Project SEKAI English Worksheet: Reported Speech & Creative Writing
Build stronger English skills through reported speech, careful reading, creative writing, reference words, main idea, and narrative writing.
This free interactive worksheet includes guided beginner practice, model answers, word counters, self-checking, saving, downloading, printing, and progressively harder English challenges.
Project SEKAI English Worksheet for Beginners and Intermediate Learners
This free Project SEKAI English worksheet helps learners practise reported speech, pronouns, tense changes, reading comprehension, main idea, narrative writing, and creative writing.
The worksheet begins with a simple guided lesson before moving into progressively harder exercises. You can write directly on the page, compare your answers with model answers, count your words, save your progress, and print the completed worksheet.
New to reported speech? Start with the Easier Guided Learning section . More confident learners can continue directly to the practice sections.
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📝 Before You Begin
You do not need advanced English to complete this worksheet. Start with the guided examples, then move through the exercises one step at a time.
- Read the original sentence carefully.
- Find the speaker.
- Identify who is listening.
- Check pronouns and tense.
- Check time and place words.
- Make sure the meaning has not changed.
Beginner? Start with Guided Learning →
🌱 Easier Version: Learn Before You Practise
If reported speech feels difficult, don't worry. Start here. This short guided lesson explains the most important ideas in simple English before you move on to the harder questions.
Step 1: What is direct speech?
Direct speech gives the exact words a person said.
The quotation marks show us Rui's exact words.
Step 2: What is reported speech?
Reported speech tells us what someone said without repeating the exact words.
We usually remove the quotation marks and connect the reported statement with words such as said, told, or asked.
Step 3: Look at the speaker
Before changing a sentence, ask:
- Who said it?
- Who was listening?
- Who does each pronoun refer to?
Reported speech:
You becomes he because Nene was talking to Rui.
Step 4: Watch the tense
When the reporting verb is in the past, the tense often moves one step backwards.
| Direct | Reported | Easy example |
|---|---|---|
| “I am happy.” | was happy | She said that she was happy. |
| “I know.” | knew | He said that he knew. |
| “I have finished.” | had finished | She said that she had finished. |
| “I will help.” | would help | He said that he would help. |
| “I may come.” | might come | She said that she might come. |
These are common changes, not automatic rules for every situation. Meaning and context always come first.
Step 5: Check time and place words
| Direct speech | Possible reported form |
|---|---|
| today | that day |
| tomorrow | the next day |
| yesterday | the previous day |
| now | then |
| here | there |
| this | that |
Step 6: Commands and questions are different
For a command, we often use told + person + to.
For a negative command, use not to.
For a yes/no question, use whether or if.
Show the easier explanations
- Rui said that he was tired. “I” becomes “he” because Rui is the speaker. “am” becomes “was” because the reporting verb is in the past.
- Nene told Rui that she would help him the next day. “I” becomes “she”, “you” becomes “him”, “will” becomes “would”, and “tomorrow” becomes “the next day”.
- Minori asked Haruka whether she was coming. It is a yes/no question, so we can use “whether” or “if”. The question word order changes to normal statement order.
🚦 Choose Your Difficulty
If you are new to reported speech, complete the Guided Learning section and Parts A–C first. If those feel comfortable, continue to the narrative and creative-writing challenges.
- 🌱 Beginner: Guided Learning → Part A → Part C
- 🌼 Intermediate: Guided Learning → Parts A–D → Part F
- ⭐ Challenge: Complete every part, including Parts E and G
Reported Speech
Rewrite each exchange as reported speech. Preserve the original meaning and make any necessary changes to pronouns, tense, time, and place.
Reveal Part A — Model Answers
- Nene told Rui that he had told her the previous day that the machine was safe.
- Rui replied that he had never said that Nene could use it without asking him.
- Akito asked Toya why he had not told him that he had already spoken to An.
- Toya said that he had thought the other person knew and that she had told him that she would explain everything herself.
- Ena told Mizuki not to show anyone that painting until she had finished it.
- Kanade said that she might not be able to come the next day and that she had something important to do that night.
- Minori asked Haruka whether she was really saying that she did not want to perform.
- Ichika told Saki that if Shiho came back the next day, she should tell her that Ichika would be waiting for her there.
The Meaning Has Changed
Each pair contains an original statement and a reported version. Decide whether the reported version has preserved the meaning.
1. Original
Reported
Has the meaning changed? Why?
2. Original
Reported
Has the meaning changed? Why?
3. Original
Reported
Has the meaning changed? Why?
4. Original
Reported
Has the meaning changed? Why?
Reveal Part B — Model Answers
- Yes. The original says Mafuyu said that leaving was a possibility. The reported version says she had decided to leave, which changes uncertainty into a definite decision.
- Yes. The original means Nene was not required to come. The reported version says Nene was unable or not allowed to come, which is a different meaning.
- Yes. The original says Toya did not say that Akito was angry. The reported version says Akito did not say that he was angry. The person who did not make the statement has changed.
- Yes. The original is advice or a recommendation that Ichika talk to her. The reported version says that someone had already talked to her, changing the action and time.
Who Is Being Referred To?
An told Kohane that she had spoken to Akito after rehearsal and that he had asked her whether she knew why Toya had left early. Kohane told An that she had not spoken to Toya herself, but that he had sent her a message later. According to Kohane, he said that he had left because someone had asked him to meet them somewhere else.
Reveal Part C — Answers
- An spoke to Akito.
- Akito asked about Toya.
- Kohane received a message from Toya.
- The final “he” refers to Toya.
- It is important because pronouns such as she, he, her, and him depend on who is speaking and who is being referred to. If the speaker is misunderstood, the direct speech can assign the words to the wrong person and change the meaning.
Report the Story
Read the scene.
“I know,” Rui replied. “The train stopped between stations.”
“You could have called me.”
“I tried. You didn't answer.”
“Because my phone was with Emu.”
Rui looked at Emu. “You had her phone?”
Emu nodded. “She gave it to me before rehearsal.”
Nene suddenly frowned. “Wait. If you called my phone, how did you know where we were?”
Retell the scene in reported speech as a short narrative.
Do not simply report every sentence separately. Make the account flow naturally.
Reveal Part D — Model Narrative
Nene complained that Rui was late. Rui explained that he knew and that the train had stopped between stations. Nene said that he could have called her, but Rui explained that he had tried and that she had not answered because her phone had been with Emu. Rui then asked Emu whether she had had Nene's phone, and Emu confirmed that Nene had given it to her before rehearsal. Nene then became suspicious and asked how Rui had known where they were if he had called her phone.
Creative Writing
Write a 350–500 word story beginning with:
By the time the truth reached them, nobody could remember who had said what.
The story must naturally contain examples of both direct and reported speech.
Do not explain the plot before you begin. Develop the situation through the characters, their actions, and what they say.
Write approximately 350–500 words and include both direct and reported speech.
What to Check in Your Part E Story
- Does the story begin with the exact required sentence?
- Is the story between approximately 350 and 500 words?
- Does it naturally include direct speech?
- Does it naturally include reported speech?
- Does the dialogue affect the action rather than simply decorate the story?
- Does the situation develop through actions, reactions, and conversation?
- Have you avoided explaining the entire plot before the story begins?
- Does the ending give the reader a satisfying sense of what the truth means?
Main Idea
Read the passage.
Eventually, one member suggested that they watch an entire rehearsal without interrupting it. They noticed that the problem was not one person's mistake at all. Several small problems were connected: one change in timing affected the music, which affected the lighting, which caused another performer to miss a cue.
Once they understood the pattern, they changed the way they practised. They stopped treating each mistake as an isolated problem and began looking at how their decisions affected one another. Their rehearsals became slower at first, but their performances became much more reliable.
Reveal Part F — Model Answers
- Main idea: The group improved by looking for the connected causes behind mistakes instead of treating each mistake as an isolated problem.
- Supporting sentence: “They stopped treating each mistake as an isolated problem and began looking at how their decisions affected one another.”
- Suggested inference: Understanding the causes and relationships behind problems can lead to better and more reliable solutions than simply reacting to individual mistakes.
- Why rehearsals became slower: The group took time to observe the whole rehearsal and understand how different decisions and mistakes were connected before trying to fix them.
- Possible title: “The Rehearsal That Changed Everything.”
- Two-sentence summary: The group discovered that several small rehearsal problems were connected, so they stopped treating mistakes separately and studied the whole pattern. Although this made rehearsals slower at first, it made their performances more reliable.
Final Writing Challenge
Choose any Project SEKAI character and write a 500–600 word story in which a character misunderstands something they have been told.
The misunderstanding should matter to the story.
Use dialogue and reported speech naturally. The reader should have to work out what actually happened before the characters finally understand it themselves.
Give your story a title.
Target: 500–600 words. Include direct speech, reported speech, a meaningful misunderstanding, clues, and a resolution.
Final Writing Self-Check
- Is there a clear misunderstanding?
- Does the misunderstanding actually matter to the story?
- Does the reader have enough clues to question what happened?
- Have you used both direct dialogue and reported speech naturally?
- Does the reader have to work out part of the truth?
- Do the characters eventually understand what actually happened?
- Is the story between approximately 500 and 600 words?
- Does the title fit the story without giving away everything?
- Have you checked punctuation, paragraphing, pronouns, tense, and dialogue formatting?
Quick Reported Speech Reference
Use this reference after completing the questions. It is especially useful when you are checking why a particular change is necessary.
| Direct Speech | Common Reported Form | Example |
|---|---|---|
| present simple | past simple | “I know.” → She said that she knew. |
| present continuous | past continuous | “I am waiting.” → He said that he was waiting. |
| present perfect | past perfect | “I have finished.” → She said that she had finished. |
| past simple | past perfect | “I saw him.” → He said that he had seen him. |
| will | would | “I will help.” → She said that she would help. |
| may | might | “I may come.” → He said that he might come. |
| tomorrow | the next day / the following day | “I will come tomorrow.” → She said that she would come the next day. |
| yesterday | the previous day / the day before | “I saw him yesterday.” → She said that she had seen him the previous day. |
| here | there | “Wait here.” → He told me to wait there. |
| this | that | “I like this.” → She said that she liked that. |
How to Check Your Own Work
For reported speech
- Who originally spoke?
- Who heard the statement?
- Which pronouns need to change?
- Does the tense need to shift?
- Do time and place expressions need to change?
- Has the original meaning remained exactly the same?
For creative writing
- Does every important conversation move the story forward?
- Can the reader understand why each character reacts as they do?
- Are direct and reported speech mixed naturally?
- Have you avoided unnecessary explanation?
- Does the ending connect to the misunderstanding established earlier?
For main idea questions
- What is the passage mainly about?
- What changes from the beginning to the end?
- Which details are examples rather than the central idea?
- Can you summarize the passage without copying every detail?
Continue Learning English
If you enjoyed this challenge, continue with these related English-learning resources from Tina Khatri.
Final Reflection
After completing the worksheet, write one thing you understand better now than you did before.
Now write one English skill you want to practise next.