Reported Speech

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What is Reported Speech?
• “We have a mini-test today,” said Lan.
➔ Direct speech
• Lan said (that) we had a mini-test that day.
➔ Indirect speech OR reported speech
• A style used to report what a speaker actually
said
• Words changed
• No quotation marks

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Notes: Punctuations in Direct Speech
1. “I’ll be off next week,” said Mary.
2. “I’ll be off next week,” Mary said.
3. “I’ll be off next week,” said she.
4. “I’ll be off next week,” she said.
5. “Are you okay?,” she asked.
6. “Are you okay?” she asked.
7. “Are you okay?”, she asked.

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Types

1. Reported statements
2. Reported questions
3. Reported commands/requests/suggestions

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1. Reported Statements
• Usually introduced by SAY or TELL
• THAT is optional.
• Personal pronouns and possessive adjectives
changed according to context
• “I like your car,” he said to Mary.
• Adverbials (of place and time) changed
according to context
• Verb forms changed

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Adverbials of time
tonight, today, this that night, that day, that
week/month/year week/month/year
now then, at that time, at
once, immediately
now that since
yesterday, last night/ the day before, the
week/month/year previous night/week/
month/year
tomorrow, next week/ the following day/the
month/year day after, the following/
next week/month/year
two days/months/years two days/months/years
ago before 6
Certain words
• This => that
• These => those
• Here => there
• Come => go

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Verb forms in Reported Speech
• Past Perfect and Past Perfect Progressive: no
change
• Past Simple: changed to Past Perfect or
remaining the same
• Verb forms in time clauses remaining the same
“She came to my house while I was doing
laundry,” he said.
➔ He said (that) she had come / came to his
house while he was doing laundry.
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Verb Forms in Reported Speech
• If the reported sentence is out of date, the verb form
changes.
• If the reported sentence is up to date, the verb form
doesn’t change. (still true at the moment of speaking/
writing)
“Rose called this morning,” said Peter. (last Sunday)
➔ Peter said (that) Rose had called that morning. (7
p.m. today)
“Rose called this morning,” said Peter. (5 p.m. today)
➔ He said (that) she called this morning. (7 p.m.
today)
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Verb Forms Not Changing When …
• Reporting verb is in present or future
• The speaker expresses general truths,
permanent states or conditions
• The reported sentence deals with conditionals
type 2 and 3, wishes or unreal past
• The speaker is reporting something right after
it is said (up to date)
• If the speaker reports something which is
believed to be untrue, the verb forms change.
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2. Reported Questions
• Introduced with ASK, WONDER, INQUIRE, etc.
• Statement word order
• Wh-questions: ask + wh-word
• Yes/No questions: ask + if/whether
“Where did you have lunch?”
=> I asked Elaine where she’d had lunch. (NOT where had
she)
“Can we take photos?”
=> Anna wondered if we could take photos. (NOT if could
we)
Could you tell me what time it is, please?
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3. Reported Commands/Requests/Suggestions

• To report orders, requests, warnings, advice,

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Modals change
• can => could
• may => might
• must => had to-Inf, was/were to-Inf
• mustn’t => mustn’t, was/were not to-Inf,
shouldn’t
• must have p.p. => must have p.p.
• needn’t => had to-Inf, didn’t have to-Inf, wouldn’t
have to-Inf
• will => would
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1. When I told Peter that the dog has/had eaten my
homework, he didn’t believe me.
2. Adam told me that his girlfriend doesn’t/didn’t eat
meal at all.
3. When I saw Ed yesterday morning, he told me that
he is/was going to look at a flat in the afternoon.
4. Then we watched it, Paul said he has/had never
seen a worse movie in his life.
5. Roger told me about the pop quiz. He said his team
were/had been doing well in the first few founds,
but that it all went/had all gone wrong with the
round about dance music.
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6. Did Galileo say that the Earth goes/went round
the sun?
7. Phil told me on Friday that he has/had just
bumped into Wally Deacon!
8. Babs announced to us all last night that she is/
was finally giving up smoking.
9. Did you say that you do/did want sugar in your
coffee or not?
10.I told Brian last week that the office isn’t/
wasn’t opening on Tuesday, so I don’t know
why he showed up yesterday morning.
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1. Bod didn’t tell me that he probably wouldn’t be coming in
today.
2. Last week he told us that we don’t have to do that
exercise and then yesterday he said he’d made a
mistake.
3. Did you say these bills had to be paid before tomorrow?
4. Steve said he could play the guitar when he was two
years old. Do you believe that?
5. Pauline told my mum that she’d had better get a lawyer. I
think she’s right.
6. When we went to the party, Claudia told me that I must be
on my best behavior all evening. It was very typical of her.

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7. Darren said Mr. Taylor was to have forgotten about the
meeting, but I’m not so sure. I think he just didn’t want to
come.
8. When I was a teenager, my dad always told me that I’m not to
stay out later than ten o’clock.
9. I was pleased when Jilly told us that she can help us paint the
flat. If only I’d known then what that meant!
10.When I was at school, my English teacher always told us that
we don’t have to pay attention but we do have to be quiet.
11.The letter they sent six months ago said that they shall be in
touch again soon. Well, I haven’t heard anything since!
12. Seven years ago, the PM stated that his government will be
corruption-free. It doesn’t look that way now, does it?

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