Select correct answer.
This morning John told Michelle: "I like you and I want to invite you to dinner tonight."
This morning John told Michelle that he likes her and he wanted to invite her to dinner tonight.
This morning John told Michelle that he likes her and he wanted to invite her to dinner tonight.
The fact that John likes Michelle is still true at the moment of speaking, so the present tense stays the same.
This morning John told Michelle that he likes her and he wanted to invite her to dinner tonight.
The fact that John wanted to invite Michelle to dinner already happened at the moment of John's speaking, so invite should be changed into past simple.
Verb tense
Verb tense is the verb form that signals when the action happens. English has three time references — past, present, and future — combined with three aspects (simple, progressive, perfect, plus perfect progressive) to give twelve standard tense forms in total.
Each tense form carries specific meaning beyond just "when". I worked (simple past) and I have worked (present perfect) both refer to past action, but only the second connects that action to the present. Picking the right tense is what makes English narratives clear; the wrong one makes meaning subtly drift.
Indirect speech
Indirect speech (also called reported speech) is how you tell someone what another person said without quoting their exact words. "I like apples" → He said that he liked apples. The signature move is backshift: tenses move one step into the past when the reporting verb (said, told, thought) is itself in the past — present becomes past, past becomes past perfect, will becomes would, can becomes could.
Pronouns and time expressions also shift to fit the new perspective: "I'll see you tomorrow" → She said she'd see me the next day. Mastering this is essential for B1+ communication, especially in writing.
B2 | Upper Intermediate
B2 is the upper-intermediate level in the CEFR framework, sitting between B1 and C1. At B2 you can read editorials, follow most TED talks without subtitles, and hold extended conversations on abstract topics — including topics outside your everyday life.
Grammatically, B2 means flexible control of mixed conditionals, passive voice across tenses, reported speech with proper backshifting, and participle clauses. B2 is the standard target for university entrance exams (IELTS 5.5–6.5, TOEFL 87–109) and most skilled-migration thresholds — knowing whether you're there shapes your study plan.
Difficulty: Hard
The Hard difficulty tag marks questions and challenges aimed at upper-intermediate to advanced learners — typically B2 and above. Expect interacting rules, edge cases, distractors that look right at first glance, and contexts where the surface meaning and the grammatical answer don't match.
Filter by Hard when you're past the basics and want material that genuinely tests your understanding. These questions catch the gaps your textbook didn't — register-sensitive choices, exception cases, mixed conditionals, the difference between would have been and had been.