Scribd
Upload
0 views3 pages

Reported Speech

The document explains how to convert direct speech into reported speech, highlighting changes in tenses, pronouns, and word order. It provides examples for present, past, and perfect tenses, as well as guidance on reporting orders, requests, and advice. Additionally, it discusses the use of various reporting verbs to enhance speech and writing.

Uploaded by

Rafael Nieto
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
0 views3 pages

Reported Speech

The document explains how to convert direct speech into reported speech, highlighting changes in tenses, pronouns, and word order. It provides examples for present, past, and perfect tenses, as well as guidance on reporting orders, requests, and advice. Additionally, it discusses the use of various reporting verbs to enhance speech and writing.

Uploaded by

Rafael Nieto
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 3

Reported Speech

When we report someone’s words we can do it in two ways. We can use direct speech with
quotation marks (“I work in a bank”), or we can use reported speech (He said he worked in a
bank.)

In reported speech the tenses, word-order and pronouns may be different from those in the
original sentence.

Present simple and present continuous tenses


 Direct speech: “I travel a lot in my job” Reported speech: He said that he travelled a lot in his
job.
The present simple tense (I travel) usually changes to the past simple (he travelled) in
reported speech.
 Direct speech: “Be quiet. The baby’s sleeping.” Reported speech: She told me to be quiet because
the baby was sleeping.
The present continuous usually changes to the past continuous.

Note:
 “I work in Italy” Reported speech: He told me that he works in Italy.
It isn’t always necessary to change the tense. If something is still true now – he still works in
Italy – we can use the present simple in the reported sentence.

Past simple and past continuous tenses


 Direct speech: “We lived in China for 5 years.” Reported speech: She told me they had lived in
China for 5 years.
The past simple tense (we lived) usually changes to the past perfect (they had lived) in
reported speech.
 Direct speech: “I was walking down the road when I saw the accident.” Reported speech: He told
me he’d been walking down the road when he’d seen the accident.
The past continuous usually changes to the past perfect continuous.

Perfect tenses
 Direct speech: “They’ve always been very kind to me”. Reported speech: She said they’d always
been very kind to her.
The present perfect tense (have always been) usually changes to the past perfect tense (had
always been).
 Direct speech: “They had already eaten when I arrived” Reported speech: He said they’d already
eaten when he’d arrived.
The past perfect tense does not change in reported speech.

Remember that in reported speech we usually change the tense of the direct statement. The
present simple tense changes to the past simple, the past simple changes to the past perfect
and so on.

Here are some other points to consider.

‘Can’ and ‘will’


 Direct speech: “I can’t remember his name.” Reported speech: She said she couldn’t remember
his name.
‘Can’ and ‘can’t’ in direct speech change to ‘could’ and ‘couldn’t’ in reported speech.
 Direct speech: “I’ll be there for 3 weeks.” Reported speech: He told me he’d be there for 3 weeks.
‘Will’ and ‘won’t’ in direct speech change to ‘would’ and ‘wouldn’t’ in reported speech.

Other modal verbs


 Direct speech: “You could be right.” Reported speech: I said that he could be right.
 Direct speech: “You must call me.” Reported speech: She said that I must call her.
Other modal verbs don’t change in reported speech.

Reporting orders, requests and advice


 Direct speech: “Sit down and shut up!” Reported speech: The teacher told me to sit down and
shut up.
 Direct speech: “Can you hold this for me please?” Reported speech: He asked me to hold it.
 Direct speech: “You should do more exercise.” Reported speech: He advised me to do more
exercise.
Orders, request and advice can be reported using an infinitive.

Reporting verbs
There are a number of verbs that we use to report statements. These can make your speech
and writing more interesting than simply reporting every word of the direct speech.
 Direct speech: “It wasn’t me who broke the window.” > He denied breaking the window.
 Direct speech: “I’ll help you if you want” > She offered to help.
There are a number of verbs that can be used to report. They
include: promise, claim, suggest, advise, refuse, argue, confirm and others.

You might also like

pFad - Phonifier reborn

Pfad - The Proxy pFad of © 2024 Garber Painting. All rights reserved.

Note: This service is not intended for secure transactions such as banking, social media, email, or purchasing. Use at your own risk. We assume no liability whatsoever for broken pages.


Alternative Proxies:

Alternative Proxy

pFad Proxy

pFad v3 Proxy

pFad v4 Proxy