Ex.159 Indirect speech: statements
See note to Exercise 158.
had better
'You'd better' can also be reported unchanged (though the pronoun
may change) but can also be reported by advise:
He said, 'You'd better tell Tom.'
He said I'd better tell Tom or
He advised me to tell Tom.
'I/we had better' will normally be reported unchanged (though the pronoun may change):
He said, 'I'd better wait.'
He said he'd better wait.
'I should ... (if I were you)' is best reported by advise:
I said, 'Shall I write to Ann?' 'I should phone her (if I were
you),' said Peter.
I asked if I should write to Ann and Peter advised me to phone her.
Put the following into indirect speech.
1 'There's been an accident, and the road is blocked,' said the policeman. 'It won't be clear for some time. You'd better go round the other way.'
2 'Let's light a fire and cook our sausages over it,' said the children.
3 'I was thinking of going by bus,' said Paul.
'I shouldn't go by bus (if I were you),' said his aunt. 'It's an awfully bad service.'
4 'You'd better take sleeping bags; you may have to sleep out,' he warned us.
5 'I've left some books on your table,' said Peter. 'I think you'll find
them useful. You can keep them as long as you need them but I'd
like them back when you've finished with them.'
'Thank you very much,' I said. 'I'll take great care of them.'
6 'If children can learn a complicated language like Japanese by the time they are five,' said the Japanese professor, 'they should be able to learn the language of music. At the moment I'm teaching a class of forty three-year-olds to play the violin,' he added.
7 'The puppy can sleep on our bed,' said Tom.
'I'd rather he slept in a basket,' said his wife. 'That puppy will soon be a very big dog and then there won't be room for all three of us.'
8 'I'll try by myself first,' said Ann, 'and if I find that I can't manage I'll ask Tom to help me.'
9 'Let's camp by this stream,' said Mary. 'If we go on, it may be dark before we find another good place.'
10 'I wish we'd brought our guitars,' said the students. 'Then we could have offered to play in the restaurant and perhaps they'd have given us a free meal.'
11 'I booked a double room on the first floor,' said Mr Jones.
'I'm afraid we didn't get your letter,' said the receptionist, 'and all the first and second floor rooms have been taken. But we could give you two single rooms on the third floor.' 'That wouldn't do me at all,' said Mr Jones.
12 'I've had gypsies on my land for two years,' said the farmer, 'and they've given nobody any trouble; but now the Council have asked me to tell them to move on. I don't see why they should be asked to move and I'm writing to my MP about it.'
13 'This letter is full of mistakes!' snorted Mr Jones.
'I did it in rather a hurry,' admitted the typist. 'I suppose I'd better type it again.'
14 'If you'd like to go on any of these tours,' said the receptionist, 'the hotel will arrange it.' 'We'd like to go on them all,' said the American couple.
15 'We'll try to find your passport,' said the policeman, 'but it'll be very difficult because a lot of suspicious characters sleep on the beach in summer and any one of them might have robbed you.'
16 'Let's go to the races!' said Ann. 'We might make our fortunes. I've been given a very good tip for the 2.30.' 'I've had "good tips" from you before,' said Paul. 'And they were disastrous.'
17 'I don't know why you waste so much time polishing the car,' said Mr Jones.
'The neighbours all polish their cars,' said Mrs Jones, 'and I don't want our Mini to look like a poor relation. If you were any good you'd help me instead of standing there criticizing,' she added.
18 'I'm sorry for not having a tie on,' said Peter. 'I didn't know it was going to be a formal party.'
19 'I'd have enjoyed the journey more if the man next to me hadn't snored all the time,' said Paul.
20 'I was thinking of going alone,' I said.
'You'd better take someone with you,' said the old man. 'It's safer with two. One can keep watch while the other sleeps.'
21 (Paul is speaking to Mary on the phone, and Mary is repeating his words to Ann, who is standing beside her.) Paul: The plans have been changed. We're going tomorrow now, not on the next day. I want you to meet me at Victoria tonight. Mary: Paul says . . .
22 'If I want a hot bath I have to put ten pence in the meter,' said Tom, 'and even then it's not very hot.' 'That's ridiculous,' I said; 'It's high time you left that place.'
23 'I know the umbrella belongs to you, but I thought it would be all right if I borrowed it,' said my nephew, 'because you aren't going out tomorrow and I am.'
24 'Let's put your tape-recorder under the table,' said Tom, 'and make a recording of their conversation. It would be very useful to know what they are planning.'
'But my recorder makes a distinct hum,' I said. 'They'd be sure to hear it and look under the table; and then they'd find the recorder and ask all sorts of embarrassing questions.'
25 'Whenever my father was unhappy,' said the girl, 'he would go out and buy something, usually something large and useless. That's why our rooms are full of things we can't use.' 'I'm sorry for your father,' said Tom, looking round. 'He must have been a very unhappy man.'
26 'You can leave your motorcycle in my garage if you like,' he said. 'I'll keep an eye on it while you're away.'
27 'If you want a job you should read advertisements and write letters and ring people up,' he said to Ann. 'It's no use sitting at home, expecting employers to form a queue outside your door.'
28 'This used to be a lovely quiet street,' he said, 'but now it is
impossible. When summer comes you'll have to keep the windows ^ shut all the time because of the noise.'
29 'You must leave a note for your mother,' said Peter, 'otherwise she'll be terribly worried when you're not in at your usual time.'
30 'A letter marked "Urgent" has just arrived for Albert,' said Mary, 'and he's on holiday. I wonder if I should ring him up and tell him about it or wait till he comes back.'