1. We often have to give information about what
people say or think.
In order to do this you can use direct or quoted
speech, or indirect or reported speech.
2. saying exactly what someone has said.
what a person says appears within quotation marks ("...") and
should be word for word.
Example:
She said, "Today's lesson is on presentations." or "Today's
lesson is on presentations," she said.
3. refers to a sentence reporting what someone has said.
the tense usually changes. This is because when we use
reported speech, we are usually talking about a time in
the past (because obviously the person who spoke
originally spoke in the past). The verbs therefore
usually have to be in the past too.
For example:
Direct Speech Indirect Speech
"I'm going to the cinema",
he said.
He said (that) he was going
to the cinema.
4. As a rule when you report something someone has said you
go back a tense: (the tense on the left changes to the tense on
the right):
5. When changing from direct speech to indirect speech, it
is often necessary to change the pronouns to match the
subject of the sentence.
For example:
She said, "I want to bring my children." → She said she
wanted to bring her children.
Jack said, "My wife went with me to the show." → Jack
said his wife had gone with him to the show.
6. It is also important to change time words (signifiers)
when referring to present, past or future time to match
the moment of speaking.
For example:
She said, "I want to bring my children tomorrow." →
She said she wanted to bring her children the next day.
Jack said, "My wife went with me to the show
yesterday." → Jack said his wife had gone with him to
the show the day before.
7. When reporting questions, it is especially important to
pay attention to sentence order. When reporting yes/
no questions connect the reported question using 'if'.
When reporting questions using question words (why,
where, when, etc.) use the question word.
For example:
She asked, "Do you want to come with me?" → She
asked me if I wanted to come with her.
Dave asked, "Where did you go last weekend?" →
Dave asked me where I had gone the previous
weekend.
He asked, "Why are you studying English?" → She
asked me why I was studying English.
