Hi everyone,

I need a piece of advice concerning indirect speech. I've introduced indirect speech on the basis of two present tenses (simple & continuous) and my student and I were, first suppose to ask direct questions to the sentences 'She dances every day' and 'She is dancing now'. And I can say 'Could you tell me who dances every day?' but how about the Present Continuous? I don't think it's possible to say: 'Could you tell me who dancing now?' (and: 'who is' question is still direct).

I'd be grateful to get an answer.

The basic thing ro understand about the indirect speech is this: You can answer the question What did he say? in two ways:

• by repeating the words spoken (direct speech)
• by reporting the words spoken (indirect or also called reported speech).

That is why in reported speech you always have a reporting verb like say, ask, tell, etc.

Could you tell me who is dancing now? ---> He asked me if I could tell him who was dancing.

Notice how the time shifts when you report something what happened a while ago.
Also, questions become statement so the word order changes.

Thank you, I wasn't sure if 'Could you tell me who is dancing now?' is correct.