Reporting Back: say vs tell and reported requests for passing on news

Q: What's the difference between say and tell?

When you report speech, tell needs a listener after it and say doesn't : She told me they were hiring , but She said they were hiring . To name the listener after say , add to : He said to me that he was busy. Tell + a person also reports instructions ( She told us to wait ), while say usually comes before exact words. Set phrases such as tell the truth need no listener.

Q: How do you report a question in English?

Report a question with asked and statement word order, without do or did . Yes/no questions take if or whether : Do you need more? becomes He asked if we needed more. Wh- questions keep the question word: When is Ana back? becomes He asked when Ana was back. The question mark goes, and when who is the subject, the word order doesn't change: She asked who was going to taste them.

Q: How do you report a request in English?

Report a request with asked + a person + to + verb : Could you call me back? becomes She asked me to call her back. Orders take told the same way, and a negative puts not before to : She told us not to deliver before ten on Fridays. Offers and promises need no person: He offered to host a cupping. He promised to send his notes.

Q: Do you always change the tense when you report what someone said?

No: backshift follows a past reporting verb such as said or told , and even then a fact that is still true can keep its tense. We can host a cupping becomes He said they could host a cupping , but Lukas said he likes the Kenyan best is fine if he still does. After a present verb, nothing changes: Martin says the samples are in the mail. For a past conversation, backshift is always safe.

Q: Is it "He said me" or "He told me"?

It's He told me , because say can't take a person straight after it: He told me the samples were ready , or He said (to me) that the samples were ready. The reverse mistake, She told that she would call back , needs said or a person after told . In the team chat of Reporting Back , a B2 Business English lesson on edio.ai, She said me… is one of the wrong replies.

Q: What telephone English phrases are useful for messages?

Useful telephone phrases for messages check what you heard, note it and pass it on : Sorry, I didn't catch that. Could you say your last name again? I'll pass on the message. While you listen, jot down who called, when and what they want. If the line breaks up, ask the caller to repeat it; nobody minds. The listening in Reporting Back on edio.ai turns on a date that got lost when a video call froze.

Q: How do you take a message and pass it on?

To take a message, jot down who called, when and what they want , then pass it on in reported speech: A client called at eleven. She said they wanted to double their order. She asked you to call her back this afternoon. Check names and numbers before the caller hangs up, and send the message while it's fresh.

Q: What does "fill someone in" mean?

To fill someone in means to tell them the details they missed : Thanks for covering the call. Fill me in properly. Can you fill me in on the meeting? Colleagues use it after a trip, a day off or a missed meeting. Related phrases for reporting back: the gist (the main idea without the details), word for word (exactly as it was said) and a heads-up (an early warning).

Q: How do I teach say and tell to adult learners?

Start from a real message to pass on , such as a learner's call this week. Learners report it with said , then with told + a person, then add a question and a request: She asked whether… , He asked me to… Keep the typical slips on the board ( said me , told that ). The B2 Business English lesson Reporting Back on edio.ai builds up the same way, from a say-or-tell choice to reporting verbs like offer and remind .

Q: What's good homework for practicing say and tell?

Good homework is an email that reports a call or meeting , since every sentence needs said , told or asked : She told me they were hiring. She asked whether we had received her email. Ask for at least four reporting verbs, one reported question and one request. In Reporting Back , a B2 Business English lesson on edio.ai, a review drill and a memory game check themselves; the email and a recording go to the teacher for review.

This B2 Business English lesson plan teaches say vs tell in reported speech for passing on news, questions and requests at work.

Grammar: Say vs tell (He told me…), backshift after said, time words like the following week, and reported questions and requests: He asked whether…, She asked me to…
Topic: Reporting back on a call covered for a colleague at a fictional coffee roaster in Oregon, with fill someone in, the gist and jot down.
Activities: A call summary email to read, a catch-up to hear, self-checking drills, a chat passing on a client's phone message, a wheel of report-back tasks, and an email and a recording for homework.

What's inside

Chapter 1Warm-up: While You Were Away
- PictureUnlock
- Open a box and discussOpen the boxUnlock
- Study the vocabulary: reporting backVocabularyTry it
- Match the phrases to the situationsMatchUnlock
Chapter 2Reading: The Gist of It
- Read Tom's emailReal-life documentTry it
- True or false? Read the email againTrue or falseUnlock
- Choose the correct answer: what Martin saidQuizUnlock
Chapter 3Listening: Which Thursday?
- Listen to Ana and TomListeningTry it
- Transcript, for the teacherUnlock
- Choose the correct answer: Tom fills Ana inQuizUnlock
Chapter 4Grammar: He Said, She Asked
- Study the scheme: reported speechGrammar schemeTry it
- Choose the correct option: say or tell?Choose the optionUnlock
- Fill in the gaps: backshift Martin's wordsFill in the gapsUnlock
- Fill in the table: report the questions and backshift the verbsFill in the tableTry it
- Drag the words into the gaps: report them a month laterDrag and dropUnlock
- Choose the correct option: reporting verbs and patternsChoose the optionUnlock
Chapter 5Speaking: Pass It On
- Choose the best replyChatTry it
- Spin the wheel and report backSpin the wheelUnlock
Chapter 6Homework: Fill Me In
- Choose the correct option: reported speech reviewChoose the optionUnlock
- Find the matching pairs: phrases and plain EnglishMemory gameUnlock
- Write an email: report a call or meetingWriting, checked by the teacherUnlock
- Record a report of a conversation from your weekSpeaking, checked by the teacherUnlock

Telephone English phrases

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

+7 more with pictures and audio in the lessonMore words

return a call
I didn't catch that
jot down
the gist
a heads-up
word for word
get the wrong idea

Grammar: say vs tell in reported speech

Covering a colleague's call means reporting it later: who said what, what they asked and what they want done. Learners choose between say and tell, move verbs one step back after said, change time words only when the time has changed, and report questions in statement word order and requests with asked + a person + to.

Reported speech

How to pass on what people said, what they asked and what they asked you to do

Say or tell? Check for a person

Tell needs a person after it: Martin told me the samples were ready. Say takes no person, or to + a person: He said (to me) that he was busy. Before someone's exact words, use say: Priya said, "Let's start."

say: no person after it

Martin said (that) the samples were ready.
With a person, add to: He said to me that he was busy.
Before the exact words: Priya said, "Let's start."

tell: always a person after it

Martin told me (that) the samples were ready.
He told Ana about the cupping.
She told us to wait.

Backshift: one step back after said

After said or told, tenses move one step back: are → were, will → would, can → could, have heard → had heard. With says, or for a fact that is still true, the tense can stay: Lukas said he likes the Kenyan best.

Backshift: one step back into the past

Martin's words	Tom's report	What changes
"The samples are ready."	He said the samples were ready.	am / is / are → was / were
"We need an answer."	He said they needed an answer.	present simple → past simple
"I don't know."	He said he didn't know.	don't / doesn't → didn't
"We're planning our orders."	He said they were planning their orders.	am / is / are + -ing → was / were + -ing
"They'll arrive next week."	He said they would arrive the following week.	will → would
"We can host a cupping."	He said they could host a cupping.	can → could
"I've heard about Kade."	He said he had heard about Kade.	have / has done → had done
"We opened a new room."	He said they had opened a new room.	past simple → past perfect (in speech, it often stays)
"I'm going to call Ana."	He said he was going to call Ana.	am / is going to → was / were going to

When you don't need to backshift

With a present reporting verb, keep the tense: Martin says the samples are in the mail. After said, you can also keep it when something is still true: Lukas said he likes the Kenyan best. Backshift is always safe when you report a past conversation.

Next week or the following week?

Time and place words change only if the time or place has changed: tomorrow → the next day, here → there. Martin said next week on a Thursday, so on Monday, Tom reports it as this week: He said they'd arrive this week.

Time and place words

Said	Reported later or somewhere else
today	that day
tomorrow	the next day / the following day
yesterday	the day before / the previous day
next week	the following week
last week	the week before / the previous week
here	there
this / these	that / those

Only when the situation needs it

Change time and place words only if the time or place has changed. On Thursday, Martin said, "The samples will arrive next week." On Monday, Tom tells Ana: He said they'd arrive this week. On the same Thursday, he could still say next week.

Questions, requests and other reporting verbs

Questions take if, whether or a question word, plus statement word order: He asked when Ana was back. Requests and orders take a person + to + the verb: He asked Ana to call him. Offer and promise take to alone: He offered to host a cupping.

Direct	Reported	Pattern
"Do you need more?"	He asked if / whether we needed more.	asked + if / whether + subject + verb
"When is Ana back?"	He asked when Ana was back.	asked + question word + subject + verb: no do / did, no ?
"Who is going to taste them?"	He asked who was going to taste them.	who is the subject, so nothing moves
"Could you call me, Ana?"	He asked Ana to call him.	ask someone to + verb
"Don't worry about the jargon."	He told me not to worry about it.	tell someone (not) to + verb
"I'll send my notes."	He promised to send his notes.	promise to + verb
"Would you like me to host a cupping?"	He offered to host a cupping.	offer to + verb
"Remember to book a room, Tom."	Jess reminded Tom to book a room.	remind someone to + verb
"Spot coffee is already in the warehouse."	Ana explained (to Tom) that spot coffee was already there.	explain (to someone) that …
"We've just opened a cupping room."	He mentioned that they had just opened one.	mention (to someone) that …

Typical mistakes: say, tell and backshift

He said me the samples were ready.
He told me the samples were ready.
Say has no person after it; tell needs one.
She told that she would call back.
She said that she would call back.
Tell needs a person: She told us that…
He explained me the problem.
He explained the problem to me.
Explain something to someone.
When I called Daniel last week, he said he is in a meeting.
When I called Daniel last week, he said he was in a meeting.
The meeting is over, so backshift.

Typical mistakes: questions and requests

She asked me where was the sample.
She asked me where the sample was.
Statement word order, as in Could you tell me where the sample is?
He asked did we need more coffee.
He asked if we needed more coffee.
Yes/no questions: if or whether, and no did.
He asked to me to call him.
He asked me to call him.
Ask someone to do something.
She told me to not worry.
She told me not to worry.
In a reported order, not goes before to.

More lessons on this grammar: Reported speech lessons and exercises

Try the say and tell exercises

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

What's in the lesson

11 auto-checked exercises
3 games
2 teacher-checked tasks
1 real-life document
1 grammar scheme
1 set of word cards
1 audio clip
1 picture
1 transcript

The main objectives of this lesson are to:

pass on news with said, or with told + a person:She told me they were hiring twenty new people.
move the verb one step back after said: We can host a cupping becomes He said they could host a cupping.
report questions and requests: He asked whether we were going to buy more. She asked you to call her back.
write a colleague an email about a call they missed, with the gist, not every word: He offered to host a cupping next month.

Lesson 13 opens Reports, prices and feedback, unit 4 of Business English B2, where learners report back, explain prices, follow expense rules and give feedback. It builds on lesson 4, whose indirect questions (Could you tell me where…?) already used statement word order, and on lesson 7's ask or remind + someone + to. A call covered for an absent colleague is worth little until it's passed on, and passing it on takes reported speech.

The warm-up opens boxes of questions about catching up, taking notes on calls and lost messages, then teaches ten phrases with pictures and audio, from cover for someone to word for word, and matches them to situations. Tom's email sums up a video call with a coffee importer, with a true-or-false check and a quiz on what the importer said. In the AI-voiced listening, Tom fills Ana in, down to a cupping date he missed when the video froze. Five self-checking drills follow the scheme, among them a table that turns questions into reports. In the team chat, students pass on a client's call to a colleague, and a wheel deals out report-back games and role-plays.

Homework opens with a self-checking review and a memory game pairing the phrases with plain English. Then students write an email reporting a call or meeting to a colleague who missed it, and record a report of a conversation from their own week; both go to the teacher for review.

Grammar:: reported speech · say and tell · reported questions · reporting verbs
Topic:: reporting back · calls and messages · passing on information

Teaching tips

Set a gist task before Tom's email: students list what Ana has to do next, then turn each reported sentence back into the importer's exact words.
Run a message chain with in-company groups: one learner gives a three-part phone message, it travels down the line in reported speech, and the last person writes it up so the group can see what changed.
Put the time words on a calendar: write The samples will arrive next week under a Thursday, then ask how Tom reports it on Monday and how it sounds a month later.
One-to-one, ask for a real report: the learner fills you in on a call from their week, and your follow-up questions push them toward He asked whether… and She asked me to…

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The whole course: Business English B2 · A Year at Wrenfield

20 lessons at B2 in American English that follow a year at Wrenfield Coffee Roasters in Portland, Oregon, as founder Claire Morgan and her team win a Dutch hotel contract. Learners network, write emails, run meetings, negotiate, handle complaints and present figures, with one grammar point per lesson.See the course

Unit 1 First contacts
networking, a company story, a business lunch and emails: present tenses, the present perfect, question tags, indirect questions
Unit 2 Meetings and figures
scheduling, sales figures, running a meeting and negotiating: future forms, trends, gerunds and infinitives, conditionals
Unit 3 Problems and growth
a complaint, a late shipment, a launch and hiring: the present perfect continuous, the passive, comparatives, relative clauses
Unit 4 Reports, prices and feedback
reporting back, explaining prices, expenses and feedback: reported speech, linking words, modals of obligation, past modals
1. Lesson 13 · you're hereReporting BackSay vs tell in reported speech
2. Lesson 14Explaining PricesLinking words of contrast, cause and result
3. Lesson 15Travel and Expenses: Can I Claim That?Modals of obligation, prohibition and permission
4. Lesson 16Giving FeedbackShould have, could have and didn't need to
Unit 5 Looking back and ahead
what went wrong, other cultures, an agency and next year: the third and mixed conditionals, past deduction, the causative, the future perfect

Questions about this lesson

What's the difference between say and tell?

When you report speech, tell needs a listener after it and say doesn't: She told me they were hiring, but She said they were hiring. To name the listener after say, add to: He said to me that he was busy. Tell + a person also reports instructions (She told us to wait), while say usually comes before exact words. Set phrases such as tell the truth need no listener.

How do you report a question in English?

Report a question with asked and statement word order, without do or did. Yes/no questions take if or whether: Do you need more? becomes He asked if we needed more. Wh- questions keep the question word: When is Ana back? becomes He asked when Ana was back. The question mark goes, and when who is the subject, the word order doesn't change: She asked who was going to taste them.

How do you report a request in English?

Report a request with asked + a person + to + verb: Could you call me back? becomes She asked me to call her back. Orders take told the same way, and a negative puts not before to: She told us not to deliver before ten on Fridays. Offers and promises need no person: He offered to host a cupping. He promised to send his notes.

Do you always change the tense when you report what someone said?

No: backshift follows a past reporting verb such as said or told, and even then a fact that is still true can keep its tense. We can host a cupping becomes He said they could host a cupping, but Lukas said he likes the Kenyan best is fine if he still does. After a present verb, nothing changes: Martin says the samples are in the mail. For a past conversation, backshift is always safe.

Is it "He said me" or "He told me"?

It's He told me, because say can't take a person straight after it: He told me the samples were ready, or He said (to me) that the samples were ready. The reverse mistake, She told that she would call back, needs said or a person after told. In the team chat of Reporting Back, a B2 Business English lesson on edio.ai, She said me… is one of the wrong replies.

What telephone English phrases are useful for messages?

Useful telephone phrases for messages check what you heard, note it and pass it on: Sorry, I didn't catch that. Could you say your last name again? I'll pass on the message. While you listen, jot down who called, when and what they want. If the line breaks up, ask the caller to repeat it; nobody minds. The listening in Reporting Back on edio.ai turns on a date that got lost when a video call froze.

How do you take a message and pass it on?

To take a message, jot down who called, when and what they want, then pass it on in reported speech: A client called at eleven. She said they wanted to double their order. She asked you to call her back this afternoon. Check names and numbers before the caller hangs up, and send the message while it's fresh.

What does "fill someone in" mean?

To fill someone in means to tell them the details they missed: Thanks for covering the call. Fill me in properly. Can you fill me in on the meeting? Colleagues use it after a trip, a day off or a missed meeting. Related phrases for reporting back: the gist (the main idea without the details), word for word (exactly as it was said) and a heads-up (an early warning).

How do I teach say and tell to adult learners?

Start from a real message to pass on, such as a learner's call this week. Learners report it with said, then with told + a person, then add a question and a request: She asked whether…, He asked me to… Keep the typical slips on the board (said me, told that). The B2 Business English lesson Reporting Back on edio.ai builds up the same way, from a say-or-tell choice to reporting verbs like offer and remind.

What's good homework for practicing say and tell?

Good homework is an email that reports a call or meeting, since every sentence needs said, told or asked: She told me they were hiring. She asked whether we had received her email. Ask for at least four reporting verbs, one reported question and one request. In Reporting Back, a B2 Business English lesson on edio.ai, a review drill and a memory game check themselves; the email and a recording go to the teacher for review.

Are there interactive exercises for say and tell?

Yes: tables and chats that check themselves show at once whether a report is right. This page lets you try four parts of Reporting Back, a B2 Business English lesson on edio.ai, with no account: Tom's email summing up a covered call, his catch-up with Ana, a table that turns eight questions into reports, and a team chat in which students pass on a client's message. The rest stays locked.

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About this lesson

What's inside

Telephone English phrases

Grammar: say vs tell in reported speech

Say or tell? Check for a person

Backshift: one step back after said

Backshift: one step back into the past

Next week or the following week?

Time and place words

Questions, requests and other reporting verbs

Typical mistakes: say, tell and backshift

Typical mistakes: questions and requests

Try the say and tell exercises

What's in the lesson

The main objectives of this lesson are to:

Teaching tips

Teach the whole lesson in edio

Start a free trial

Open the lesson

Teach it live or as homework

The whole course: Business English B2 · A Year at Wrenfield

Unit 1 First contacts

Unit 2 Meetings and figures

Unit 3 Problems and growth

Unit 4 Reports, prices and feedback

Unit 5 Looking back and ahead

Questions about this lesson

Teach this lesson with your students