can said take me?

It can, though told me is far more common in writing. Never write said me.

How is a quoted question reported?

Use statement order after ask, for example He asked where I lived, with no question mark.

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A TutorZone lesson-prep guide. Written by the TutorZone team; questions and lesson flow are original and are not taken from any school or publisher material.