Reported speech & Simple present — O/L English

Describing people requires precision in portraying physical features and character traits. In English syntax, when multiple adjectives qualify a single noun, they must observe a fixed hierarchy: Opinion, Size, Age, Shape, Colour, Origin, Material, and Purpose (e.g., 'a handsome, tall, young Sri Lankan athlete'). When reporting how individuals describe their background or qualities, direct statements must be transformed into reported speech with systematic backshifting of tenses and pronoun harmonization.

Check before you answer (O/L Paper 1 & Paper 2)

1. Adjective Sequencing: Ensuring qualifying adjectives precede nouns in the standard grammatical sequence in picture descriptions and personal profiles.
2. Reported Speech Backshift: Accurately changing present tense verbs to past equivalents (e.g., 'I am diligent' -> 'He explained that he was diligent') and shifting possessive pronouns.
3. Descriptive Lexical Range: Replacing repetitive elementary adjectives ('good', 'nice') with high-utility evaluative terms ('conscientious', 'affable', 'persevering').