The guide to Reported Speech (4: Imperatives)

You will probably need to read part one, part two and part three of this 'Guide to Reported Speech' before continuing...

In this entry, we will focus on how to make reported speech from imperatives:

Reporting verbs in commands and requests:

Commands: TELL
Mary told Sam to drive slowly.

Requests: ASK
Mary asked Sam not to speak Spanish..

Two types of commands and requests:

AFFIRMATIVE COMMANDS AND REQUESTS

DS: Mary told Sam, 'Drive slowly!'

[REPORTING VERB] + ['TO'] + [INFINITIVE]
RS: Mary told Sam to drive slowly. 

NEGATIVE COMMANDS AND REQUESTS

DS: Mary told Sam, 'Don't speak Spanish!'

[REPORTING VERB] + ['NOT TO'] + [INFINITIVE]
RS: Mary told Sam not to speak Spanish..

There are more entries about Reported Speech.

Dani.