UNIVERSITY ,,GOCE DELCEV’’ – STIP

MECHANICAL ENGINEERING

Subject: English
Thema: Reported Speech

Mentor: Student:
Krste Iliev Natalija Stojanovska
19770

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Content:
1.Rules for reporting speech…………………………3
2.Reported Questions……………………………….….6
3.Reported Request……………………………..……….8
4.Reported Orders……………………………….….…….9
5. Time Expressions with Reported Speech…..10
6.Reported speech with modals…………….…….12
7.Conlusion…………………………………………………..14
8.Used literature………………………………….……….15

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 Rules for reporting speech

 To get this kind of sentence right, there are four

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We use a 'reporting verb' like 'say' or 'tell'.If this
verb is in the present tense, it's easy. We just put
'she says' and then the sentence:
 Direct speech: I like ice cream.
 Reported speech: She says (that) she likes ice
cream.
We don't need to change the tense, though
probably we do need to change the 'person' from 'I'
to 'she', for example. We also may need to change
words like 'my' and 'your'.
But, if the reporting verb is in the past tense, then
usually we change the tenses in the reported
speech:
 Direct speech: I like ice cream.
 Reported speech: She said (that) she liked ice
cream.

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 Reported Questions
 Direct speech: Where do you live?
How can we make the reported speech here?In fact,
it's not so different from reported statements. The
tense changes are the same, and we keep the
question word. The very important thing though is
that, once we tell the question to someone else, it
isn't a question any more.
 Reported speech: She asked me where I lived.
Another example:
 Direct speech: Where is Julie?
 Reported speech: She asked me where Julie
was.
The direct question is the present simple of 'be'. We
make the question form of the present simple of be
by inverting (changing the position of )the subject
and verb. So, we need to change them back before
putting the verb into the past simple.

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Examples:
 Direct question: Where is the Post Office,
please?
 Reported question: She asked me where the
Post Office was.
 Direct question: What are you doing?
 Reported question: She asked me what I was
doing.
 Direct question: Who was that fantastic man?
 Reported question: She asked me who that
fantastic man had been.

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 Reported request
 Direct speech: Close the window, please
 Or: Could you close the window please?
 Or: Would you mind closing the window please?
All of these requests mean the same thing, so we
don't need to report every word when we tell
another person about it. We simply use 'ask me + to
+ infinitive’:
 Reported speech: She asked me to close the
window.
To report a negative request, use 'not':
 Direct speech: Please don't be late.
 Reported speech: She asked us not to be late.

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 Reported Orders
How about if someone doesn't ask so politely? We
can call this an 'order' in English, when someone
tells you very directly to do something. For
example:’Sit down!’- we make this into reported
speech in the same way as a request. We just use
'tell' instead of 'ask': ‘She told me to sit down.’

Direct Order Reported Order

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 Time Expressions with Reported Speech
Sometimes when we change direct speech into
reported speech we have to change time
expressions too. We don't always have to do this,
however. It depends on when we heard the direct
speech and when we say the reported speech.
 If I tell someone on Monday, I say "Julie said she
was leaving today".
 If I tell someone on Tuesday, I say "Julie said she
was leaving yesterday".
 If I tell someone on Wednesday, I say "Julie said
she was leaving on Monday".
 If I tell someone a month later, I say "Julie said
she was leaving that day".

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 Reporting speech with modals
Finally, pay attention to whether the speech you are
reporting uses a modal verb. Will, can, and shall
change to would, could, and should when reported.
Will is used to make statements about the future in
English. When reporting this kind of statement, will
becomes would. Compare these sentences:
 Kelly said, "I will pick up the sandwiches."
 Kelly said she would pick up the sandwiches.
Modal verbs may appear in questions, as well:
 Caty asked, "Can you answer the phone while
I'm out?"
 Caty asked me if I could answer the phone while
she was out.
If the modal verb is already in its past form, it does
not change when reported.
 George stated, "I would not do that."
 George said he would not do that.

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Conclusion

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Time model on reporting verb no need to change
but time model on reported speech have to
changed according to reporting verb's time. From
the example we can conclude that the difference
between direct speech and indirect speech is on
direct speech, the sentence use the quote (“ ”) but
not on indirect speech.

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 Used literature
1.https://www.perfect-english-
grammar.com/reported-speech.html
2.https://learningenglish.voanews.com/a/everyday-
grammar-reported-speech/2856671.html

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