reported speech

How to use

REPORTED SPEECH

INDEX

Say or tell?

Reported statements

What is reported speech?

Say/tell expressions

Tense changes

Modal changes

Time & place changes

Pronoun/determiners

Reported questions

Reported commands

10

What is REPORTED SPEECH?

What did Mr. Reed tell his class yesterday?

OR

He said to the class (that) he was very happy with the results in the exam.

He said to the class: "I'm very happy with your results in the exam".

I'm very happy with your results in the exam.

REPORTED SPEECH

DIRECT SPEECH

Reported speech is the exact meaning of what someone said, but not the exact words. We don't need quotation marks. The word that after the introductory verb (say, tell) is optional.

Direct speech is the exact words someone used. We use quotation marks (" ") in direct speech.

VS

Tom said (that) it was a nice day.

"It's a nice day", Tom said.

SAY or TELL?

SAY

TELL

• Say is used with or without a personal object. With a personal object, it's always followed by preposition TO.
• (He said that he was ok. / He said to me that he was ok.)

• Tell is always followed by a personal object. (He told me that he was ok).

REPORTED SPEECH

DIRECT SPEECH

He said (that) he was Ted.

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He said, "I'm Ted".

He said to me, "I'm Ted"

He said to me that he was Ted.

Lorem Ipsum

He told me that he was Ted.

He told me, "I'm Ted".

NOT He told that he was Ted.

SAY & TELL EXPRESSIONS

SAY

good morning,/afternoon, etc, something/nothing, one's prayers, so, a few words.

the truth, a lie, a secret, a story, the time, the difference, someone's name, someone the way, one's fortune.

TELL

TENSE CHANGES

Past perfect simple & continuous don't change.

If the reporting verb is in the past, we need to change the tense of what the person said.

DIRECT SPEECH

REPORTED SPEECH

Present simple: Sam doesn't play hockey very often.

Past simple: Anna said that Sam didn't play hockey very often.

Past continuous: Carol shouted to us that she was winning.

Present continuous: I'm winning!

Present perfect simple: I've never been given a trophy before!

Past perfect simple: Paul said that he'd never been given a trophy before.

Past perfect continuous: She told us that they'd been playing for hours.

Present perfect continuous: They've been playing for hours.

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Past perfect simple: He told us that they had lost the match.

Past simple: We lost the match.

Past perfect continuous: He told us that they had been winning until half-time.

Past continuous: We were winning until half-time.

WATCH OUT!

When somehting is still true, we don't have to change the tense.

Although the word "that" is optional, we must use it after the verbs reply and shout.

We don't usually change the tense with scientific or historical facts.

She said that Queen Victoria hated Gladstone.

The article said that fishing is /was the most popular sport in UK.

I replied that going swimming was a ridiculous idea.

MODAL CHANGES

WILL/SHALLL

MUST

HAVE TO

CAN

MAY

DIRECT SPEECH

MUSTN'T

mustn't shouldn't

must had to should

could

had to

might

would

REPORTED SPEECH

"It may rain tomorrow", she said. She said that it might rain the next day.

WATCH OUT!

When must is used to express obligation, must changes to had to or should.

Must doesn't usually change to had to or should when we are expressing probability.

When we use mustn't for obligation, we can use mustn't or shouldn't.

"You mustn't cheat under any circumnstances".

"You must do what the referee tells you", said the coach.

"It must have felt wonderful when they won!", said Dave.

The coach said that we had to / should do what the referee told us.

We were told that we mustn't / shouldn't cheat under any circumstances.

Dave said that it must have felt wonderful when they won.

PRONOUN & DETERMINER CHANGES

In reported speech, personal pronouns, possessive adjectives /pronouns change according to the meaning of the sentence.

DIRECT SPEECH

REPORTED SPEECH

His /her: Eddie pointed out that it was his turn.

My: It's my turn.

This /that + noun: I bought this fishing rod yesterday.

The/that: Linda said that she'd bought the fishing rod the day before.

It/that: Tony said it was a great game.

This/that + verb: This is a great game!

The/those: Alison told us to look at the baseball gloves.

These/those + noun: Look at these baseball gloves!

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They: She said they were the best gloves she had ever seen.

These/those + verb: These are the best gloves I've ever seen.

Verb + these/those (with no object): I've had these for years.

Them: She said she'd had them for years.

TIME AND PLACE CHANGES

There The following / next day That night The day before/ the previous day Then The following/next week/year The week before/ the previous week/year Before/earlier

Here Tomorrow Tonight Yesterday Now Next week/year Last week/year Ago

No need to change time words when the info is still true when speaking

• "I'll see you at the match next week", said Dave.

• Dave told us that he'd see us at the match next week.

REPORTED QUESTIONS

When the question begins with question words (who, where, when, why...)the reported question begins with the same question word.

With reported questions, we make the same changes as usual but we don't use the question form or question marks.

Questions beginning with have, do, be and modals: "Do you want to play Monopoly?", asked Ann.

"What do you want to know?", she asked me.

She asked me what I wanted to know

Ann asked if /whether we wanted to play Monoply.

REPORTED COMMANDS, REQUESTS & SUGGESTIONS

Examples:

2. TO REPORT REQUESTS, WE USE "ASK/BEG + SB + TO INFINITIVE.

Keith suggested flying the kite. He told Paul to pull the strings harder. He asked Paul to unroll more string. He also told him not to let go of the kite.

"Help me, please", Jean said to John. Jean asked Johh to help her. Please, dont call the police", he said to Collin. He begged Collin not to call the police.

1. TO REPORT COMMANDS OR INSTRUCTIONS, WE USE "ORDER /TELL + SB + TO-INFINITIVE.

"Put the gun down", he said to him = He ordered him to put the gun down. "Don't look down", he said to us. He told us not to look down.

3. TO REPORT SUGGESTIONS, WE USE SUGGEST +-ING / THAT SB SHOULD + BARE NFINITIVE.

"Let' s go outside", I said to them. I suggested going outside. I suggested that we should go outside.

THANKS!

Mónica Redondo Arias