REPORTED SPEECH

MADE BY PR SALMA EL HOUARI

When do we use reported speech? Sometimes someone says a sentence, for example
"I'm going to the cinema tonight". Later, maybe we want to tell someone else what the
first person said.

Here's how it works:

We use a 'reporting verb' like 'say' or 'tell'. If this verb is in the present tense, it's easy. We just put
'she says' and then the sentence:

• Direct speech: I like ice cream.

• Reported speech: She says (that) she likes ice cream.

We don't need to change the tense, though probably we do need to change the 'person' from 'I' to

'she', for example. We also may need to change words like 'my' and 'your'.

(As I'm sure you know, often, we can choose if we want to use 'that' or not in English. I've put it in

brackets () to show that it's optional. It's exactly the same if you use 'that' or if you don't use 'that'.)

Tense Direct Speech Reported Speech

Past simple
present
I like ice cream
simple
She said (that) she liked ice cream.

Past continuous
present I am living in
continuous London
She said (that) she was living in London.

Past simple or past perfect

past simple I bought a car
 She said (that) she had bought a car OR
She said (that) she bought a car.

Past perfect continuous

past I was walking
continuous along the street She said (that) she had been walking
along the street.

Past perfect
present I haven't seen
perfect Julie
She said (that) she hadn't seen Julie.

Past perfect
I had taken
past perfect* English lessons
She said (that) she had taken English
before
lessons before.

Would
will I'll see you later
She said (that) she would see me later.

would
would* I would help, but...
She said (that) she would help but...

could
I can speak
can
perfect English She said (that) she could speak perfect
English.

Could
I could swim
could*
when I was four She said (that) she could swim when
she was four.

would
shall I shall come later
She said (that) she would come later.

should
I should call my
should*
mother She said (that) she should call her
mother
 might
might* I might be late
She said (that) she might be late

Must or had to

I must study at
must She said (that) she must study at the
the weekend
weekend OR She said she had to study
at the weekend

Reported Questions

So now you have no problem with making reported speech from positive and

negative sentences. But how about questions?

• Direct speech: Where do you live?

How can we make the reported speech here?

In fact, it's not so different from reported statements. The tense changes are the
same, and we keep the question word. The very important thing though is that,
once we tell the question to someone else, it isn't a question any more. So we
need to change the grammar to a normal positive sentence. A bit confusing?
Maybe this example will help:

• Direct speech: Where do you live?

• Reported speech: She asked me where I lived.

Do you see how I made it? The direct question is in the present simple tense. We
make a present simple question with 'do' or 'does' so I need to take that away.
Then I need to change the verb to the past simple.

Another example:

• Direct speech: Where is Julie?

• Reported speech: She asked me where Julie was.

The direct question is the present simple of 'be'. We make the question form of
the present simple of be by inverting (changing the position of)the subject and
verb. So, we need to change them back before putting the verb into the past
simple.
Here are some more examples:

Direct Question Reported Question

Where is the Post Office,

She asked me where the Post Office was.
please?

What are you doing? She asked me what I was doing.

She asked me who that fantastic man had

Who was that fantastic man?
been.

So much for 'wh' questions. But, what if you need to report a 'yes / no' question?
We don't have any question words to help us. Instead, we use 'if':

• Direct speech: Do you like chocolate?

• Reported speech: She asked me if I liked chocolate.

No problem? Here are a few more examples:

Direct Question Reported Question

Do you love me? He asked me if I loved him.

Have you ever been to Mexico? She asked me if I had ever been to Mexico.

Are you living here? She asked me if I was living here.

Reported Requests

There's more! What if someone asks you to do something (in a polite way)? For
example:

• Direct speech: Close the window, please

• Or: Could you close the window please?
• Or: Would you mind closing the window please?
All of these requests mean the same thing, so we don't need to report every

word when we tell another person about it. We simply use 'ask me + to +

infinitive':

• Reported speech: She asked me to close the window.

Here are a few more examples:

Direct Request Reported Request

Please help me. She asked me to help her.

Please don't smoke. She asked me not to smoke.

She asked me to bring her book that

Could you bring my book tonight?
night.

Could you pass the milk, please? She asked me to pass the milk.

Would you mind coming early She asked me to come early the next
tomorrow? day.

To report a negative request, use 'not':

• Direct speech: Please don't be late.

• Reported speech: She asked us not to be late.

Reported Orders

And finally, how about if someone doesn't ask so politely? We can call this an
'order' in English, when someone tells you very directly to do something. For

example:

• Direct speech: Sit down!

In fact, we make this into reported speech in the same way as a request. We just

use 'tell' instead of 'ask':

• Reported speech: She told me to sit down.

 Direct Order Reported Order

Go to bed! He told the child to go to bed.

Don't worry! He told her not to worry.

Be on time! He told me to be on time.

Don't smoke! He told us not to smoke.

Time Expressions with Reported Speech

Sometimes when we change direct speech into reported speech we have to

change time expressions too. We don't always have to do this, however. It

depends on when we heard the direct speech and when we say the reported

speech.

For example:

It's Monday. Julie says "I'm leaving today".

If I tell someone on Monday, I say "Julie said she was leaving today".

If I tell someone on Tuesday, I say "Julie said she was leaving yesterday".

If I tell someone on Wednesday, I say "Julie said she was leaving on Monday".
If I tell someone a month later, I say "Julie said she was leaving that day".

So, there's no easy conversion. You really have to think about when the direct

speech was said.

Here's a table of some possible conversions:

now then / at that time

 today yesterday / that day / Tuesday / the 27th of June

the day before yesterday / the day before / Wednesday / the 5th
yesterday
of December

last night the night before, Thursday night

last week the week before / the previous week

tomorrow today / the next day / the following day / Friday

EXERCISE
1. Mary said, “I will play a card game tomorrow.”
Mary informed me that ____________________________________________ .
2. Sophie said, “I went to bed early last night.”
Sophie said that __________________________________________________ .
3. The teacher said to Jenny, „You have to learn your grammar.”
The teacher told Jenny_________________________________________________
4. Jessica told the immigration officer,” This is my first trip to England.”
Jessica told the immigration officer that ___________________________ .
5. He told me, “You are the most beautiful girl I have ever seen.”
He told me that_______________________________________________________ .
6. Marty said, “I’m going to visit my uncle next month.”
Marty said that
________________________________________________________ .
7. Lara said, “I get on with my parents really fine.”
Lara said that____________________________________________________ .
8. Gloria explained, “I can’t come to the party because I’m going away for the
weekend.”
Gloria explained that _________________________________________________ .
9. Mark said, “My friend found a new job in the music business.”
Mark said that __________________________________________
10. Judy complained, “I have already written this essay four times.”
Judy complained that ________________________________________________ .
11. Peter announced, “I will not give up until this factory is shut down.”
Peter announced that ________________________________________________
12. Her boyfriend told her,” You have bought a wonderful dress.”
Her boyfriend told her that _________________________________________ .
13. Paul said, “I don’t like my new flat.”
Paul said that _________________________________________________ .
14. My father told Ben, “I am sure I saw you here last week.
My father told Ben that _____________________________________________ .
15. Betty said, „If I knew the answer, I would tell you.”
Betty said that _________________________________________________
16. "Have you studied reported speech before?"she asked me
she asked me__________________________________________________

17. "Do you like coffee?" She asked me

She asked me_________________________________________________

18. "Did he arrive on time? " He asked me

He asked me________________________________________________