Reported Speech Mixed Advanced Exercises

This advanced exercise (B2-C1) tests complex reported speech structures that go beyond standard tense backshift, including passive voice reporting, conditional transformations, emphatic inversions, and special reporting verbs like suggest, insist, deny, and admit. "The package was delivered yesterday" becomes "He said the package had been delivered the day before" — combining passive backshift with a time expression change in a single sentence.

Conditional structures require careful handling at this level: "If I were you, I would reconsider" can become "She advised me to reconsider," replacing the entire conditional with a simpler reporting verb pattern. Inverted structures return to normal word order: "Never have I seen such beauty" becomes "She said she had never seen such beauty." Special reporting verbs like deny + -ing ("He denied taking it") and admit + -ing ("She admitted making a mistake") add further challenge. This exercise is ideal preparation for Cambridge B2 First key word transformations and C1 Advanced Use of English tasks.