The Blackwood Files
An advanced reported speech mystery
Reported Speech Mystery
How to Use This Interactive Worksheet
This is not a worksheet where every answer is practically revealed before you begin. The aim is to make you think like a careful English user: identify the speaker, understand the listener, follow the meaning, and then decide how the speech should be reported.
Type your answers directly into the boxes. When you finish, use the buttons near the end to download your typed work, save a browser draft, or print the completed worksheet.
Important: Some tasks are deliberately open-ended. There may be more than one grammatically acceptable answer. Accuracy of meaning, perspective and context matters just as much as grammatical form.
Case File 001 — The Night of the Blackwood Diamond
At exactly 11:58 p.m., the lights went out at Blackwood Manor.
Thirty seconds later, a window shattered.
At 12:01 a.m., the priceless Blackwood Diamond disappeared.
At 12:03, someone screamed.
At 12:05, the police arrived.
Seven people were inside the mansion.
Every one of them claimed to know nothing.
Unfortunately for them, Detective Eleanor Hart discovered a notebook containing fragments of their conversations.
Your task is to reconstruct what happened using reported speech.
There is no formula that will solve every sentence.
Some speakers are lying.
Some are hiding something.
Some are in love.
And at least one person appears to have been more concerned about their hairstyle than the robbery.
The Fragments
Read the conversation carefully.
Oliver: “I saw you near the library, Grace.”
Grace: “You couldn't have seen me. You were upstairs.”
Oliver: “I wasn't upstairs when you think I was.”
Grace: “Then where were you?”
Oliver: “That depends on what you already know.”
Task 1
Rewrite the exchange as part of Detective Hart's written account.
Choose your reporting verbs carefully. Do not convert every line mechanically.
The Locked Library
Detective Hart discovered Daniel hiding behind a curtain.
Eleanor: “Why are you hiding?”
Daniel: “I'm not hiding.”
Eleanor: “You're standing behind a curtain.”
Daniel: “That's not evidence.”
Eleanor: “You have the library key in your pocket.”
Daniel: “That is extremely unfortunate.”
Eleanor: “Where did you get it?”
Daniel: “I found it.”
Eleanor: “Where?”
Daniel: “On the floor.”
Eleanor: “Whose floor?”
Daniel: “The library floor.”
Task 2
Turn the interrogation into a coherent section of a detective's report.
Do not convert each line mechanically.
Something More Complicated
Eleanor found Emma and William arguing in the conservatory.
Emma: “You promised me you wouldn't tell anyone.”
William: “I promised I wouldn't tell the police.”
Emma: “That's not what you said.”
William: “It is exactly what I said.”
Emma: “You know perfectly well what I meant.”
William: “And you know perfectly well that I couldn't keep this secret forever.”
Task 3
Report the conversation from Eleanor's perspective.
Then explain what Eleanor can safely conclude from the exchange.
What can Eleanor actually know?
The Unexpected Confession
Eleanor questioned Sophie.
Eleanor: “Did William tell you about the diamond?”
Sophie: “No.”
Eleanor: “Did Emma?”
Sophie: “She told me that she trusted him.”
Eleanor: “Did she say why?”
Sophie: “She said that he had saved her once.”
Eleanor: “When?”
Sophie: “She wouldn't tell me.”
Eleanor: “And you believed her?”
Sophie: “I believed that she believed him.”
Task 4
Rewrite the conversation entirely as reported speech.
Think Carefully
Sophie believed Emma.
Sophie believed that Emma believed William.
Explain the difference between these two statements.
The Rooftop
At 12:31, Oliver was seen running across the roof.
Eleanor: “Stop!”
Oliver: “If I stop, we're all finished!”
Eleanor: “Come back here!”
Oliver: “I can't!”
Eleanor: “Why not?”
Oliver pointed towards the opposite building.
Oliver: “Because someone is waiting for me.”
Then he jumped.
Fortunately, there was an emergency ladder beneath him.
Unfortunately, he landed directly on a police car.
Task 5
Rewrite the entire scene in reported speech. Keep the action and urgency alive.
The Note
Eleanor found a note underneath the piano.
“You think you know who stole the diamond. You are wrong. Ask William what Grace told him. Then ask Grace what Oliver told her. Finally, ask Oliver what Sophie told him.”
Task 6A
Report the contents of the note.
Task 6B — The Pronoun Chain
Consider:
Grace → William
Oliver → Grace
Sophie → Oliver
Create your own three-layer chain of reported speech.
The Dinner Table
The suspects were brought together.
Daniel: “I know who took the diamond.”
Emma: “Then why haven't you told the police?”
Daniel: “Because the police already know.”
Eleanor: “We certainly don't.”
Daniel: “Then perhaps you should ask the right person.”
William: “Don't look at me.”
Grace: “Nobody was looking at you.”
William: “You were.”
Grace: “I wasn't.”
William: “You were five seconds ago.”
Grace: “I was looking at the clock.”
William: “The clock is behind me.”
Grace: “Exactly.”
Task 7
Rewrite the exchange as reported speech. Your version should preserve the comic timing and suspicion.
The Romantic Interruption
William approached Emma.
William: “I never wanted you involved in this.”
Emma: “You should have told me.”
William: “I was trying to protect you.”
Emma: “You don't get to decide what happens to me.”
William: “I know.”
Emma: “Then why did you lie?”
William hesitated.
William: “Because I was afraid you'd leave.”
Emma stared at him.
Emma: “You idiot.”
William: “Is that a bad sign?”
Emma: “I'm still deciding.”
Task 8
Report the scene.
Preserve the emotional ambiguity.
Do not make Emma's feelings more definite than they actually are.
Two Versions of the Truth
Task 9A
Write William's account of the previous conversation using reported speech.
Task 9B
Now write the same conversation from Emma's perspective.
Think
How can both accounts be grammatically correct while creating different impressions?
The Interrogation
Eleanor: “Where were you when the lights went out?”
Grace: “In the ballroom.”
Eleanor: “Who was with you?”
Grace: “No one.”
Eleanor: “Oliver says he saw you.”
Grace: “Oliver sees whatever he wants to see.”
Eleanor: “Did you enter the library?”
Grace: “Not while the lights were on.”
Eleanor paused.
Eleanor: “That wasn't my question.”
Grace smiled.
Grace: “I know.”
Task 10
Write Eleanor's report.
The Ambiguity
Which sentence creates the greatest ambiguity?
Explain your interpretation.
Reporting Verb Surgery
Rewrite each sentence in reported speech. Choose the reporting verbs yourself.
11.1
“I didn't do it,” Daniel said.
11.2
“You need to leave now,” Emma said.
11.3
“Please don't tell anyone,” Grace said.
11.4
“Let's check the west wing,” Oliver said.
11.5
“You stole it,” William said.
11.6
“I swear I'll come back,” Sophie said.
11.7
“Where were you?” Eleanor said.
11.8
“Did you see him?” Grace said.
11.9
“I can't explain this,” Daniel said.
11.10
“Fine. I broke the window,” Oliver said.
The Pronoun Labyrinth
Emma said to William: “I told Grace that you had followed me.”
A — Eleanor
B — Grace
C — William
D — Emma
E — An Outside Journalist
Analysis
Explain which changes are caused by grammar and which are caused by perspective.
The False Statement
Oliver told Eleanor that he had seen Grace.
Grace told Eleanor that Oliver had followed her.
Eleanor told William that Grace had accused him.
William told Emma that Eleanor had questioned him.
Now imagine each statement being passed through another person.
Create three different chains of reported speech.
Chain One
Chain Two
Chain Three
The Final Night
At 12:47, the mansion lost power again.
Someone ran down the eastern corridor.
Someone else locked the front door.
A glass shattered.
A car engine started.
Eleanor found William outside.
Eleanor: “Where is Emma?”
William: “I thought she was with you.”
Eleanor: “She wasn't.”
William: “Then we have a problem.”
Eleanor: “Where is the diamond?”
William looked towards the road.
William: “You really don't want to know.”
Eleanor: “Tell me.”
William: “Not here.”
A car disappeared into the darkness.
William whispered: “She took it.”
Eleanor asked: “Who?”
William did not answer.
Task 14
Rewrite the entire scene as a dramatic detective report using only reported speech.
Do not resolve the final mystery for the reader.
Solve the Blackwood Files
Write a 350–500 word reconstruction of the entire case.
Your reconstruction must use reported speech throughout.
You decide:
- which reporting verbs to use;
- where to combine sentences;
- where tense changes are necessary;
- how pronouns should change;
- how much uncertainty to preserve;
- how the detective should interpret conflicting accounts.
There is deliberately no single obvious formula for this task.
Who Stole the Diamond?
There is deliberately no single obvious answer.
Using the evidence in the case, write your theory.
Your explanation must use reported speech.
Detective's Final Checklist
Grammar
- I removed inverted commas where appropriate.
- I checked every pronoun according to meaning.
- I checked the relationship between speaker and listener.
- I handled reported questions correctly.
- I handled commands and requests correctly.
- I checked tense changes carefully.
- I did not change the meaning accidentally.
Style
- I varied my reporting verbs.
- I avoided repetitive sentence patterns.
- My report still sounds like a mystery.
- I preserved uncertainty where the evidence is uncertain.
- I did not invent information.
- My reported speech sounds natural rather than mechanical.
Final Warning
Do not assume that every direct-speech sentence has only one possible reported-speech version.
A strong answer depends on:
speaker + listener + context + meaning + perspective.
The detective who understands those five things solves the case.
The detective who simply changes I → he gets fired.
Answer Key & Expert Check
Stop here if you are still solving the case.
The answer key intentionally appears after the complete worksheet. For open-ended tasks, the examples below are model answers, not the only possible correct answers.
Task 1 — Model Answer
Oliver told Eleanor that he had seen Grace near the library. Grace replied that Oliver could not have seen her because he had been upstairs. Oliver explained that he had not been upstairs at the time Grace assumed he had been. Grace then asked where he had been, and Oliver replied that it depended on what she already knew.
Check: The important issue is not simply changing I to he. The writer must maintain who said what and whose perspective the report represents.
Task 2 — Model Answer
Eleanor asked Daniel why he was hiding. Daniel denied that he was hiding. Eleanor pointed out that he was standing behind a curtain. Daniel argued that this was not evidence. Eleanor then told him that he had the library key in his pocket. Daniel admitted that this was extremely unfortunate. When Eleanor asked where he had obtained the key, Daniel claimed that he had found it on the floor. Eleanor asked which floor he meant, and Daniel clarified that he meant the library floor.
Check: A strong answer varies reporting verbs such as asked, denied, pointed out, argued, told, admitted, claimed and clarified.
Task 3 — Model Answer + Interpretation
Eleanor reported that Emma had accused William of promising not to tell anyone, while William maintained that he had only promised not to tell the police. Emma insisted that this was not what he had originally said. William maintained that it was exactly what he had said. Emma suggested that William knew what she had meant, while William replied that Emma knew he could not keep the secret forever.
What Eleanor can safely conclude: Emma and William were discussing a secret, William had made some kind of promise concerning it, and Emma believed that William had interpreted or remembered the promise differently from her. Eleanor cannot automatically conclude what the secret was or who was guilty.
Task 4 — Model Answer + Meaning Check
Eleanor asked Sophie whether William had told her about the diamond. Sophie said that he had not. Eleanor then asked whether Emma had told her, and Sophie explained that Emma had told her that she trusted William. When Eleanor asked why, Sophie said that Emma had explained that William had saved her once. Eleanor asked when this had happened, but Sophie replied that Emma had refused to tell her. Eleanor then asked whether Sophie had believed Emma, and Sophie clarified that she had believed that Emma believed William.
Meaning: “Sophie believed Emma” means Sophie accepted or trusted what Emma said. “Sophie believed that Emma believed William” is one level more indirect: Sophie is reporting her belief about Emma's belief in William. It does not necessarily mean Sophie herself trusted William.
Task 5 — Model Answer
Eleanor ordered Oliver to stop, but Oliver warned that if he stopped, they would all be finished. Eleanor commanded him to come back, but Oliver insisted that he could not. When Eleanor demanded to know why, Oliver pointed towards the opposite building and explained that someone was waiting for him. He then jumped from the roof. Fortunately, an emergency ladder was beneath him, although he landed directly on a police car.
Check: The exact reporting verbs may differ. The answer should preserve the sequence, urgency and conditional meaning.
Task 6A — Model Answer
The note warned Eleanor that she thought she knew who had stolen the diamond but that she was wrong. It instructed her to ask William what Grace had told him, then to ask Grace what Oliver had told her, and finally to ask Oliver what Sophie had told him.
Task 6B — What to Check
There is no single required answer. A valid three-layer chain should preserve the identity of the original speaker at every stage.
Example: Grace told William that Oliver had told her that Sophie had told him that...
The important skill is tracking perspective rather than blindly changing pronouns.
Task 7 — Model Answer
Daniel announced that he knew who had taken the diamond. Emma asked why he had not told the police, and Daniel replied that the police already knew. Eleanor objected that they certainly did not, while Daniel suggested that she should ask the right person. William told everyone not to look at him. Grace pointed out that nobody had been looking at him, but William insisted that she had. Grace denied it, although William claimed that she had been looking at him five seconds earlier. Grace explained that she had been looking at the clock. William pointed out that the clock was behind him, to which Grace replied, with suspicious precision, that this was exactly why she had been looking at it.
Style goal: Preserve the joke. “Exactly” is funny because Grace's explanation creates more suspicion rather than less.
Task 8 — Model Answer
William told Emma that he had never wanted her involved in the situation. Emma said that he should have told her, but William explained that he had been trying to protect her. Emma objected that he did not get to decide what happened to her. William acknowledged this and, when she asked why he had lied, explained that he had been afraid she would leave. Emma called him an idiot. William asked whether that was a bad sign, and Emma replied that she was still deciding.
Important: Emma's final statement should not be transformed into a definite declaration of love or rejection. The ambiguity is part of the meaning.
Task 9 — Perspective Check
Both accounts can be grammatically correct because reported speech can preserve the same underlying events while foregrounding different interpretations.
William's perspective: William could report that he had tried to protect Emma and that he had lied because he had been afraid she would leave him.
Emma's perspective: Emma could report that William had decided what was best for her without asking her and that he had lied while claiming to protect her.
The grammar can remain correct while word choice changes the reader's impression. Reporting verbs and evaluative language can influence tone.
Task 10 — Model Answer
Eleanor asked Grace where she had been when the lights went out. Grace replied that she had been in the ballroom and added that nobody had been with her. Eleanor pointed out that Oliver claimed to have seen her. Grace dismissed Oliver's statement by suggesting that he saw whatever he wanted to see. When Eleanor asked whether Grace had entered the library, Grace replied that she had not done so while the lights were on. Eleanor pointed out that this had not been her question. Grace smiled and admitted that she knew.
Ambiguity: “Not while the lights were on” strongly implies that Grace may have entered the library after the lights went out, but it does not explicitly prove that she did.
Part 11 — Reporting Verb Surgery
- Daniel denied that he had done it.
- Emma told him that he needed to leave then.
- Grace asked them not to tell anyone.
- Oliver suggested that they check the west wing.
- William accused him/her of stealing it.
- Sophie swore that she would come back.
- Eleanor asked where he/she had been.
- Grace asked whether he/she had seen him.
- Daniel said that he could not explain that.
- Oliver admitted that he had broken the window.
Note: Several answers can be correct because the appropriate pronoun depends on the actual listener and reporting context. In 11.5 and 11.7–11.8 especially, context must be considered.
Part 12 — Pronoun Labyrinth
The original sentence is:
Emma said to William, “I told Grace that you had followed me.”
Because the reporting viewpoint changes, the pronouns must be interpreted rather than mechanically substituted.
From Eleanor's perspective:
Eleanor reported that Emma had told Grace that William had followed Emma.
From Grace's perspective:
Grace reported that Emma had told her that William had followed Emma.
From William's perspective:
William reported that Emma had told Grace that he had followed Emma.
From Emma's perspective:
Emma explained that she had told Grace that William had followed her.
From an outside journalist's perspective:
The journalist reported that Emma had told Grace that William had followed Emma.
The key distinction is between grammatical backshift and perspective-based pronoun reference.
Part 13 — Sample Chains
There is no single correct set of chains. One possible set is:
Oliver told Eleanor that he had seen Grace. Eleanor later told William that Oliver had told her that he had seen Grace. William then told Emma that Eleanor had told him that Oliver had seen Grace.
Grace told Eleanor that Oliver had followed her. Eleanor told William that Grace had accused Oliver of following her. William told Emma that Eleanor had said that Grace had accused Oliver.
William told Emma that Eleanor had questioned him. Emma told Sophie that William had said that Eleanor had questioned him.
Students should receive credit when the chain remains logically traceable and the pronouns remain unambiguous.
Task 14 — Model Answer
Eleanor reported that the mansion had lost power again at 12:47 and that someone had run down the eastern corridor while another person had locked the front door. She noted that a glass had shattered and that a car engine had started. When she found William outside, she asked where Emma was. William replied that he had thought Emma was with Eleanor. Eleanor denied this, and William acknowledged that they therefore had a problem. Eleanor demanded to know where the diamond was. William looked towards the road and warned that Eleanor really did not want to know. When she ordered him to tell her, he refused to discuss it there. A car then disappeared into the darkness. William whispered that she had taken the diamond. Eleanor immediately asked who he meant, but William gave no answer.
Check: The final identity must remain unresolved. The pronoun she is deliberately ambiguous.
Final Boss — What a Strong Answer Should Contain
A strong 350–500 word reconstruction should:
- maintain a consistent reporting perspective;
- use a range of reporting verbs;
- handle tense backshift accurately where appropriate;
- change pronouns according to context;
- report questions as indirect questions rather than direct-question word order;
- report commands, requests and warnings naturally;
- preserve uncertainty rather than inventing facts;
- connect the evidence into a coherent narrative;
- avoid repeating “said that” throughout;
- retain the mystery atmosphere.
There is deliberately no single model paragraph for this task because the student's reconstruction and interpretation are part of the challenge.
Final Theory — Who Stole the Diamond?
There is no officially fixed culprit in this worksheet.
The strongest answers should distinguish between evidence, reported claims and inference.
A student may suspect Grace, William, Emma, Oliver, Sophie or another interpretation, provided the theory is supported logically by the reported statements.
Example of acceptable reasoning: A student might argue that Grace is suspicious because she carefully avoided answering whether she entered the library after the lights went out. However, that does not prove that she stole the diamond. Another student might argue that William knows more than he admits because he refers to a secret, appears worried about Emma and later says that “she” took the diamond without identifying her. Neither theory is conclusive.
Highest-level response: separates what a character said from what the detective can actually establish.
More English Learning Resources
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