Reported speech in English: How to report commands

English lessons: rules, use, and practice

Reported speech in English: reporting commands

Reporting commands

Commands are statements of requests, suggestions, warnings, advices, offers, regrets, and orders. Reporting commands is very easy compared to questions and statements. You just drop “to” before the main verb if it is positive and “not to” if it is negative. In the case of requests, you remove the mitigating expression: “please” and the auxiliaries

Reporting commands
Advice	“You should visit a doctor”, she advised me
	She advised me to visit a doctor
Suggestion	“Why don’t we go to the beach today” they suggested
	They suggested going to the beach today
Promise	“I will take you to the cinema” she promised me
	She promised to take me to the cinema.
Warning	“Don’t touch that” she warned me
	She warned me not to touch that
Order	“Sit down”, he ordered us
	He ordered us to sit down
Offer	“I will bring you some coffee”, she offered
	She offered to bring me some coffee
Request	Can you open the door, please? She asked me
	She asked me to open the door