This document outlines 3 golden rules for reported speech: 1. Verbs move backwards in tense when changing direct to reported speech, with will/can becoming would/could and so on. 2. Reported speech is introduced using phrases like "He said (to me) that" or "He told me (that)" followed by an affirmative sentence. 3. Some time and place expressions may need to change in reported speech, such as "now" becoming "then", "today" becoming "that day", and so on. Mastering reported speech is presented as straightforward.