Sophia’s Visions, Part 3. Sophia sees Philo, an old man, pleading for his people before the emperor Gaius in Rome. A B1–B2 English lesson on reported speech and reporting verbs, with a gamebook.
Alexandria · the 754th year since the founding of Rome · 1 CE
Sophia’s Visions, Part 3 · Reported speech and reporting verbs · B1–B2
Think first. Have you ever had to ask someone powerful for something important, knowing they could just say no, or laugh at you? How did you prepare?
While you read, notice how Sophia tells Demetria what people said. She doesn’t repeat their exact words: she reports them, and the verbs change.
Philo: “I wrote this speech for my brother, a long time ago. Read what happened when Sophia read it.”
Philo had been writing all morning. His brother Alexander, who collected the customs duties on the Arabian side of the Nile, had to present a petition to the Roman prefect, and he had asked Philo to write the speech.
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