Reported Speech: requests

Reported Requests

There's more! What if someone asks you to do something (in a polite way)? For example:

• Direct speech: Close the window, please
• Or: Could you close the window please?
• Or: Would you mind closing the window please?

All of these requests mean the same thing, so we don't need to report every word when we tell another person about it. We simply use 'ask me + to + infinitive':

• Reported speech: She asked me to close the window.

Here are a few more examples: 

Direct Request	Reported Request
Please help me.	She asked me to help her.
Please don't smoke.	She asked me not to smoke.
Could you bring my book tonight?	She asked me to bring her book that night.
Could you pass the milk, please?	She asked me to pass the milk.
Would you mind coming early tomorrow?	She asked me to come early the next day.

To report a negative request, use 'not':

• Direct speech: Please don't be late.
• Reported speech: She asked us not to be late.

Reported Orders

And finally, how about if someone doesn't ask so politely? We can call this an 'order' in English, when someone tells you very directly to do something. For example:

• Direct speech: Sit down!

In fact, we make this into reported speech in the same way as a request. We just use 'tell' instead of 'ask':

• Reported speech: She told me to sit down.

Direct Order	Reported Order
Go to bed!	He told the child to go to bed.
Don't worry!	He told her not to worry.
Be on time!	He told me to be on time.
Don't smoke!	He told us not to smoke.

Exercise 1: Reported Requests and Orders