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Reported speech · CEFR B2 · Confident

Reported orders and requests in English

Orders and requests are reported with "to" plus the plain verb — no tense change at all, because there is no tense to change.

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Try reported orders and requests

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Rebuild this lesson’s reference sentence. Other tasks can have other valid word orders.

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See the reference sentence

He told me not to go.

told / asked + person + to + verb · not to + verb

Read the examples as text

He told me not to go.
The negative goes before "to" and nothing else is needed.

The shape

told / asked + person + to + verb · not to + verb

Report an instruction somebody gave you.

In Hindi

आदेश और अनुरोध "to" और सादी क्रिया से बताए जाते हैं — यहाँ काल बदलता ही नहीं।

CoCap explains every structure in both languages, because a rule you understand in Hindi is a rule you can use in English.

The mistake to fix first

The sentence Indian-English speakers actually produce, and the reason it is wrong.

Commonly said	Correct English
He told me that I should not to go.	He told me not to go. The negative goes before "to" and nothing else is needed.

Commonly said

Correct English

He told me that I should not to go.

He told me not to go.

The negative goes before "to" and nothing else is needed.

Learn these first

These come first. The rest of this makes more sense once they are automatic.

Reported speechB2Tell somebody what another person said

Easy to confuse with

Close enough to be mixed up with this one. Knowing the difference is most of knowing either.

want somebody to do somethingB1Say what you want somebody else to do

Questions people ask

How do I use Reported orders and requests?: Orders and requests are reported with "to" plus the plain verb — no tense change at all, because there is no tense to change. In practice: report an instruction somebody gave you.
What is the pattern for Reported orders and requests?: told / asked + person + to + verb · not to + verb.
Which mistake should I avoid with Reported orders and requests?: Saying “He told me that I should not to go.” instead of “He told me not to go.”. The negative goes before "to" and nothing else is needed.

Where reported orders and requests fits

Where this structure sits in the ladder, and what surrounds it.

Reported orders and requests is a CEFR B2 structure — the confident band — and it belongs to reported speech. CoCap’s syllabus files every structure this way so you can learn in order instead of jumping between whatever a search happened to return.

Reading it is not the same as saying it.

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Commonly said	Correct English
He told me that I should not to go.	He told me not to go. The negative goes before "to" and nothing else is needed.

Commonly said

Correct English

He told me that I should not to go.

He told me not to go.

The negative goes before "to" and nothing else is needed.