Reported Speech — Backshift — The Anatomy of Ambition
Grammar: Reported Speech
Free ESL grammar exercise on reported speech — backshift themed around the anatomy of ambition. Printable worksheet from EnglishPlans.com.
What's on this worksheet
A Level 4 (upper intermediate) ESL grammar exercise on work, practising reported speech. The worksheet has a short reading excerpt, a grammar reference and graded practice items.
From the reading
People who have reached major professional breakthroughs often describe the early years in strikingly similar terms. They say they had no clear map, only a direction. They tell interviewers that they motivated themselves by imagining the specific moment of arrival.
Grammar: Reported Speech
- Said that — backshift
- She said she wanted a better role. — present → past in reported speech
- Told me that
- He told me he had set his sights on management. — pronoun I → he; will → would
Sample items
- He said he ______ a strong belief in his own ability to succeed.
- She told me she ______ her sights on a senior role two years earlier.
- The coach said that drive and ambition ______ two very different things.
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