Reported speech

[Sarah18]

Hello

Could you please have a look at this test, and tell me if both options are possible? Thank you.

Q5.	John: "I’m 37." (You don’t believe him.)
		He said he was 37, but he looks much older.
		He said he’s 37, but he looks much older.

---

Q6.	Yuto: "I come to school by bus." (Yuto is in your class and you believe what he says.)
		Yuto said he comes to school by bus.
		Yuto said he came to school by bus.

Jae-Hun: "I played tennis yesterday." (Jae-Hun tells you this today, and you report it to Mike today.)
		Jae-Hun said that he had played tennis the day before. My choice is wrong.
		Jae-Hun said that he played tennis yesterday.
		Jae-Hun said that he had played tennis yesterday.

Joo-Hi: "I’m playing tennis after work today. Do you want to play too?" (Your friend said this to you this morning.) Joo-Hi said she’s playing tennis after work today and asked if I wanted to play too. Why do they use the progressive form, I don't understand. Joo-Hi said she was playing tennis after work today and asked if I want to play too. Joo-Hi said she’s playing tennis after work today and asked if I want to play too.

(Akiko asks you the question 10 minutes before you report it to Yuta.)
		Akiko asked me if I were in school yesterday.
		Akiko asked me if I was in school the day before.
		Akiko asked me if I was in school yesterday.
		Akiko asked me if I had been in school yesterday. Shoudn't it be if I had been in school the day before? Q25. Mitch: "Who’s going to the party on Friday?" (Mitch asked this question on Tuesday in the week of the party. You reported the question the same day.) Mitch asked me who was going to the party that Friday. My choice Mitch asked me who is going to the party this Friday.

Sang-Jae: "Do we have a test tomorrow?" (Sang-Jae asked you this question this morning. You report it to your friend in the afternoon.)
		Sang-Jae wanted to know if we have a test tomorrow.
		Sang-Jae wanted to know if we had a test tomorrow.

 

[Rover_KE]

Sorry, Sarah. We don't do students' homework..

 

[Sarah18]

It is not my homework. I was looking for a test on reported speech, and came across this one. I found its answers confusing. The test is from this site http://esl.fis.edu/grammar/multi/repspee2.htm

 

[probus]

The test has been set by an examiner who lacks competence in English.

In Q5 and Q6 neither of the proposed responses is wrong. Both may be correct, depending on the context.

In view of that I did not bother to read the rest of the question.

 

[Rover_KE]

I'm still trying to figure out the significance of the different colours.:-?

 

[Tdol]

I think there may be an attempt to force rules upon situations where guidelines would be better. If we think a person was lying, we may be more likely to say that he said his name's Jack, but that does not make was wrong. There seems to be an excessively narrow focus on time. We may be more likely to follow the patterns suggested by the times given, but that does not make them absolute rules IMO.

 

[jutfrank]

Q5 and Q6: Both sentences are correct.
Jae-Hun: The green one is correct.
Joo-Hi: All are possible.
Akiko: Only the green one is correct.
Sang-Jae: Both are correct.