Reported Speech 400 Direct Speech In direct speech

Reported Speech 400

Direct Speech

➔ In direct speech, we use the exact words said by the speaker with quotation marks. ➔ Direct speech is very common in stories, novels, and newspaper / blog articles. We usually use the verb, say for statements, and ask for questions.

Examples - "My name is John. " ○ He said, "My name is John. " - "I don't want to do that. " ○ She said, "I don't want to do that. "

Reported Speech

➔ Reported speech is another way we report what others have said. ➔ Unlike direct speech, with reported speech, we do not use the person's exact words, nor do we use quotation marks.

➔ We also need to change the pronouns (I, me, you, etc. ) and possessive adjectives (my, your, etc. ).

Examples - "My name is John. " ○ He said his name was John. - "I don't want to do that. " ○ She said she didn't want to do that.

Backshifting of Tenses

➔ We usually backshift the tense of the statement or question we are reporting.

Examples - "I am from Canada. " ○ He said he was from Canada. - "We have two dogs. " ○ She said they had two dogs.

Tense Quotation Reported Speech Present Simple "I live alone. " You said (that) you lived alone. Present Continuous "I am having a good time. " You said (that) we were having a good time. Past Simple "I ate eggs for breakfast. " You said (that) you had eaten eggs for breakfast.

Tense Quotation Reported Speech Past Continuous "I was walking to school at 8: 30 AM. " You said (that) you had been walking to school at 8: 30 AM. Present Perfect Simple "I have never seen a spaceship in real life. " You said (that) you had never seen a spaceship in real life. Present Perfect Continuous "I have been living here for 3 years. " You said (that) you had been living there for 3 years.

Tense Quotation Reported Speech Past Perfect Simple* "I hadn't woken up, yet. " You said (that) you hadn't woken up yet. Will "It will probably rain this afternoon. " You said (that) it would probably rain this afternoon. Be Going To "I am going to study tonight. " You said (that) you were going to study tonight. *These tenses or words do not change.

Tense Quotation Reported Speech Can "I can play guitar. " You said (that) you could play guitar. Could* "I couldn't understand the movie very well. " You said (that) you couldn't understand the movie very well. Must "I must do better. " You said (that) you had to do better. *These tenses or words do not change.

Tense Quotation Reported Speech Should* "I should go home soon. " You said (that) you should go home soon. Would* "I would like to have a snack. " You said (that) you would like to have a snack. May "The tea may be too hot to drink. " You said (that) the tea may be too hot to drink. Might* "We might go away for the weekend. " You said (that) you might go away for the weekend. *These tenses or words do not change.

Reported Speech: Say or Tell

➔ In reported speech, we usually use one of these two words. They have the same meaning but different usages. With tell, we need an object after the verb. ➔ This is almost always a person's name or pronoun. Also, with both say and tell, we may use the word, that to begin the statement, but it is not necessary.

Examples - I told her (that) she was very pretty. - The teacher told the class (that) class would be cancelled the following week. - You didn't tell me (that) you were coming today!

➔ With say, we do not need an object before the statement. Although not necessary, we can explain who the sentence was said to with the preposition, to.

Examples - I said (to her) (that) she was very pretty. - The teacher said (to us) (that) class would be cancelled the following week. - You didn't say (to me) (that) you coming today!

Reported Speech: Questions

➔ When we report questions, we are not actually asking a question. Because of this, we need to change the inversion to the word order of a normal sentence.

Examples - "Do you know Pam's phone number? " ○ You asked (me) if I knew Pam's phone number. - "Where are you going? " ○ You asked (me) where I was going.

Examples - "Where are you going? " ○ He asked me where I was going.

➔ In inversion, the auxiliary verb comes before the subject. To remove the inversion, we need to place the auxiliary verb after the subject.

Examples - "Where are you going? " ○ You asked me where I was going. - "What time will class start tomorrow? " ○ You asked me what time class would start tomorrow.

➔ Remember: the auxiliary verbs do, does, and did are not necessary in normal sentence word order.

Examples - "Where do you live? " ○ You asked me where I lived. - "What kind of food does he like? " ○ You asked what kind of food he liked.

➔ With questions, we usually use the verb, ask in reported speech. With ask, you have the choice to use an object or not.

Examples - "Why can't we go to a restaurant tonight? " ○ You asked why we couldn't go to a restaurant tonight. ○ You asked me why we couldn't go to a restaurant tonight.

➔ After ask, we need a question word. For yes or no questions, use if or whether.

Direct Speech Reported Speech - today → that day - now → then / at that time - yesterday → the day before / Tuesday, etc. - … days ago → … days before - last week → the week before / the previous week

Direct Speech Reported Speech - next year → the following year - tomorrow → the next day / the following day - here → there - this → that - these → those