The passive and reported speech

Report what people said, and focus on what was done. Lesson 32 of 58: Fluency, CEFR B2.

The passive: what was done

Use the passive (be + past participle) when what happened matters more than who did it, or when you don’t know or don’t want to say who: “The report was finished on time.” “Mistakes were made.” Add “by” only if the doer matters: “It was designed by an award-winning team.”
The meeting has been moved to Friday.
Your order will be delivered tomorrow.
The building was built in 1920.
Tip: The passive sounds formal and can sound evasive. In conversation, prefer the active when the person matters: “I made a mistake” is more honest than “a mistake was made”.

To report what somebody said, the tense usually steps back: “I’m tired” → She said she was tired. “We will help” → They said they would help. “I’ve finished” → He said he had finished. Questions become statements: “Where do you live?” → She asked where I lived.
If it is still true, you can keep the tense: “She said she lives in Delhi.”
He said he was running late. (“I’m running late.”)
She asked if we could start earlier. (“Can we start earlier?”)
They told me they’d call back. (“We’ll call back.”)

Say something; tell somebody something: “She said that…”, “She told me that…”, never “She said me”. Richer reporting verbs: explained, suggested, promised, admitted, mentioned, pointed out, agreed, warned.
She told me the price had gone up.
He suggested meeting on Monday.
They admitted that they’d made a mistake.

Report a recent conversation or meeting to somebody who was not there: who said what, what was decided (use two passives), and what was suggested or promised.
I stepped tenses back where needed
I used tell somebody / say something correctly
I used two passives
I used a richer reporting verb (suggested, admitted…)

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