Direct and Indirect Speech 1 2 Indirect statements

Direct and Indirect Speech 1. 2. Indirect statements Indirect questions 3. Indirect commands and exclamations

1. Indirect statements When a statement is turned from direct into indirect speech, there is no change of tense if the reporting verb is in the present. But the time reference is usually back-shifted if the reporting verb is in the past. *Present time back-shifted to the past *Past time back-shifted to past in the past *Future time back-shifted to future in the past *Other changes in indirect speech

1) Present time back-shifted to the past ¬ When the reporting verb is in the past tense, the verb in the indirect speech should be turned from the simple present into the simple past, ¬ from the present progressive into the past progressive, ¬ from the present perfective into the past perfective, ¬ from the present perfective progressive into the past perfective progressive.

1) Present time back-shifted to the past ¬ However, there are cases in which no such changes are necessary even though the reporting verb is in the past tense. This happens: ¬ a) when what is reported is a timeless fact, a scientific truth, a present habit or a proverb: He said, “The word ‘laser’ is an acronym. ” →He said the word ‘laser’ is an acronym.

1) Present time back-shifted to the past ¬ b) when the verb in the direct speech is a besubjunctive: “I suggest the meeting be put off till next week, ” he said. →He suggested the meeting be put off till the next week. ¬ c) when the statement is still valid at the time of reporting: “I’m forty, ” he said. →He said that he is forty.

1) Present time back-shifted to the past ¬d) when the verb phrase in the direct speech contains a modal auxiliary that has not a past form: He said, “It must be pretty late. I really must go. ” →He said it must be pretty late, and he really must go.

2) Past time back-shifted to past in the past ¬a) The simple past is generally changed to the past perfective, but this change may not take place where “past in the past” is selfexplanatory, eg: ¬Ann said, “I emigrated to Paris in 1956. ” ¬→Ann said she emigrated to Paris in 1956.

2) Past time back-shifted to past in the past ¬b) The past progressive is generally changed to the past perfective profressive, but sometimes the verb form may remain unchanged, eg: ¬Robert said, “I was joking with Mary. ” ¬ →Robert said that he had been / was joking with Mary.

2) Past time back-shifted to past in the past ¬c) The past perfective remains unchanged, eg: ¬He said, “We had returned to the store when she came. ” ¬ →He said they had returned to the store when she came.

2) Past time back-shifted to past in the past ¬d) The simple past and past progressive expressing hypothetical meanings remain unchanged, eg: ¬He said, “It is time we stopped work. ” ¬ →He said it was time they stopped work.

2) Past time back-shifted to past in the past ¬e) The simple past and past progressive in temporal clauses may remain unchanged, eg: ¬John said, “When I lived in London, I often saw Jane. ” ¬ →John said that when he lived in London he had often seen / often saw Jane.

3) Future time back-shifted to future in the past ¬ *This kind of back-shifting commonly occurs in auxiliaries used in future tense, eg: ¬ He said, “The sausages will go off if you don’t cook them today. ” ¬ →He said the sausages would go off if I didn’t cook them that day. ¬ *But the change may not happen if the future event is yet to come at the moment of speaking, eg: ¬ He said, “I’ll be waiting for you tomorrow. ” ¬ →He said he’ ll be waiting for me tomorrow.

4) Other changes in indirect speech a) There is change both in time adverbial and in verb form: ¬ He said, “It was completed a year ago. ” ¬ →He said it had been completed a year before. b) No change in time adverbial, but there may or may not be change in verb form: ¬ She said, “We left Paris at eight. ” ¬ →She said they left / had left Paris at eight.

4) Other changes in indirect speech ¬ c) Whether time adverbial changes or not depends on the context or situation. For instance, time adverbial may remain unchanged if the act of reporting occurs within the time span of the reported event: ¬ Mr Blake said, “We started learning Chinese last month. ” ¬ If the speech is quoted in the same month, we may say: ¬ Mr Blake said they had started learning Chinese last month.

2. Indirect questions ¬ All the transformational rules mentioned in the preceding section also apply to questions when they are turned into indirect speech. But apart from these rules there are other points worth noting. ¬ Introductory word of indirect questions ¬ Communicative functions of indirect questions

1) Introductory word of indirect questions ¬ *When quoting a general or tag question, we can either use whether or if as the introductory word, but an indirect alternative question is more often than not introduced by whether, eg: ¬ “Does he really mean it? ” ¬ →I wondered whether / if he really meant it. ¬ “Is this book yours or his? ” ¬ →She asked whether that book was mine or his. ¬ *When a special question is quoted, the question word such as who, what, how, when, etc, is repeated in the indirect question, eg: ¬ “Which chair shall I sit in? ” ¬ →He asked which chair he should sit in.

2) Communicative functions of indirect questions ¬a) Ask, advise, want, etc can be used to make a request or to give advice, eg: ¬“Would you buy me some stamps? ” ¬→He asked me to buy him some stamps. ¬“Why don’t you phone her first? ” ¬→He advised me to phone her first.

2) Communicative functions of indirect questions b) Suggest is usually used to make a suggestion, eg: ¬ “Why don’t you send it back to the factory? ” ¬ →He suggested that I (should) send it back to the factory. c) Offer is commonly used to make an offer, eg: ¬ “Shall I post them to you? ” ¬ →He offered to post them to me.

3. Indirect commands and exclamations ¬ 1) Indirect commands ¬ 2) Indirect exclamations

1) Indirect commands ¬ Commands are reported by such constructions as “verb + object + infinitive”. Verbs used in these constructions include ask, beg, tell, urge, warm, remind, advise, etc, eg: ¬ “Leave the room quietly. ” ¬ →He told me to leave the room quietly. ¬ “Verb + that-clause” or “verb + -ing participle”, eg: ¬ “Let’s stay here till the storm has passed. ” ¬ →He suggested that we should stay there / suggested our staying there till the storm had passed. ¬ “Offer + infinitive”, eg: ¬ “Let me give you a lift home. ” ¬ →Harry offered to give me a lift home.

2) Indirect exclamations ¬ a) We can use what, how or that as introductory word, eg: ¬ “What a lovely house!” ¬ →He remarked what a lovely house it was. ¬ →He remarked that it was a lovely house. ¬ b) We can rephrase the exclamation in a statement, eg: ¬ “How kind of you!” ¬ →He acknowledged my kindness.