S2 English | Reported Speech: Tutor Prep Guide | Backshift, Said and Told, Reported Questions

2026-11-13

Tutor lesson-prep guides · Junior English

Students backshift one word at a time, forget the sentence started as a question, and write He asked me where was I. This lesson lands three things together: tense shift, word swaps, and question word order.

Objectives — Students can: (1) state the difference between said and told, where told must be followed by a person, and write told me that correctly; (2) shift present to past, past to past perfect and will to would, while also changing pronouns and six time and place words (now to then, today to that day, tomorrow to the next day, yesterday to the day before, here to there, this to that); (3) turn a yes-no question into if or whether with normal word order, keep the wh-word in a wh-question while moving the auxiliary back after the subject, and explain why the question mark disappears.

01 Prerequisites (3-minute check)

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

Skill	Quick check	Pass mark
Tenses	What is the past simple of a present simple verb, and how do you form past perfect?	No accurate past form means backshift will fail
Verb patterns	What can follow said and what must follow told?	Said can take a clause or said to me; told must take a person
Word order	How does an indirect question order its subject and verb?	Indirect questions use subject then verb, with no inversion

02 Lesson flow (45 minutes)

Time	Stage	Tutor does	Student does
0-5 min	Vocabulary check	Ask students to say he told me he would come in English and write their version on the board	Give their own version, errors allowed
5-13 min	Said and told	Write He said that and He told me that side by side and ask for the difference	State that told needs a person
13-22 min	Three backshift steps	Write three direct sentences; show present to past, past to past perfect, will to would	Shift three sentences and name the step used
22-31 min	Pronouns and time words	List six time and place pairs plus three pronoun pairs, then run six substitutions	Finish all six and circle the wrong ones
31-40 min	Reported questions	Write one yes-no and one wh-question, convert both and circle out the question mark	Convert both and state the word-order rule
40-45 min	Exit check	Collect three answers and mark correct, partial or wrong	Hand in three answers

03 Teaching script (read it out)

Scene 1: Act 1: said and told are two different verbs

“He said that he was tired and He told me that he was tired are both correct, but told must be followed by a person. He told that is always wrong. Do not memorise a slogan; ask one question: is there a person after the verb? No person means said, a person means told.”

Say it back: told needs a person, otherwise use said.

Scene 2: Act 2: backshift is three moves at once

“Reported speech changes three things: the tense, the pronouns and the time or place words. I am busy today becomes He said that he was busy that day. Am becomes was, I becomes he, today becomes that day. Two out of three still counts as half right. The step students skip is the third one, so the sentence ends up half past and half present.”

Say it back: reported speech changes tense, pronouns and time words together.

Scene 3: Act 3: reported questions lose both the inversion and the question mark

“Where are you going becomes He asked me where I was going. Are you flips back to I was, so the auxiliary moves behind the subject, and the tense shifts as well. There is no question mark, because the sentence is now a statement. For a yes-no question add if or whether: Are you ready becomes He asked me if I was ready. If your sentence still ends in a question mark, the conversion is not finished.”

Say it back: reported questions do not invert and end with a full stop.

04 Question types and worked steps

Type	Example	Steps	Answer
Direct to reported	He said, I am tired today.	Step 1 shift the tense, step 2 change the pronoun, step 3 change the time word, step 4 add that	He said that he was tired that day.
Said or told	He ___ me that he would come.	Check for a person after the verb, then choose told, otherwise said	told
Yes-no question	She asked, Are you ready?	Add if or whether, reorder to subject plus verb, delete the question mark	She asked me if I was ready.
Wh-question	He asked, Where are you going?	Keep the wh-word, move the auxiliary after the subject, shift the tense, delete the question mark	He asked me where I was going.

Sanity check (teach this): Sanity checks: a reported sentence needs three changes, so one change alone means redo it; a question mark at the end means the inversion was not removed; told with no person after it is the wrong verb; will must become would, so a leftover will means the backshift was skipped; the six time words swap as pairs, so today maps to that day and never to then.

05 Independent practice (3 questions)

Question	Answer	What to watch
He said, I will call you tomorrow.	He said that he would call me the next day.	Check all three swaps: will to would, you to me, tomorrow to the next day
My mother told ___, I have finished my homework.	me	Check that the student remembers told needs a person
She asked, Do you like music?	She asked me if I liked music.	Check for if, for I liked instead of do you like, and for a full stop

06 Common mistakes and what to say

Mistake	Student writes	Say this
Told with no person	He told that he was late.	Told needs a person: He told me. If there is no person, use said. Say told me once, then told that once, and listen to which one works.
Tense shifted, time word kept	He said that he was busy today.	The tense moved but today did not. Reported speech changes three things: tense, pronouns, time words. Today from the speaker becomes that day for the listener.
Reported question keeps inversion	He asked me where was I going.	Reported questions do not invert. After the wh-word you go straight to subject then verb: where I was going. Inverting stacks two questions together.
Question mark left in place	She asked me if I was ready?	This is now a statement, so it takes a full stop. Question marks belong to direct questions only. Leaving one tells the marker the conversion is incomplete.

07 Homework (paper, section and question numbers)

English subject index: redo the six said-to-told and backshift items — Reported speech chapter, practice items 1 and 2
English subject index: convert three direct questions, one of them yes-no — Reported speech chapter, practice item 3

08 Exit check (last 5 minutes)

Question	Answer	Decision
Report this: He said, I can swim.	He said that he could swim.	Can left as can means backshift failed
Can told stand without a person after it?	No, told needs a person; use said instead	Answering yes means the verb pattern is unclear
Does a reported question end with a question mark?	No, it takes a full stop as a statement	Answering yes means the word order is still unclear

09 Tutor FAQ

Which year is this chapter for?

S2, and useful as a repair lesson before S3 paper practice; the focus is the three swaps and question order, not memorising a time-word table.

Can three acts fit in 45 minutes?

Yes. Each act runs about eight to nine minutes, which leaves six substitutions and the exit check; do not derive the whole tense table.

Is there matching practice?

Yes. The subject index links this chapter to its practice items, with answers on the page for immediate marking.

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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.