Reporting Questions, Commands & Requests

You already know how to report statements. Questions and commands are reported a bit differently — and questions hide one trap that almost everyone falls into. The problem is that a question has a special word order, with the verb flipped in front of the subject (are you, is it, did he). When you report it, your ear wants to keep that flip. It shouldn't. Reported questions go back to ordinary statement order, and spotting that is the whole skill.

Reporting questions — un-flip the word order

When you report a question, it goes back to normal (statement) order — no question mark, and the verb un-flips:

Direct: "Where are you going?" Reported: She asked where I was going.

See what happened: are you flipped back to you were (then shifted to I was as you report it). The question mark disappears too, because a reported question isn't really a question any more — it's a statement about what someone asked.

The big trap:

✗ She asked where was I going. (kept the question flip — wrong!) ✓ She asked where I was going.

Why the flip disappears

It helps to understand why the word order changes, because then the rule stops feeling like something you just have to remember. A direct question flips the verb to the front so the listener knows a question is coming and can answer it: "Are you ready?" But a reported question isn't asking you anything — it's telling someone what was asked. It has become a piece of information tucked inside a bigger sentence, and information in English uses ordinary statement order. So are you settles back into you are, and the question mark goes, because nobody is being questioned any more. Think of it like this: the words are being described, not performed. Once you picture the reported question as a calm report rather than a live question, keeping the flip feels as wrong as it actually is, and your ear starts catching the mistake on its own.

Yes/no questions — use "if" or "whether"

When there's no question word like where or what, join the report with if or whether:

"Are you ready?" → He asked if/whether I was ready. "Do you like it?" → She asked if/whether I liked it.

Notice that do and did disappear in the report — you don't need them, because the sentence is now in statement order. "Did you finish?" becomes He asked if I had finished, not He asked if did I finish.

Reporting commands — use "to"

For an order or a request, use tell/ask + person + to + verb:

"Sit down." → The teacher told us to sit down. "Please wait." → She asked me to wait.

For a negative command, put not before to:

"Don't run." → She told me not to run. "Don't be late." → He asked us not to be late.

Use tell for firm orders and ask for polite requests — the verb you pick shows how forceful the original was.

Watch out — the question flip

The number-one mistake is keeping the question order in a reported question. Remember: reported questions read like statements. A good habit is to say the reported version slowly and check whether it sounds like something you could end with a full stop. "She asked what time it was." — full stop, statement order, correct. "She asked what time was it." — that still sounds like a question, so it's wrong.

More worked examples

• "What's your name?" → She asked what my name was. (not what was my name*)*
• "Have you seen it?" → He asked if I had seen it.
• "Close the window." → The teacher told me to close the window.
• "Please don't touch that." → She asked me not to touch it.
• ✗ He asked me where did I live. → ✓ He asked me where I lived.

Choosing the reporting verb

Commands and requests give you a chance to show how something was said, just by picking the right verb before the person. Tell is firm and direct — it fits an instruction that had to be obeyed: The teacher told us to line up. Ask is gentler and more polite — it fits a request: She asked me to help. You'll also meet stronger and softer verbs that do the same job with more colour: ordered and warned sound serious, while invited and reminded sound kinder. All of them follow the same shape — verb + person + to + the action — so once you know the pattern, you can slot any of them in. The verb you choose quietly tells the reader whether the original moment was a snapped order or a friendly nudge, which is a neat way to add feeling to a piece of writing without spelling everything out. Just remember the person always has to be named: you can't tell or ask into thin air.

Why it matters

Retelling what someone asked or ordered comes up all the time — in stories, in accounts of what happened, in everyday explaining. "The guard asked where we were going and told us not to take photos" packs two reported forms into one smooth sentence. The question-flip mistake is one of the most common in the whole of reported speech, so mastering it instantly lifts your writing above the crowd. It's a small rule with a big payoff.

Quick check

Report it:

1. "What time is it?" she asked.

2. "Close the door," he said.

3. "Are you coming?" she asked.

4. "Don't shout," the teacher said.

5. Fix it: He asked me where was the station.

6. "Do you have a pen?" she asked.

Where next

• Reported Speech: Statements — reporting statements + backshift.
• Word Order in Questions — why reported questions un-flip.
• The Imperative Mood — the commands being reported.