This document provides an overview of reported speech, including: - Reported speech is used to tell someone about a past conversation. It involves changing verb tenses and words like pronouns, times and places. - Common changes include changing the present tense to past tense, changing pronouns and time/place words. Verbs stay the same if the original statement was in past tense. - Examples are given to demonstrate direct speech being changed to reported speech. Exercises then provide critics' comments from the past to change to reported speech.

1. REPORTED SPEECH
Reporting affirmative
statements

2. REPORTED SPEECH
What is it ? How do you use it?
It is the grammar we use if we want to tell another person about
a conversation that took place in the past (e.g telephone call,
news or story that someone told us etc.)
Where’s
Tom?
He said he
was feeling
ill.

3. My favourite film is on TV
tonight. I love comedies.
Mrs Brown said that her favourite film was
on TV that night. She said that she loved
comedies.
Look at the example.

4. What has changed?
Pronoun: My her
I she
Tense: am was
love loved
Time words: tonight that nightbecomes
becomes
becomes

5. In the Reported Speech we
preferably use the past tense.
am /is was
are were
has / have had
see saw
can(’t) could(n’t)
will/won’t would(n’t)
becomes
becomes
becomes
becomes
becomes
becomes

6. Changes in verb tenses
do did
(Present Simple) (Past Simple)
am /is doing was doing
(Present Continuous) (Past Continuous)
are doing were doing
(Present Continuous) (Past Continuous)
has / havedone had done
(Present Perfect) (Past Perfect)
becomes
becomes
becomes
becomes

7. If we want to report a sentence that
is already in the Past Tense, we
normally use the Past Perfect.
I saw the film last week.
He said he had seen the film the
week before.

8. Changes
Time Place
now then here there
today that day this that
this week that week these those
tomorrow the next day
yesterday the day before
last week the week before

9. EXERCISES.
A comedy show called “Don’t look
now!” has just closed after five years
at a theatre in London’s West End.
This is what the critics said when it
opened five years ago.

10. Exercises
‘It’s a marvellous show.’ The Daily Mail
The Daily Mail said…
…it was a marvelous show.
‘You’ll love it’ The Guardian
The Guardian said people would love it.

11. Exercises
‘The production is brilliant’ The Times
The Times said the production was
brilliant.
‘It’s the funniest show I’ve ever seen’
Joan Proctor
Joan Proctor said it was the funniest
show she had ever seen.

12. Exercises
‘It made me laugh’ Ben Walsh
Ben Walsh said it had made him laugh.
‘You shouldn’t miss it’ Time Out
Time Out said people shouldn’t miss it.

13. Links
 http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/grammar/ask_about_english/reported
_speech.shtml
 https://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/en/grammar-reference/reported-speech-1
 http://www.learnenglish.de/grammar/reportedspeech.html
 http://www.infoescola.com/ingles/direct-and-indirect-speech/
 http://www.englisch-hilfen.de/en/exercises_list/reported.htm
 http://www.myenglishpages.com/site_php_files/grammar-exercise-reported-
speech.php#.VRHLFvx4rl8
 https://www.ego4u.com/en/cram-up/grammar/reported-speech/exercises?10
 https://www.englishgrammar.org/direct-indirect-speech-exercise-6/
 https://www.englishgrammar.org/direct-indirect-speech-exercise/
 https://www.learnenglishfeelgood.com/reported-speech-mixed3.html
 http://a4esl.org/q/h/9901/tm-reported1.html