Reported Speech REVISION SAYTELLASK Reported Speech Before we

Reported Speech REVISION SAY/TELL/ASK

Reported Speech • Before we start Although there are certain rules, let’s study the following examples: Monday morning: The washing machine breaks down. You call the technician and ask him to come. He says: “I will be there tomorrow morning. ”

Reported Speech Monday morning A friend calls you and you tell her that the technician said that he would be here tomorrow morning.

Reported Speech Tuesday morning The technician does not show up and you call him and say: “You said you would be here this morning. ”

Reported Speech Wednesday The technician has still not shown up. You call him again and say, “You said you would be here yesterday. ”

Reported Speech Thursda. Y A friend calls you at work. You tell him about the problem. He said he would go to my house the day before yesterday.

Reported Speech In other words, you must use your. . . COMMON SENSE!!!!

Reported Speech is the grammar we use when we want to tell another person about a conversation that took place in the past.

WHAT IS REPORTED SPEECH?

Quoted speech • Quoted speech tells you who said something and what they said. • We use quoted speech for the exact words someone uses. We use it in novels, stories and newspaper articles.

example • Elvis said, “I don’t know anything about music. In my line, you don’t have to”

Reported speech • When we don’t want to use the exact words someone said, we use reported speech. • We use reported speech often in both speech and writing. It has a main clause and a noun clause. • We use reporting verbs such as say or tell.

Example • Quoted speech: Muhammad Ali said, “I´m the greatest. ” • Repoted speech: Muhammad Ali said he was the greatest.

We often use reported speech to. . . Give someone a message: Example: Ellen said she couldn’t come today because her son had a fever.

We often use reported speech to. . . Tell someone news that we heard from someone else: Example: Tom told me that he and Karen got engaged!

We often use reported speech to. . . To report something that happened: Example: Sam said that the other driver wasn’t paying attention and hit his car.

How to use reported speech: When we use reported speech, we are usually talking about the past. Therefore, verbs usually change to the past tense in reported speech.

Am/is are have/has can/can’t will/won’t become was becomes were become had become couldn’t wouldn’t

Reported speech typically uses the following structure: Someone said (that) … Sentence, past OR Someone told me (that) … Sentence, past However, in English, you can NEVER say Someone said me. . .

Time and place expressions can change in reported speech. now then, at that time today, tonight that day, that night yesterday the day before tomorrow the next/following day this week that week last / next week the week before / after two weeks ago two weeks before here there in this place in that place

Examples of reporting what someone said. . . I talked to Sandra yesterday. She was telling me about her job. Her job is quite stressful. Sandra said: “I’m not happy at my job anymore. I think I’ll quit. ”

Sandra said, “I’m not happy at my job anymore. I think I’ll quit. Now you want to tell someone else what Sandra said. In this situation, it’s natural to use reported speech: You say:

Sandra said, “I’m not happy at my job anymore. I think I’ll quit. Sandra told me that she happy at her job anymore and she quit.

When a person told you something in the past tense, you can use either the past tense or the past perfect after the “said” phrase. Example: Tim said: “I worked really hard today. ”

past tense past perfect tense

Let’s practice!

Rewrite the sentences as reported speech. Make the necessary changes. • • • 1. I really like this house, ” she said. She said she really liked that house. 2. She said, “We can walk to the shops from the house. ” She said they could walk to the shops from the house. 3. She said, “We have looked for a long time. ” She said they had looked for a long time. 4. He said, “we’re getting married next month. ” He said they were getting married the following month. 5. She said, “My parents saw the house yesterday. ” She said her parents had seen the house the day before. 6. My father said, “You have to do some work on the house. ” My father said we had to do some work on the house.

Reported questions

What happens with … • Wh- questions? • Yes/no questions?

Reported questions v We use verbs like ask, inquire, wonder or the expresssion want to know to report questions. We do not use say or tell. • “Where do you live? ”, she asked me. • She asked me/wanted to know/wondered where I lived. v When the question begins with a wh- word- when, where, what, how, …, the noun clause in the reported question begins with the same word. • He asked me, “What do you want? ” • He asked me what I wanted.

v When the question is a yes/no question, we begin the noun clause in the reported question with if or whether. • “Are you coming? ” he asked • He asked if/whether I was coming. v In reported questions, we don’t invert the subject and • • verb or use auxiliaries: He asked me, “How are you? ” He asked me how I was. (subject+verb) He asked me, “Do you like classical music? ” He asked me if I liked classical music. (subject-verb) v Reported questions use the same rules as reported speech for changing verb tenses, modal auxiliaries and other words.

Write the following conversation in reported questions. • • • • She asked me… 1. “Can you speak English? ” (ask) She asked me if I could speak English. 2. “Where do you want to go? ” (ask) She asked me where I wanted to go. 3. ” Have you got a map? ” (enquire) She enquired if I had a map. 4. “Have you seen Buckingham Palace? ” (ask) She asked if I had seen … 5. ”Is this your first time in London? ” (want to know) She wanted to know if that was my first time in London. 6. “How long are you going to stay? ” (ask) She asked how long I was going to stay. 7. “Would you like to have a cup of tea? ” (ask) She asked me if I would like to have a cup of tea.