Learn · Sentences Reported Speech (Indirect Speech)
He told me that he had been working at the company for over ten years.
B2Sentence
Narrator
He told me that he had been working at the company for over ten years.
Study notes
How to use in different contexts
Reporting News
News reports stated that he had been working at the company for over a decade.
Casual Conversation
He said he's been with the company for more than ten years.
Formal Writing
He informed me of his over ten-year tenure at the company.
Expressing Surprise
I was surprised to hear he'd been working there for over ten years!
Rephrased versions
Formal
He stated that his employment at the company exceeded a decade.
Informal
He told me he'd worked there for ages.
Simpler English
He said he worked at the company for a long time.
Phrases to learn
had been working
Past perfect continuous tense, indicating an action ongoing before a specific point in the past.
over ten years
More than ten years.