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Reported Speech 2020

This document provides information on reporting speech, including: 1) When reporting speech, tenses typically shift backward (e.g. from present to past) and pronouns, time/place expressions may need to change. 2) Common tense changes in reported speech include present becoming past, and past perfect/continuous remaining the same or becoming past perfect. 3) Modal verbs like will/can may change to would/could in reported speech, while might/could/should/would typically do not change. 4) Questions and commands/requests also have specific changes when being reported, such as using "if" for questions and infinitives for commands/requests.

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87 views18 pages

Reported Speech 2020

This document provides information on reporting speech, including: 1) When reporting speech, tenses typically shift backward (e.g. from present to past) and pronouns, time/place expressions may need to change. 2) Common tense changes in reported speech include present becoming past, and past perfect/continuous remaining the same or becoming past perfect. 3) Modal verbs like will/can may change to would/could in reported speech, while might/could/should/would typically do not change. 4) Questions and commands/requests also have specific changes when being reported, such as using "if" for questions and infinitives for commands/requests.

Uploaded by

eka
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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REPORTED SPEECH (STATEMENTS)

Eka Nakhutsrishvili
TeSaU 2021
Explanation

Reported speech is when we tell someone what another person


said. To do this, we can use direct speech or indirect speech.

e.g.: Martha said: “I work as a doctor at the hospital”.


Martha said that she worked as a doctor at the hospital.
Formation

In indirect speech, we often use a tense which is ‘further


back’ in the past. This is called ‘backshift’.

We also may need to change pronouns.

We also change demonstratives and adverbs of time and


place if they are no longer accurate.
As you can see, there are certain changes to
be made when using reported speech:
◦ Tenses
◦ Time and place expressions
◦ Pronouns

‘I’m going to the beach She / He said that


tomorrow’ she was going to the
beach the next day.
You can see now how the different verbal tenses change in reported speech:

DIRECT SPEECH REPORTED


turns into SPEECH

PRESENT ‘I know everybody here’ PAST


SIMPLE She said that she knew everybody there. SIMPLE

PRESENT ‘I’m going to the doctor.’ PAST


CONTINUOUS She said that she was going to the doctor. CONTINUOUS
DIRECT SPEECH REPORTED SPEECH
turns into
PRESENT ‘We have passed the exam.’ PAST PERFECT
She said that they had passed the exam.
PERFECT

PAST SIMPLE ‘I wrote two letters to her.’ PAST PERFECT OR


He said (that) he had written two letters to her. STAYS THE SAME
He said (that) he wrote two letters to her.

PAST ‘I was doing my homework.’ PAST PERF.


CONTINUOUS She said that she had been doing her CONTINUOUS
homework.

PAST ‘We had finished earlier.’ PAST PERFECT


PERFECT She said that they had finished earlier.
Modal verbs

DIRECT REPORTED
SPEECH turns into SPEECH
WILL ‘I will help you.’ WOULD
She said that she would help me.
CAN ‘I can do it by myself.’ COULD
She said that she could do it by
herself.
MAY ‘They may come home.’ MIGHT
She said that they might come home.
MUST ‘You must keep the secret.’ HAD TO
She said that we had to keep the
secret.
There is no change for might, could, should,
would.

‘I could be back later.’


He said he could be back later.
DIRECT REPORTED
SPEECH SPEECH
Now Then
Today That day
Tonight That night
Yesterday The previous day / The day before
Last week The previous week / The week before
A...ago The previous / The...before
Tomorrow The following day / The day after / The next day
Next... The following.../ The ...after
Here There
This / These That / Those
DIRECT SPEECH REPORTED SPEECH
I He / She
Me Him / Her
Mine His / Her
Myself Himself / Herself
We They
Us Them
Ours
oursel Theirs
ves Themse
lves
You I / We
Yours Mine / Ours
Yourself / Myself /
No Tense Changes
 If the report is about something which is always true, it is not
necessary to change tenses.
e.g.: ‘I like apples more than I like oranges’.
She said that she likes apples more than she likes oranges.
But in cases like this it is not wrong to change tenses with
backshift.

 When we report immediately what someone says, we usually


do not change tenses.
e.g.: Jack speaking to Ted: ‘I’m going to the cinema tonight.
Do you want to come?’
Ted reporting the conversation to Peter: ‘Jack is on the
phone. He says he’s going to the cinema tonight.’
We normally use the verbs say and tell. The
difference between them is that say can be
used without object (or to + object) and tell is
always used with the object:

◦ He told me that she knew it.


◦ He said (to me) that she knew it.
How about if we want to report commands? Have a look
at these ones:
 'Shut up, boys!'

The teacher asked us to shut up.


Shut up!!!!

 'Don't speak, boys!‘


The teacher asked us not to speak.

As you can see, the imperative tense has no subject in


English and the verb is used in infinitive without to.
Thus, if you want to report it, you have to use a to
infinitive (or not to-infinitive) as in the examples above.
Remember there are two types of questions:

 Yes / No questions: the answer is always 'yes' or


'no', starting with a verb:
◦ 'Do you like football?' 'Yes, I do.'
◦ 'Were you at home last night?' 'No, I wasn't.'

 Wh questions: the answer depends on the


interrogative pronoun:
◦ 'Where did you go?' 'I went to the beach.'
◦ 'How often do you play football?' 'I play football once a
week.'
Do you like English?

As you can see, there are changes as in


statements, but we need the verb ASK and include
IF. Keep in mind that the word order has a
statement structure:
 'Do you like football?', he asked me.
He asked me if I liked football.

'Are you at home?', he asked me. 'No, I'm not', I


answered.
He asked me if I was at home and I answered I
was not.
In these cases, there is also a shift in word
order and tenses also change. However, IF is
substituted by the interrogative pronoun given.
Have a look at these examples:

'Where are you going?', he asked me.


He asked me where I was going

What time is it?


Reporting Commands and Requests

Commands are reported with tell and the infinitive.


e.g.:‘Wait! Wait!’
I told him to wait.

Requests are reported with ask and the infinitive.


e.g.: ‘Please wait!’
I asked her to wait.
Thank You for
Your Attention!

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