5 exercises — tense backshift, reporting verbs, reported questions, and writing polished meeting minutes from raw notes.
Quick reference
Tense backshift: will → would · can → could · is/are → was/were · have → had · speak → spoke
Reported questions: use if/whether + statement word order, no inversion
Precise reporting verbs:confirmed · suggested · warned · agreed · pointed out · explained · announced
Minutes style: past tense · third person · full sentences · no abbreviations
0 / 5 completed
1 / 5
The PM said in the meeting: "The deployment will be delayed until Friday." Which reported speech sentence is correct for meeting minutes?
Both B and C are correct reported speech. The "that" after a reporting verb (said, confirmed, explained) is optional in informal writing — both forms are grammatically valid. The key rule is tense backshift: will → would, is → was, are → were, have → had, can → could. Use tense backshift when the reporting verb is in the past tense and the original statement is no longer "live".
2 / 5
The tech lead said: "We can't merge the PR until the CI pipeline passes." Choose the correct reported speech for the meeting notes.
"The tech lead said they couldn't merge the PR until the CI pipeline passed." — Two tense backshifts here: can't → couldn't and passes → passed. Notice the pronoun shift too: we → they (since the writer of the notes is not part of "we"). Option A has no tense backshift. Option C incorrectly adds "would pass". Option D mixes tenses inconsistently.
3 / 5
Match the meeting minute style to the correct reporting verb. "_____ we should run a load test before going live." The speaker recommended this as a safety measure.
"The engineer suggested that we should run a load test before going live." — Suggested is the right verb for a recommendation. Choose reporting verbs precisely: confirmed = verified a fact; suggested/recommended = proposed an action; warned = flagged a risk; agreed = accepted a decision; pointed out = highlighted a detail; explained = gave a reason; announced = shared news formally. Precise reporting verbs make meeting minutes far more useful than just "said" every time.
4 / 5
A stakeholder asked in the meeting: "Has the bug been fixed in the latest build?" Which is the correct reported question for the minutes?
"The stakeholder asked whether the bug had been fixed in the latest build." — Reported yes/no questions use whether or if + statement word order (no inversion). Tense backshift applies: has been → had been. Option A keeps question word order (wrong). Option B has incorrect inversion after "had". Option D has no tense backshift. For reported wh-questions: "She asked what the error code was" — same rule: statement order + backshift.
5 / 5
You are writing minutes from a sprint retrospective. Rewrite this into professional meeting minutes style. Original notes: "Tom — tests are flaky because of race conditions; needs fix ASAP. Maria — we should document the fix. Everyone agreed." Which version is best?
Option B is the best professional minutes style: reported (precise verb), full tense backshift (were flaky, required), formal connector (due to not because of), precise adverb (urgent not "ASAP"), and suggested that for Maria's recommendation. Good meeting minutes use: ✓ past-tense reporting verbs, ✓ tense backshift, ✓ third person, ✓ complete sentences, ✓ action items clearly attributed. Avoid: bullet-point abbreviations in formal minutes, informal language, or missing attribution.