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Can you learn a new skill at 70? Reported requests and commands with ask and tell

This B1 ESL lesson plan teaches reported commands and requests with ask and tell, through a Dallas study of learners aged 60 to 90.

Grammar
Ask or tell + person + to + base form (She asked us to wait.), not to for a negative (She told me not to rush.) and the object words me, him, her, us, them.
Topic
Learning new skills later in life, from a UT Dallas study to a beginners' quilting class, with words such as thread, spool and comfort zone.
Activities
Riley's story, a quilting class and a listener's message, self-checking drills, a chat about a missed class and open-box questions.

What's inside

  1. Chapter 1Warm-up: never too old to learn?

    • PictureUnlock
    • Spin the wheel and answerSpin the wheelUnlock
    • Study the words: learning a new skillVocabularyTry it
    • Look at the pictures and choose the wordChoose by pictureUnlock

  2. Chapter 2Let's read: back to class at 70

    • Look at the photo: a class for beginnersPictureUnlock
    • Read Riley's story on the show's websiteArticleUnlock
    • Read and mark true or falseTrue or falseUnlock
    • Read again and choose the correct answerQuizUnlock

  3. Chapter 3Let's listen: Darius picks up a needle

    • Listen to Darius and CassidyListeningTry it
    • Transcript, for the teacherUnlock
    • Listen and choose the correct answerQuizUnlock
    • Listen to the Listener's Take: Alec's messageListeningUnlock
    • Transcript, for the teacherUnlock
    • Listen and mark true or falseTrue or falseUnlock

  4. Chapter 4Grammar: She told me not to rush!

    • Study the scheme: She asked us to waitGrammar schemeTry it
    • Choose the correct optionChoose the optionUnlock
    • Fill in the gaps: person + (not) to + verbFill in the gapsTry it
    • Fill in the table: report the photographer's wordsFill in the tableUnlock
    • Choose the correct answer: which sentence is correct?QuizUnlock
    • Put the words in the correct orderUnjumbleUnlock

  5. Chapter 5Let's talk: what did the teacher say?

    • Choose the right replies: what did the teacher say?ChatTry it
    • Open a box and answerOpen the boxUnlock

  6. Chapter 6Homework

    • Match the words and the meaningsMatchUnlock
    • Unscramble the wordsAnagramUnlock
    • Fill in the gaps with the lesson's wordsFill in the gapsUnlock
    • Find the matching pairs: words and meaningsMemory gameUnlock
    • Choose the correct option: new sentencesChoose the optionUnlock
    • Fill in the gaps: person + (not) to + verbFill in the gapsUnlock
    • Choose the correct answer: which report is right?QuizUnlock
    • Put the words in the correct orderUnjumbleUnlock
    • Choose the correct option: Eleanor's class noticeChoose the optionUnlock
    • Drag the words into the gaps: Darius's messageDrag and dropUnlock

32 exercises in 6 chapters. Start a 7-day free trial to open all of them, copy any part into your own lessons, and teach the lesson live.

Vocabulary

12 words and phrases from the lesson, each with a picture and audio in edio.

+9 more with pictures and audio in the lessonMore words

  • fabric
  • scissors
  • spool
  • sewing machine
  • photography
  • instructor
  • challenge
  • strip mall
  • comfort zone

Grammar: reported requests and commands

To pass on what someone asked or told a person to do, English uses ask or tell, the person, then to + the base form: She asked us to wait. In a quilting class full of instructions, learners turn the teacher's words into a report, add not for negatives, pick the right object word and leave out said them.

She asked us to wait. She told me not to rush!

To report a request or a command, use ask / tell + person + to + base form. For a negative, use not to.

From their words to your report

Start from the speaker's words and keep the base verb: “Measure twice.” → She told me to measure twice. “Please wait.” → She asked us to wait. The order is fixed: verb, person, to, base form.

From their words to your report

They saidYou report
“Please wait.”She asked us to wait.
“Could you fold the fabric, please?”She asked me to fold the fabric.
“Measure twice.”She told me to measure twice.
“Don't rush.”She told me not to rush.
“Please don't use the flash.”He asked them not to use the flash.
“Thread the needle, Darius.”Cassidy told Darius to thread the needle.

The pattern

ask / tellperson(not) tobase form

The teacher told us to bring scissors.

My grandma asked me not to go too fast.

The researchers asked the volunteers to spend about 15 hours a week on their activity.

Ask for a request, tell for an instruction

Ask … to reports a polite request: “Could you help me?” → He asked me to help him. Tell … to reports an instruction or an order: “Don't touch it!” → He told me not to touch it.

ask … to: a polite request

  • “Please wait.” → She asked us to wait.
  • “Could you help me?” → He asked me to help him.

tell … to: an instruction or an order

  • “Measure twice.” → She told me to measure twice.
  • “Don't touch it!” → He told me not to touch it.

Not to for a negative

For a negative, not goes right before to: She told me not to rush, not told me don't rush. No that clause follows either: asked them to learn, not asked them that they learn. People also say to not rush, but not to is the usual form.

to + base form: no that, no don't

After ask or tell + person, use to + base form: She asked them to learn a new skill. Not: asked them learn, not: asked them that they learn. For a negative, put not before to: She told me not to rush (not: told me don't rush). You'll also hear “to not rush,” but not to is the usual form.

The object word after ask and tell

The person comes straight after ask or tell, as me, you, him, her, it, us or them: Cassidy asked him to fold the fabric. She told them not to use the flash. A name works the same way: Eleanor told Darius not to give up.

Every person: the word after ask / tell

PersonAfter ask / tellExample
ImeCassidy told me to wait.
youyouShe asked you to fold the fabric.
hehimShe told him not to rush.
sheherHe asked her to zoom in.
ititWe told it to sit. (the dog)
weusThe teacher asked us to bring scissors.
theythemShe told them not to use the flash.

In Cassidy's class and in Dallas

  • Riley asked Darius to bring back a quilt square.
  • Cassidy asked him to fold the fabric in half.
  • She told him not to rush.
  • Eleanor told him not to give up.
  • Alec's grandma asked him to show her how to zoom in.
  • The researchers asked a home group to choose easy activities.

Tell, say, or ask if?

Tell takes the person with no to before it: told them, not told to them. Say can't take a person in this pattern, so She said them to wait is wrong. And ask … if is a question: She asked me if I was tired.

tell, say and ask

tell takes the person right after it: She told them to wait (not: told to them). say doesn't take a person in this pattern: not: She said them to wait. And ask … to is a request, but ask … if is a question: She asked me to sit down. / She asked me if I was tired.

Common mistakes

  • She asked them learn a new skill.

    She asked them to learn a new skill.

    ask + person + to + base form

  • He told to them to wait.

    He told them to wait.

    tell + person, with no to before the person

  • She said them to wait.

    She told them to wait.

    say doesn't take a person here: use tell

  • He told me don't rush.

    He told me not to rush.

    a negative: not to + base form

More lessons on this grammar: Reported speech lessons and exercises

Try the reported commands exercises

Try them yourself: these are the same exercises your students do in edio.

More exercises

What's in the lesson

  • 17 auto-checked exercises
  • 6 games
  • 1 article
  • 1 grammar scheme
  • 1 set of word cards
  • 2 audio clips
  • 2 pictures
  • 2 transcripts

The main objectives of this lesson are to:

  • report a request with ask + person + to: “Please fold the fabric.” → Cassidy asked Darius to fold the fabric.
  • report an instruction with tell: “Measure twice.” → She told me to measure twice.
  • report a negative with not to: Eleanor told him not to give up, not told him don't give up
  • put the right object word after ask and tell: She told them not to use the flash. He asked her to zoom in.
  • pass on a teacher's instructions to a classmate who missed class: She asked us to bring our best tree photo on a flash drive.

Lesson 16 closes Memory and learning, unit 4 of English B1.2 · Changemakers. After reported statements (lessons 13 and 14) and questions (lesson 15), it reports what people asked or told others to do. The original words are imperatives, as in A1.1 lesson 27 and A1.2 lesson 20, and person + to follows allow from B1.1 lesson 16. Lesson 17 opens the next unit with adverbs of degree. A beginners' class runs on instructions worth passing on.

Students spin a wheel of questions about learning, hobbies and age, then learn twelve words, from thread and fold to strip mall and comfort zone, with pictures and audio. They read Riley's story on the UT Dallas study, whose classroom was a strip-mall storefront, then hear Darius make his first quilt square with Cassidy, a teacher, and Alec, a listener from Texas, tell how he taught his grandma to use her phone camera, both AI-voiced. The grammar chapter has the scheme and five self-checking drills, among them a table of a photographer's words for every person. In the speaking chapter, students tell Hollis what he missed in photo class, then open boxes about rules, teachers and new skills.

All ten homework tasks check themselves: four for the words, a choice of forms, person + (not) to + verb gaps, a quiz on which report is right, word order, Eleanor's class notice with options to choose and Darius's message to the hosts with words to drag in.

Grammar:
reported requests and commands · ask + person + to · tell + person + to · told me not to
Topic:
learning at any age · older learners · memory · UT Dallas · quilting · digital photography · Stories That Travel

Teaching tips

  • Warm up with Simon says: give quick commands (Touch your nose. Don't smile.), then ask one student what you told the class to do: You told us to touch our noses.
  • Before Riley's story, take a vote: in the study, did people do better on memory tests after learning photography or after games and museum trips? The story has the answer: the photography groups showed the clearest gains.
  • Pause the quilting class after each step and ask What did Cassidy ask him to do? Students report it: She asked him to fold the fabric in half. She told him not to rush.
  • Send one student out of the room, give the class three instructions, then ask a classmate to report them when the student comes back, as in the chat with Hollis: She told us to…

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The whole course: English B1.2 · Changemakers

32 lessons for adults at B1 in American English, about people and ideas that changed things: start-ups, future cities, food, memory, customs, art, volunteers and adventure. The podcast team of English B1.1 is back for a season called Changemakers. Learners use the second conditional, the passive, reported speech, the past perfect, relative clauses and verb patterns, and the practice exercises check themselves.See the course

  1. Unit 1 Start-up stories

    the second conditional, If I were you, the first vs the second conditional, also, too, as well and besides

    1. Lesson 1The garage where Silicon Valley beganThe second conditional for imagined situations
    2. Lesson 2Would you sell lemonade to save bees?Second conditional questions and If I were you
    3. Lesson 3Pitch it to the Sharks!First vs second conditional: a real plan or a dream?
    4. Lesson 4A bakery that hires anyone?Adding ideas: also, too, as well, either and besides

  2. Unit 2 Cities of tomorrow

    the passive in the present simple and the past simple, with modals, and in the present perfect and present continuous

    1. Lesson 5Can you cross a city without going outside?The present simple passive
    2. Lesson 6A park on top of a freeway?The past simple passive
    3. Lesson 7Can a desert city catch the rain?The passive with modals
    4. Lesson 8Can an old railroad become a park?The present perfect and present continuous passive

  3. Unit 3 Food for the future

    comparative and superlative adverbs, the future passive, verbs with prepositions, phrasal verbs with up, away and out

    1. Lesson 9Why did Carver tell farmers to plant peanuts?Comparative and superlative adverbs
    2. Lesson 10Lettuce from space?The future passive with will be
    3. Lesson 11Why do corn, beans and squash grow together?Verbs with dependent prepositions
    4. Lesson 12What happens to dining-hall leftovers?Phrasal verbs with up, away and out

  4. Unit 4 Memory and learning

    reported statements with say and tell, tense changes, time and place words, reported questions, requests and commands

    1. Lesson 13Can you train your memory?Reported statements with say and tell
    2. Lesson 14He got better but never rememberedReported statements about the past
    3. Lesson 15Can a TV show teach the alphabet?Reported questions
    4. Lesson 16 · you're hereCan you learn a new skill at 70?Reported requests and commands

  5. Unit 5 Customs and manners

    degree adverbs such as quite and pretty, the past perfect, the past perfect vs the past simple, make vs do

    1. Lesson 17To tip or not to tip?Adverbs of degree before adjectives and adverbs
    2. Lesson 18They'd already started without me!The past perfect: had + past participle
    3. Lesson 19What should you do at a powwow?Past perfect vs past simple
    4. Lesson 20How do you accept a lei?Make vs do: collocations to learn

  6. Unit 6 Art and design

    relative clauses with whose, non-defining relative clauses, relative clauses without a pronoun, when and why

    1. Lesson 21Art that moves in the airRelative clauses with whose
    2. Lesson 22A heart that sells a stateNon-defining relative clauses
    3. Lesson 23What would you paint on a city wall?Relative clauses without who, which or that
    4. Lesson 24Why does the sign say Hollywood?Relative adverbs: when, why and where

  7. Unit 7 Volunteers and changemakers

    verb + -ing or to, -ing as a subject and after prepositions, stop, remember, try and forget, prefer and would rather

    1. Lesson 25A day on, not a day off?Verb + -ing or verb + to
    2. Lesson 26The house that welcomed a neighborhoodGerunds as subjects and after prepositions
    3. Lesson 27A walk that lasted 24 hoursStop, remember, forget and try + to or -ing
    4. Lesson 28Head, heart, hands and healthPrefer, would rather and would prefer

  8. Unit 8 Adventure and challenge

    possessive 's vs of, must and can't for deduction, might, may and could for possibility, the meanings of get

    1. Lesson 29Could you climb a fourteener?Possessive 's, s' or of
    2. Lesson 30It must be here somewhere!Must and can't for deduction
    3. Lesson 31How did Houdini get out?Might, may and could for possibility
    4. Lesson 32A capital with no road inThe meanings of get

Questions about this lesson

What are reported commands?
Reported commands pass on an order or a request: what someone told or asked a person to do. The speaker's own words might be “Don't rush.” The report uses tell or ask + person + (not) to + verb: She told me not to rush. The B1 lesson Can you learn a new skill at 70? on edio.ai teaches them with a quilting class and a study of older learners.
How do you report a command or a request in English?
Use tell or ask, the person, then to + base form: “Thread the needle, Darius.” → Cassidy told Darius to thread the needle. “Could you fold the fabric, please?” → She asked me to fold the fabric. Please and the question form disappear, and the verb after to never changes, whatever the tense of told or asked.
What are some examples of reported commands?
From Can you learn a new skill at 70?: Riley asked Darius to bring back a quilt square. Cassidy asked him to fold the fabric in half. Eleanor told him not to give up. Alec's grandma asked him to show her how to zoom in. The researchers asked the volunteers to spend about 15 hours a week on their activity. Each one keeps the base verb after to.
What's the difference between ask and tell in reported speech?
Use ask for requests and tell for instructions or orders. “Please wait.” → She asked us to wait. “Measure twice.” → She told me to measure twice. Both take the person straight after them. Ask has a second pattern for questions, ask … if: She asked me if I was tired. A compare block in Can you learn a new skill at 70? on edio.ai shows both sides.
Is it "told me not to rush" or "told me don't rush"?
It's told me not to rush: not goes before to, and don't stays in the original words. The same goes for requests: “Please don't use the flash.” → He asked them not to use the flash. Other slips to catch are She said them to wait (use told), He told to them and She asked them learn. Told me to not rush is common too, but not to is the usual form.
Does learning a new skill help memory in older adults?
In one study, the people who learned a hard new skill did better. Published in 2013 and led by Denise Park at UT Dallas, it followed 221 people aged 60 to 90 for three months. Some learned digital photography, some quilting, some both; others did easy or social activities. The skill groups did better on memory tests, the photography groups most clearly. The study did not show that hobbies stop memory loss.
What did the researchers in the Dallas study ask volunteers to do?
They asked the volunteers to spend about 15 hours a week on their activity for three months. They told a social group to spend that time at the center playing games, cooking and going on museum trips, and asked a home group to choose easy activities such as music, videos and crossword puzzles. The classroom was a storefront in a Dallas strip mall, as Riley's story in Can you learn a new skill at 70? explains.
How do I teach reported commands to B1 students?
Give real instructions first, then ask students to report them: What did I tell you to do? Start with tell and plain orders, add ask for polite requests, then negatives with not to. Can you learn a new skill at 70? on edio.ai moves from Riley's story and Darius's quilting class to the scheme, five self-checking drills and a chat that passes on a teacher's words.
What's a good game for practicing reported commands?
Simon says with a report at the end is quick: after each round, one player says what Simon told everyone to do. The open boxes in Can you learn a new skill at 70? on edio.ai add a pair game: one student gives the other a funny instruction, and the partner reports it, starting You told me to… Other boxes ask what parents and coaches told students to do.
What's good homework for reported commands?
Set original words to turn into reports: “Don't touch the paintings.” becomes The guide told them not to touch the paintings. Gaps like this are one of ten self-checking homework tasks in Can you learn a new skill at 70? on edio.ai, along with a quiz on which report is right, a class notice from Eleanor and Darius's message about his first quilt square.
How do you practice reported commands one-to-one?
Swap the roles of teacher and messenger: the teacher gives three instructions for a made-up class, and the student passes them on to an imagined classmate. The chat in Can you learn a new skill at 70? on edio.ai needs no partner: Hollis missed photo class, the student tells him what the teacher said, and each wrong reply has a slip such as She said us to.
Are there interactive exercises for reported commands?
Yes: a gap-fill and a chat that correct every answer. Without an account, this page plays three parts of Can you learn a new skill at 70?, a B1 lesson on edio.ai: Darius's quilting class with Cassidy, a gap-fill of person + (not) to + verb and the chat with Hollis about a missed photo class. The word cards and the scheme are on the page; the full lesson needs an account.
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