What is it?

There are two ways of expressing what a person has

said: indirect and direct speech.

● In direct speech we repeat the original speaker’s

exact words. We quote him/her word for word.

● In indirect (or reported) speech we give the

exact meaning of a remark or a speech without
necessarily using the speaker’s exact words.

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 1

Reported
statements
 Verbs in the present
Indirect speech can be introduced by a verb in the
present tense (e.g. She says that…). It happens when we:

● Report a conversation that is still going on.

● Read a message/e-mail/letter and report what it says.
● Read instructions and report them.
● Report a statement that someone makes very often.
For example: Tom says that he will never get married.

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Example:

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 Verbs “say” and “tell”
With the verb say we don’t need to use a personal
object to mention who we are talking to:

● He said (that) it was going to be a great film.

● He said me it was going to be a great film.

With the verb tell we use a personal object to say who

we are talking to:

● He told me (that) it was going to be a great film.

● He told that it was going to be a great film.
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 Necessary changes
● The tense of the verb in reported speech changes,
going one tense back to the past (see chart).
● Pronouns and possessive adjectives normally
change from first or second person to third person,
except when the speaker is reporting his/her own
words. For example:
○ I said: “I like my new house”. I said that I liked my
new house. (Speaker reporting his own words).
○ He said: “I have forgotten the combination of my
locker”. He said he had forgotten the combination
of his locker.
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 Charts with
verb changes

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 Other
changes
Words and
expressions
related to time
and places
need to be
changed as
well.

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 2

Reported
questions
 Rules #1
● Tenses, pronouns and possessive adjectives change as in
statements.
He said: “Where is she going?”
He asked where she was going.
● The interrogative form of the verb changes into the affirmative
form. The question mark (?) is therefore omitted in indirect
questions.
He said: “Where is she going?”
He asked where she was going.
● If the introductory verb is “say” it must be changed to a verb of
inquiry like: ask, inquire, wonder, want to know, etc.
He said: “Where is she going?”
He asked where she was going.
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 Rules #2
● If the direct question begins with a question word
(when, where, who, how, why, etc) the question
word is repeated in the indirect question.
She said: “Mary, when is the next train?”
He asked Mary when the next train was.
● If there is no question word, if or whether must be
used.
“Do you know Bill?” –he asked.
He asked me if / whether I knew Bill.

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Examples:

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 3

Reported
orders / requests
 Types of verbs
Past tense + ind. object + to + infinitive

Orders requests warnings

Order Ask Warn
Tell Beg

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 Examples
● ORDER:
The teacher said: “Stop writing now!”
The teacher told me to stop writing then.
The teacher ordered me to stop writing then.
● REQUEST:
“Could you please close the window?”, Karl said.
Karl begged me to close the window.
Karl asked me to close the window.
● WARNING:
“Study, or you will fail.”, mom said.
Mom warned me to study so that I wouldn’t fail.
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 Negative sentences
not + to + infinitive

“Do not speak.”, Lyla said.

Lyla asked me not to speak.

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 4

Reported
suggestions
 Verbs that can be used #1
The past tense of the verbs SUGGEST and RECOMMEND is
followed by what the person said. There are two possible
conjugations:

● Using a clause formed by that + subject + base form:

“You should watch Fargo.”, Liam said.
Liam recommended that I watch Fargo.
Liam suggested that I watch Fargo.
● With a gerund, without specifying any subject:
“We should listen to this again.”, Jeane said.
Jeane suggested listening to that again.
Jeane recommended listening to that again.
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 Verbs that can be used #2
The past tense of these verbs is used followed by an
indirect object and an infinitive with “to”:

● ADVISE:
The doctor said: “You should drink more water.”
The doctor advised me to drink more water.
● INVITE:
“You should come to the party with us.”, Carl said.
Carl invited me to go to the party with them.

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 5

Reporting
verbs
Accuse
You are She
a liar!
accused
him of
being a
liar.
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Admit The inmate
admitted
Yes, I having killed
killed
those
those people.
people. OR
The inmate
admitted that
he had killed
those people.
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Apologize
She apologized
for what she
had done to her.
OR
She apologized
I’m sorry for doing
for what I
did to
something to
you. her.
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Complain

I hate
traffic
He
jams! complained
about
traffic jams.
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Deny The inmate
denied having
No, I killed those
didn’t kill
those
people.
people. OR
The inmate
denied that he
had killed those
people.
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Promise I swear I’ll
always He
be your
friend.
promised
that he
would
always be
his friend.
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Refuse I don’t
want
more
wine.
She
refused
to drink
more wine.

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Some other verbs

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