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Reported

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mcg.tomares
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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REPORTED SPEECH

When the introductory verb is in the past, for example, He said / told me …, we find the following changes
when going from Direct to Reported Speech:

➢ CHANGES IN THE TIME EXPRESSIONS:

DIRECT SPEECH REPORTED SPEECH


Now Then, at that time, at that moment
Today That day
Yesterday The day before, the previous day
Tomorrow The next / following day, the day after
Next week / month /year The following week / month / year
Last week / month / year The previous week / month / year
The week / month / year before
A week / month / year ago The week / month / year before

➢ OTHER CHANGES:

DIRECT SPEECH REPORTED SPEECH


This That
These Those
Here There

➢ CHANGES IN TENSES:

DIRECT SPEECH He said, REPORTED SPEECH He said that


Present Simple: “She studies English” Past Simple: …she studied English.
Present Continuous: “She is studying English” Past Continuous: …she was studying English.
Present Perfect: “She has studied English” Past Perfect: …she had studied English.
Present Perfect Continuous: Past Perfect Continuous: …she had been studying
“She has been studying English” English.
Past Simple: “She studied English” Past Perfect: …she had studied English.
Past Continuous: “She was studying English” Past Perfect Continuous: …she had been studying
English.
Past Perfect: “She had studied English” IT DOESN’T CHANGE
Past Perfect Continuous: IT DOESN’T CHANGE
“She had been studying English”
Future Simple : “She will study English” Conditional Simple: …she would study English.
Future Continuous: “She will be studying English” Conditional Continuous: …she would be studying
English.
Can: “She can study English” Could: …she could study English.
May: “She may study English” Might: …she might study English.
Must / Have to: “She must / has to study English” Had to: …she had to study English.
All the combinations with Should, Could, Would, THEY DON’T CHANGE
Might, Ought to and Used to:
“She should / might / used to
study English”
REPORTING COMMANDS:
The introductory verbs are usually tell / ask / order:

• He told us: “Stay here” ============================= === He told us to stay there.


• He said: “Please, don’t shout” =========================== He asked me not to shout.

REPORTING QUESTIONS:
The most frequent introductory verbs are ask / inquire / want to know:

Yes/No questions:

1. The order of the subject and the verb changes (there is no inversion).

2. The auxiliary word disappears.

3. We put IF or WHETHER after the introductory verb.

4. The question mark disappears.

“Did you speak to John last night?”, she asked ========== She asked IF I had spoken to John the night before.

(Aux. + S + Verb) (S + Verb)

“Are you working tonight?”, he inquired. ============= He inquired IF I was working that night.

Wh-Questions:

1. The order of the subject and the verb changes (there is no inversion).

2. The auxiliary word disappears.

3. We put THE QUESTION WORD after the introductory verb.

4. The question mark disappears.

“Where did you go yesterday?”, he asked ==============He asked WHERE I had gone the day before.

(Aux. + S + Verb) (S + Verb)

“Why are you here?”, he asked me. =================== He asked me WHY I was there.

NOTE :

When the Question Word is the subject of the sentence, there is no change in the order of the words:

“Who told you this story?”, he asked ============== He asked WHO had told us that story.

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