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Unit 10 - Grammar - Reported Speech

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81 views3 pages

Unit 10 - Grammar - Reported Speech

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lngtuananh09
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© © All Rights Reserved
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Unit 10: The News and Journalism

Lesson 2: He said / she said …

REPORTED SPEECH
Reported speech is how we represent other people's speech or what we say. There are two main
types of reported speech: direct speech and indirect speech.
Direct speech repeats the exact words the person used, or how we remember their words.

REPORTED SPEECH: STATEMENTS


Do you know how to report what somebody else said? Look at these examples to see how to tell
someone what another person said.

Examples:
Direct speech: 'I'll phone you tomorrow,' she said.
Indirect speech: She said she would phone me the next day.

Direct speech: 'I love the Lord of the Rings films,' he said.
Indirect speech: He said he loved the Lord of the Rings films.

Direct speech: 'I worked as a waiter before becoming a chef,' he said.


Indirect speech: He said he had worked as a waiter before becoming a chef.

Indirect speech focuses more on the content of what someone said rather than their exact words. We
can report what people said, wrote, or thought:

Examples:
‘I am moving to New Zealand,’ he said. (direct report of what someone said)
He said he was moving to New Zealand. (indirect report of what someone said)

I need a new computer, she thought. (direct report of someone’s thoughts)


She thought that she needed a new computer. (indirect report of someone’s thoughts)

GRAMMAR EXPLANATION
Reported speech is when we tell someone what another person said. To do this, we can use direct
speech or indirect speech.

Examples:
Direct speech: 'I work in a supermarket,' said Anna.
Indirect speech: Anna said that he worked in a supermarket.

In indirect speech, we often use a tense which is 'further back' in the past (e.g. worked) than the tense
originally used (e.g. work). This is called 'backshift'. We also may need to change other words that
were used, for example pronouns.

PRESENT SIMPLE, PRESENT CONTINUOUS AND PRESENT PERFECT


When we backshift, present simple changes to past simple, present continuous changes to past
continuous and present perfect changes to past perfect.
Examples:
Direct speech: 'I travel a lot in my job.'
Indirect speech: Peter said that he travelled a lot in his job.

Direct speech: 'The baby's crying!'


Indirect speech: He told me the baby was crying.

Direct speech: 'I've done my homework.'


Indirect speech: She said she had done her homework.

PAST SIMPLE AND PAST CONTINUOUS


When we backshift, past simple usually changes to past perfect simple, and past continuous usually
changes to past perfect continuous.

Examples:
Direct speech: 'We lived in China for five years.'
Indirect speech: She told me they'd lived in China for five years.

Direct speech: 'It was raining all day.'


Indirect speech: He told me it had been raining all day.

PAST PERFECT
The past perfect doesn't change.

Examples:
Direct speech: 'I'd tried everything to help him.'
Indirect speech: She said she'd tried everything to help him.

PRONOUNS, DEMONSTRATIVES AND ADVERBS OF TIME AND PLACE


Pronouns also usually change in indirect speech.

Examples:
Direct speech: 'I enjoy reading books in my garden,' said David.
Indirect speech: David said that he enjoyed reading books in his garden.

Direct speech: 'We played football for our school,' said Joe.
Indirect speech: Joe told me they'd played football for their school.

However, if you are the person or one of the people who spoke, then the pronouns don't change.

Examples:
Direct speech: 'I'm working on my thesis,' I said.
Indirect speech: I told her that I was working on my thesis.
Direct speech: 'We want our jobs back!' we said.
Indirect speech: We said that we wanted our jobs back.

We also change demonstratives and adverbs of time and place if they are no longer accurate.

Examples:
'This is my house.'
He said this was his house. [You are currently in front of the house.]
He said that was his house. [You are not currently in front of the house.]
'We like it here.'
She told me they like it here. [You are currently in the place they like.]
She told me they like it there. [You are not in the place they like.]

'I'm planning to do it today.'


She told me she's planning to do it today. [It is currently still the same day.]
She told me she was planning to do it that day. [It is not the same day anymore.]

In the same way, these changes to those, now changes to then, yesterday changes to the day
before, tomorrow changes to the next day or the following day and ago changes to before.

NOTES!
Grammar 1: REPORTED SPEECH (1)

Direct speech Reported speech


is/are was /were
present simple past simple
present continuous past continuous
past simple past perfect

Examples:
One thief told me, "The Pink Panthers scare people, but we don't hurt them."
One thief told me (that) the Pink Panthers scared people, but they didn't hurt them.
"There is no big boss," he said.
He said (that) there was no big boss.

Grammar 2:

SAY & TELL


say + (that) + verb
e.g. He said (that) they only took expensive things from rich people.
tell + object + (that) + verb
e.g. He told the journalist (that) they only took expensive things from rich people.
Remember!
Say doesn’t need an object, tell does.

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