REPORTED SPEECH
When do we use reported speech? When someone says something such as "I'm going
to the disco tonight" and afterwards, we want to tell someone else what the first person
said.
Indirect speech or reported speech is the way in which you can tell, explain, write or say
something in your own words, changing the verb tense to the past tense. It differs from
direct speech in this way, as direct speech involves saying or writing everything exactly
as it was said.
TENSE DIRECT SPEECH TENSE REPORTED SPEECH
PRESSENT “I work hard.” PAST SIMPLE He said that he worked hard.
SIMPLE
PRESENT “I am working hard.” PAST He said that he was working hard.
CONTINUOUS CONTINUOUS
PAST SIMPLE “I worked hard PAST PERFECT He said hat he had worked hard the
yesterday.” previous day / the day before.
PAST He was working hard at PERFECT He said that he had been working
CONTINUOUS six this morning.” CONTINUOUS hard at six that morning.
PRESENT “I have worked hard.” PAST PERFECT He said that he had worked hard.
PERFECT
PAST PERFECT “I had worked hard.” PAST PERFECT He said that he had worked hard.
FUTURE SIMPLE “I will work hard.” CONDITIONAL He said that he would work hard.
“I can work hard.” He said that he could work hard.
“I could work hard.” He said that he had been able to
work hard.
MODALS “I must work hard.” MODALS He said that he had to work hard.
“I should work hard.” He said that he should work hard.
Moreover, when we change direct speech into reported speech, we have to change
time expressions too (to make sense). It is important to highlight that it depends on
when we heard the direct speech and when we say the reported speech.
For example:
It's Monday. Anne says "I'm leaving today".
If I tell someone on Monday, I say "Anne said she was leaving today".
If I tell someone on Tuesday, I say "Anne said she was leaving yesterday".
If I tell someone on Wednesday, I say "Anne said she was leaving on Monday".
If I tell someone a month later, I say "Anne said she was leaving that day".
ADVERBS OF TIME ADVERBS OF TIME
Direct Speech Reported Speech
Today / Tonight That day / That night
This day / week / month / year That day / week / month / year
Tomorrow The next day
Next day / week / month / year The following day / week / month / year
Yesterday The previous day / The day before
Last week / month / year The previous week /month / year
Now At that moment / then
Here There
Reported Questions
A reported question is when we tell someone what another asked. In fact, it is not so
different from the reported positive and negative sentences.
The tense changes are the same as before and we keep the question word. The
important thing is that, once we tell the question to someone else, it is not a question
any more. Due to that fact, we need to change the interrogative sentence to a positive
one.
As in the example, we introduce reported question-word questions with:
subject + asked + (indirect object) + question word.
For example:
•Direct speech: Where does Michael go?
•Reported speech: He asked where Michael went.
Regarding 'wh' questions, if you need to report a 'yes / no' question, we use 'if or
whether' in the reported speech. For example:
•Direct speech: Do you like pizza?
•Reported speech: She asked me if I liked pizza.
Regarding the direct questions made up of ‘be’, the verb ‘be’ can come before or after
the object. For example:
•Direct speech: Who is the teacher?
•Reported speech: She asked me who the teacher was. / She asked me who was the
teacher.
Here are some more examples:
DIRECT QUESTIONS INDIRECT QUESTIONS
What is your name? They asked me what my name was.
Who has seen Titanic? She asked me who had seen Titanic.
How much might it cost? He asked me how much it might cost.
