Remembering Her / Remembering Him

Remembering Her / Remembering Him

To cheer away the drudgeries of boring Reported Speech practice, try on this little doodad. It's intended for mid-Intermediate practice, as it calls for reporting questions, requests, and commands. (For reinforcing the re-inversion of subject and verb to form clauses, try I Don't Know!!)

Pair students and give each one of the cards below. Then Student A ("he", if you will) will say the first phrase on the left side of their card. Student B must then report the speech observing the correct grammar. Little monitoring is needed because both cards show the correct reported speech on the right side. Students can take turns, or can complete one card at a time.

Notes: These cards use "whether" to create clauses from yes/no questions, though many people might use "if". In my personal opinion, however, "if" is better suited to conditionals, where something causes something else. "that" is employed but may be omitted by slackers and deadbeats. Only simple "said", "asked", and "told" reported speech is used here, but students can use more eloquent verbs. Keep your ears perked for those ever-lurking hobgoblins, "He said me (that)..." and "She told (that)...", the mixed up say-tell twins, fomenting a scourge upon the Earth.

Your students will love this romantic reminiscence and will beg you for more!!!

REMEMBERING HER I remember her voice, 10 years ago...
"I like potatoes."	She said that she liked potatoes.
"Where do you come from?"	She asked me where I came from.
"Have you been here long?"	She asked me whether I'd been there long.
"I'm in town to see the circus."	She said that she was in town to see the circus.
"I'm writing a book."	She said that she was writing a book.
"What's your favorite color?"	She asked me what my favorite color was.
"When did you first eat chicken?"	She asked me when I had first eaten chicken.
"Are you listening?"	She asked me whether I was listening.
"Will you please dance with me?"	She asked me to dance with her.
"Get up and start dancing!"	She told me to get up and start dancing.
"I'll kill you if you don't dance with me!!!"	She said that she would kill me if I didn't dance with her.
"If you don't dance faster, we'll be told to sit down."	She said that if I didn't dance faster, we'd be told to sit down.

REMEMBERING HIM I remember his voice, 10 years ago...
"I'm bored."	He said that he was bored.
"Are you breathing?"	He asked me whether I was breathing.
"When will your spaceship arrive?"	He asked me when my spaceship would arrive.
"I just saw a UFO!!"	He said that he had just seen a UFO.
"I have never eaten sushi in my life."	He told me that he had never eaten sushi in his life.
"What do you do in your free time?"	He asked me what I did in my free time.
"Am I bothering you?"	He asked me whether he was bothering me.
"When are you going home?"	He asked me when I was going home.
"Please take me home and cook carrots for me."	He asked me to take him home and cook carrots for him.
"If you don't cook carrots for me, I'll start crying."	He said that if I didn't cook carrots for him, he'd start crying.
"Cook me some carrots, immediately, woman!!!!"	He told me to cook him some carrots, immediately!!!!
"Would you mind if we ate some snow?"	He asked whether I'd mind if we ate some snow.