Choose the best option to complete each sentence, then check your answers.
During the ethics hearing, the climatologist flatly denied ___ the raw data to produce more dramatic projections.
The verb 'deny' takes either a gerund ('having manipulated' / 'manipulating') or a 'that'-clause. Using an infinitive form like 'to manipulate' or 'to have manipulated' after 'deny' is a structural error.
The city council representative asked the urban planners ___ the projected increase in traffic during the stadium's construction phase.
Reported questions require statement word order (subject + verb) without auxiliary inversion, making 'how they intended to mitigate' correct. Options with inverted auxiliary verbs, such as 'how did they intend', incorrectly retain direct question word order.
The chief medical officer insisted ___ a second round of clinical trials before making the vaccine available to the general public.
When followed by a gerund, the reporting verb 'insist' requires the dependent preposition 'on' ('insist on doing something'). Substituting 'to', 'for', or 'about' produces an ungrammatical complement structure.
Following the financial audit, the board of directors urged the chief executive ___ the company's overseas assets immediately.
The reporting verb 'urge' follows the pattern 'urge + object + to-infinitive' ('urged the chief executive to restructure'). 'Restructuring' lacks the infinitival structure required when a direct personal object is specified.
In his post-war memoirs, the diplomat acknowledged that the government ___ a secret non-aggression pact the previous year.
Because the action occurred prior to the past reporting moment (indicated by the time expression 'the previous year'), backshifting to the past perfect ('had signed') is required to mark the earlier past.
The disciplinary committee accused the postgraduate student ___ portions of his doctoral dissertation from an open-access journal.
The verb 'accuse' takes the mandatory pattern 'accuse someone of + gerund/perfect gerund'. Using 'to', 'for', or 'with' violates the fixed prepositional idiom.
The financial analyst inquired ___ the central bank would raise interest rates at its upcoming policy meeting.
The verb 'inquire' introduces indirect yes/no questions using 'whether' (or 'if'). The conjunction 'that' cannot introduce an indirect question, and 'as to' is prepositional rather than a direct indirect-question conjunction here.
The university chancellor congratulated the research team ___ securing the prestigious international research grant.
The reporting verb 'congratulate' takes the dependent preposition 'on' followed by a gerund ('congratulate someone on doing something'); 'for' and 'about' are incorrect prepositions in this structure.
The safety inspector warned the airline maintenance crew ___ shortcut procedures during overnight engine checks.
The verb 'warn' follows the pattern 'warn someone against doing something' or 'warn someone not to do something'. 'Against using' fits this prepositional requirement, whereas 'from using' uses the wrong preposition.
Under cross-examination, the defendant finally admitted ___ confidential corporate documents to a competitor.
The verb 'admit' takes 'to + -ing' when using a prepositional gerund complement ('admit to doing something'). Using an infinitive ('to leak') after 'admit to' is a grammatical error.
The World Health Organization recommended that every municipality ___ strict air quality monitoring stations in high-density areas.
In formal reported recommendations using 'recommend that...', the mandate requires a subjunctive clause with a bare infinitive verb ('install'), regardless of the third-person singular subject 'every municipality'.
The software lead apologized to the corporate clients ___ the severe server outage during peak trading hours.
The reporting verb 'apologize' requires 'apologize (to someone) for + gerund', making 'for causing' correct. 'To cause' and 'about causing' use incorrect prepositions.
The union representatives threatened ___ all factory operations if the management refused to renegotiate salary scales.
The reporting verb 'threaten' takes a direct to-infinitive complement ('threaten to do something'). Gerund constructions such as 'halting' or 'for halting' are incorrect following 'threaten'.
Environmental activists blamed the regional authority ___ failing to enforce pollution controls along the industrial corridor.
The structure 'blame someone for doing something' requires the preposition 'for'. The preposition 'on' is only used in 'blame something on someone', which is a different syntactic frame.
The keynote speaker asked the delegates ___ apply the proposed translation model to non-European languages.
Reported indirect modal questions require the conjunction 'whether' or 'if' followed by normal subject-verb order ('they could'). Inverting the verb ('whether could they') or combining conjunctions ('that if') is ungrammatical.
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Reported speech is a core grammatical skill assessed across the IELTS exam. Master modern indirect reporting to accurately convey research findings, expert opinions, and stakeholder views in Writing Task 2 and Speaking Parts 2 and 3. Recognizing nuanced reported structures also prevents crucial misunderstandings in Reading and Listening passages featuring academic debates or interviews.
This upper-intermediate to advanced test evaluates your control over tense backshifting, reported question word order, subjunctive structures, and reporting verb patterns (such as verb + object + to-infinitive, verb + preposition + gerund, and mandatory that-clauses). Demonstrating precision with specific reporting verbs elevates your Lexical Resource and Grammatical Range and Accuracy scores.
Read each academic or professional sentence carefully and choose the option that maintains precise standard English grammar. Review the detailed explanations for each item to solidify your understanding of reporting syntax.
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