Grammatical explanation and practice.

1. There are two ways of reporting what somebody says; direct speech indirect (or reported) speech.

10. Say or tell Tell Daniel told me (that) he was ready. Say Daniel said (that) he was ready. Ask, want to know, wonder ‘ What’s the problem?’ he said . He wanted to know / asked (me) / wondered what the problem was. + indirect object The indirect object is not mentioned

11. STATEMENTS: AFFIRMATIVE OR NEGATIVE When we turn affirmative or negative statements in direct speech into reported speech, we must take away the inverted commas and make any necessary changes in verb tenses, pronouns and adverbs. Verb tense changes are not necessary if the reporting verb is not in a past tense.

12. SOME EXAMPLES OF REPORTED STATEMENTS ‘ I work in an office,’ John says. John says that he works in an office. ‘ We are very happy here’ say My parents. My parents say that they are very happy there. ‘ You can speak English very well,’ my teacher will say. My teacher will say that I can speak English very well. ‘ you can’t dance very well,” she is telling me. She is telling me that I can’t dance very well.

13. ‘ Andrew is working,’ Jessica said. Jessica said (that) Andrew was working. ‘ I’ve fixed the shelves,’ John told Susan. John told Susan (that) he had fixed the shelves. ‘ My money had run out,’ said Daniel. Daniel said his money had run out. ‘ You can sit over here,’ the steward said. The steward said we could sit over there. ‘ When did you start acting, Melissa?’ Guy said. Guy asked Melissa when she had started acting. ‘ Has the taxi arrived yet?’ someone asked. Someone asked if / whether the taxi had arrived yet.

15. Two kinds of questions 1. Yes / No questions He wanted to know if / whether I was leaving . ‘ Are you leaving ?’ he said. s v aux aux s v

16. 2. Wh-questions ‘ Where is the President staying ?’ the reporter said. Wh-word aux s v The reporter asked where the President was staying . Wh-word s aux v