REPORTED SPEECH : REPORTING SUGGESTIONS

REPORTED SPEECH : REPORTING SUGGESTIONS

Suggestions can be reported as follows:

A. Suggest + should = to suggest that someone should do something

B. Suggest + Gerund = to suggest doing something

C. Suggest + possessive adjective + gerund = to suggest

(my / your / his / her…) doing something

D. Suggest + Simple Past = to suggest that someone did something

1. "Why don't you go home?"

He suggested that I should go home.

He suggested that I went home.

He suggested going home.

He suggested my going home

2. "Why don't we go to Paris for our holidays?"

I suggested going to Paris for our holidays.

I suggested our going to Paris for our holidays.

I suggested that we should go to Paris for our holidays.

I suggested that we went to Paris for our holidays.

3. He said, “Let’s go to the cinema.”

He suggested going to the cinema.

He suggested we went to cinema.

He suggested we should go to the cinema.

He suggested our going to the cinema.

4. When “let’s” is used in the negative, in most cases it is

reported as follows:

“Let’s not say anything about it,” he said.

He suggested not saying anything about it.

OR

He suggested saying nothing about it.

5. “Shall we meet at the theatre?”

He suggested we should meet at the theatre.

He suggested meeting at the theatre.

He suggested our meeting at the theatre.

He suggested we met at the theatre.


6. “How about” and “what about” introduce a suggestion and are

then reported by “suggest + gerund”.

“How about flying to Dakar?” she said.

She suggested flying to Dakar.

“What about having a drink?” I said.

I suggested having a drink.

7. “Why not” can be reported by “suggest + gerund”.

“Why not go to the beach?” he said

He suggested going to the beach.