Reported Speech

 Reported Speech 

1) What is Reported Speech? It's when you tell somebody what you or another person said before. When you are reporting a speech, some changes are necessary.

 

2) Different types of Reported Speech:

- Statements, questions, request/commands.  

 

v   Reporting Statements: when transforming statements, check whether you have to change:

- Pronouns, tense, place and time expression.

a- Pronouns: you often have to change the pronouns depending on who says what.

Example: She says, "My dad likes roast chicken".

                                  She says that her dad liked road chicken.

Direct Speech	Indirect Speech
I	He/She
We	They
My	His/Her
Your	My
Our	Their
Me	Him/Her
Us	Them

b. Tenses: if the sentense starts in the present, there is no backshift of tenses in reported speech. If the sentense starts in the past, there is often a backshift of tenses in reported speech.

Direct Speech	Indirect Speech
Present Simple She always wears a coat.	Past Simple He said that she always wore a coat.
Present Continuous     I’m looking for my keys.	Past Continuous She said that she was looking for her keys.
Present Perfect               My friend gave me a bar of chocolate.	Past Perfect He said that his friend given him a bar of chocolate.

 c. Modal Verbs: could, should, would, might, needn't, ought to, and used to do not normally change.

Direct Speech	Indirect Speech
Will	Would
Can	Could
May	Might
Must	Had to
Have To	Had To

Example:  He said "She might be right". 

                  He said that she might be right.

d. Time expressions: Place and demonstrative.

Direct Speech	Indirect Speech
Now	Then
Today	That day
Here	There
This	That
Tomorrow	The following day/ the next day/ the day after
Next week	The following week / the next week/ the week after
Yesterday	The previous day/ the day before
Last week	The previous week/ the week before
Ago	Previously/ Before
Tonight	That night

 

v   Reporting questions: you have to change: the pronouns, the place and time expressions, the tenses. 

Type of questions:  With question words (what, where, when, why, who, etc)

Example: Why don’t you speak English?

                 He asked me why i didn’t speak English.

 yes/no question words: Do you speak english?

                                             He asked me if I spoke english.

v  Reporting request and commands we have to change  pronouns, place and time expressions.

Example: "She said sit down".

                  She asked me to sit down.

Reported speech sentences

- “We lived in Korea for many years”

She told me that they lived in Korea for many years.

 

- “I don't like horror movies”

He said he doesn’t like horror movies.

 

- “We are working on a major project”

They said they were working on a major project.

 

- “You can’t smoke here” the lady told me.

The lady told me I couldn't smoke there.

 

- “My favorite food is pizza”

He said that his favorite food is pizza.

 

- “I'm going on vacation today”

She said she was going on vacation that day.

 

- “Camila is a very kind person”

He said that Camila is a kind person.

 

- “Mark can't help you because he is busy”

She said that Mark couldn’t help me because he was busy.

 

- “Don't forget to study for the test” Peter reminded me.

Peter reminded me not to forget to study for the test.

 

- “I might be late”

She said she might be late.