5. Direct speech:
Conveys exactly what one has said, often:
to dramatize;
to create a sense of immediacy;
because the precise words used were in
some way important (e.g. funny or strange)
It is found:
newspaper reports;
fiction;
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oral narratives.
6. Example:
The bathing on Sunday - the most auspicious day according to
Hindu tradition - is taking place at 18 main locations along the river
bank.
Rajkumar Singh, a government worker from the state of Punjab,
said: "I have travelled for three days by bus, train and foot to reach
the festival.
"I believe a bathe on the most auspicious day will get rid of all my
sins and will help secure me and my family's future."
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7. Reported speech:
used when interested not in the words that
someone has chosen, but in the information
they conveyed;
fewer words are used to report that were
originally spoken.
found in:
newspaper reports;
fiction;
talking or writing about conversations;
reports;
articles or speeches we have already heard or read
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8. Example:
One young devotee, Ashutosh Pandey, a pharmacy student, said the
holy dip was a form of prayer for him.
"When I bathe I am praying to God for the good of my country and
the world," he said.
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9. Choosing reporting verbs:
Neutral verbs
say tell
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is never followed by an indirect object (e.g. him,
us, them, my mother), whereas we have to use an
indirect object after .
We choose when the person who was spoken to is
unimportant or already known. We choose when
we wish to draw attention specifically to the person who
is being addressed!
He (that) he was ill. ill. He
(that) he was He (that) he was not coming.
(that) he was ill.
We often introduce a report with to make clear who was spoken to. We don’t
subsequently need to repeat this, and so we continue using .
10. To tell or to say,
that is the question:
We follow with clause or with a clause
beginning with a question word.
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He said He didn’t say
We can follow with a variety of
clause types and with a noun phrase.
Clause type
He told me .
He told me .
He told me .
He told me .
He told me .
11. Topic verbs:
We use topic or “summarizing” reporting verbs such as or
to report the topic rather than the detail of conversation or text.
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We follow these verbs with a noun phrase, a question-word clause or
a question-word + infinitive clause, not a clause.
Clause type
(noun phrase)
We talked about (question-word clause)
(question-word-infinitive clause)
We discussed / talked about that she was ill.
12. Non-attitude verbs:
comment on the function of what is said, but don’t
involve a judgment about the attitude behind it!
add answer ask explain reply mention
We generally only choose these verbs (in
preference, for example, ) when the additional
information they provide is important!
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13. Attitude and interpretation verbs:
When we report what someone has said, we often
make some kind of interpretation or judgment about
this, and we choose our reporting verbs accordingly!
cast doubt on the truth of what someone said.
She claimed she’d been asleep when it took place.
say something about the speaker’s attitude.
Are you complaining that I don’t pay enough
attention?
say something about the speaker’s intention.
They warned us this might happen.
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14. Attitude and interpretation verbs:
accuse advise allege beg
blame claim complain confirm
demand deny Insinuate Insist
recommend suggest threaten warn
We often choose one of these verbs to establish our
attitude and then, although this attitude is still
relevant, we use more neutral verbs!
We can Follow some of these verbs with an infinitive or a structure
containing an –ing form.
She advised me to go.
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She accused me of lying.
15. Clauses that can follow reporting verbs:
Clause type
noun clause I insisted .
clause They explained .
clause They claimed .
clause I asked him .
clause Didn’t I suggest ?
clause Are you accusing me ?
I recommended later.
We also use pseudo-cleft sentences in reporting speech.
What I actually said was that you had to be home by midnight.
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16. Choosing tense forms:
She (1) that her daughter (2) somewhere in the garden
and she (3) come to the telephone. She also said that she
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(4) her daughter my three previous messages.
(1) Past simple: the key point in the past in relation to which the time of
other events is defined;
(2) Past continous: a temporary event which began before (1) and was still
taking place at the time of (1);
(3) Past form of modal verb: the time is the same as (1);
(4) Past perfect: Events which had taken place before (1).
“I am“I am tired.”told me he is he is tired.
tired.” / He / He told me tired.
When we want to make clear that the circumstances have not
changed, we use a present rather than a past!
17. Transformation rules:
Characteristic changes in tense form
Present changes to past I don’t eat meat. She said she didn’t eat meat.
Auxiliary verbs in the present I’m afraid they’re working She said they were working and
also change to past and don’t want to stop. didn’t want to stop.
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I’ve never travelled to the She said she had never
USA. travelled outside the USA.
Past simple changes to past I saw her. He said he had seen her.
perfect
Auxiliary verbs in the past I was looking for Julie. He said he had been looking for
also change to the past Julie.
perfect
The following modal verbs I can see them. She said she could see them.
often change: can, may, must
We may go there later. She said they might go there
later.
I must leave.
She said she had to leave.
The auxiliary verbs in future I’ll see you. He said he would see me.
forms change to past
I’m going to be back He said she was going to be
tomorrow. back next day.
18. Transformation rules:
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Forms that don’t need to change
Verbs already in the past We’d finished our work He said they had finished their
perfect meat. work.
The following modal verbs: You should eat more. She said I should eat more.
could, might, ought, should,
I couldn’t eat anything. She said she couldn’t eat
would
anything.
19. Choosing names, pronouns and
possessive adjectives:
Direct speech
One day you’ll understand
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why we worry about you
Report A now.
My parents always told that Report B
one day would understand why
worried about in
days. Mary’s mum told the other
day that would understand
one day why worried about
I he / she at the moment.
me him / her
my his / her
we they I can’t stand her.
She said she couldn’t stand Pat.
20. Choosing expressions of time and
place:
here there
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this that
these those
come go
now then
bring take
today that day
yesterday the day before
tomorrow the next day
this week that week
this month that month
21. Word order (indirect speech):
When we report questions, the word order is the same as that of
statements ( rather than ).
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We use or to introduce a reported question.
Do you have the time? Someone asked if I had the time
Where are we going at the I asked you where we are going at
weekend? the weekend.
22. Common mistakes:
* She said me she had to go.
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* She explained me how to do it.
* She suggested me to go.
Reporting verbs:
patterns
* She told she was ill.
* She advised me I had to go.
* She encouraged us leaving early.
23. Common mistakes:
* He asked her where she came from and she answered that she came
from Greece.
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He asked her where she came from and she said that she came from
Greece.
He asked her if she was happy but she didn’t answer.
24. Common mistakes:
Reporting verbs: over-use
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* She asked Robert if he wanted something alcoholic
to drink and he said that he didn’t. He said that he
would prefer a cup of coffee and she said that would
be fine. He said thank you.
25. Common mistakes:
Tense and expressions of time
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* She said she’ll come tomorrow so I waited in all day.
* She said she was busy now but I’m surprised she didn’t come later.
Word order
* She asked him did he like the music.
* They wanted to know were there any more people to come.
* He wondered why were they so late.
26. Practice:
Transform the dialogue above into reported speech
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27. Blanche: Oh, your luggage all matches. That’s so nice. Say cheese. Are you a scrapper?
Ms. Hill Excuse me?
Blanch: Oh, there’s Merle. Hey, Merle. That’s our mailman Merle. That’s what we call him,
Mailman Merle. Because he delivers the mail and he’s our mailman. So you know? Oh, yeah.
Do you keep a scrapbook? Because I do. I’m a scrapper, see. We even got a club. I got a
mini in my bag here. Ok, this here, is our dog, Winston Churchill. He’s dead. He was a bit of a
drooler, I’m afraid. And this here is my kitty Snowflake. She’s dead too. We had to put her
down on account of that kitty-leukemia thing. You should’ve seen the kinds of things she was
barfing up on our couch. Poor thing. Bless her heart. She’s not dead in the picture though.
She’s just sleeping.
Ms. Hill: Could I look at that later maybe? Okay?
Blanche: So… Are you married? Do you have children?
Ms. Hill: No, no. I’m not married.
Blanche: Oh, you’re still young, you know? Relatively. I mean you still got time, I suppose.
Do you eat meat, or are you just one of those vegetarian people?
Ms. Hill: No, I’m not a vegetarian. Why?
Blanche: Because it’s your first night in town. Don’t think we’re gonna let you go hungry.
You’re coming to my house for dinner. Nothing fancy, of course. Meatloaf. Do you mind if I
ask you a personal question?
Ms. Hill: Isn’t that what you’ve been doing?
Blanche: Have you found Jesus?
Ms. Hill: Well, I didn’t know he was missing. It was just a joke.
Blanche: Normally we don’t joke about Jesus around here. But I can see how you’d think that
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was sort of funny. Imagine Jesus gone missing. Imagine.
28. Possible Answer:
Blanche noticed that Lucy’s luggage all matched. Then she asked if Lucy was a scrapper.
Lucy didn’t understand what she meant. When Blanche saw the local mailman she tried to
explain to Lucy why they called him “Mailman Merle”. She came back to her previous topic
about scrapping. She even told Lucy that she had a mini scrapbook in her bag. She took it
out and started showing the pictures of her pets. The details she was giving about how her
pets had died were a bit grotesque. That was why Lucy asked her to show her the scrapbook
another time as she was driving. Blanche asked if Lucy was married. When she heard that
she wasn’t, Blanche tried to encourage her and tell that she was relatively young. The next
question was whether Lucy liked meat or she was one of those vegetarian people. Lucy
admitted that she liked meat, though she couldn’t understand the point of the question. It
turned that in that way Blanche wanted to invite her to dinner that night. She said she would
prepare meatloaf. They drove in silence for a while. Then Blanche wanted to ask a personal
question. Lucy was surprised to hear such a request as she considered that was exactly
what Blanche had been doing. However, when she heard Blanche asking her if she had
found Jesus, she tried to make a joke. She said that she had no idea he was missing.
Blanche didn’t understand the joke. She warned Lucy that they didn’t joke about Jesus
around there. However, she said she could see how Lucy would think of it funny.
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