Reported Speech
Pay attention:
Part I - Basic Rules

	When we want to report what someone said, we can use ‘direct speech’ or reported speech:

In direct speech, we give the exact words that the person said, and we use quotation marks (”...”):

Direct speech: Annie said, ‘I’m hungry.’

In reported speech, we change some of the words that the person said and we do not use quotation marks:

Reported speech: Annie said (that) she was hungry	 or	: Annie says (that) she’s hungry.

We often use that to join a reported speech clause to the rest of the sentence.

	Main Verb Tenses:

a) When we use a past introductory verb (e.g. Annie said), the verb tense used in reported speech normally changes into the equivalent past form:
e.g. Claire says: “I’m at home”(present simple) We must change to the past: she said that she was at home.(past simple)

b) But when we use a present introductory verb (e.g. Annie says), the verb tense in reported speech does not change:
(e.g. I’m stays in the present: she’s).

 	What’s the difference in using Say or Tell?

After tell we normally use a personal object (e.g. Sarah, me, us) to say who is told. We normally use say without a personal object. Compare:

	say + something	tell + someone + something
	I said 1 was going home.	I told Sarah I was going home.
	He says he can speak French.	He tells me I can speak French.

Exceptions:
1. If we want to put a personal object with say, we use to.
I said to Sarah that I was going home.

2. In a few expressions we can use tell without a personal object e.g. tell a story, tell the time, tell the truth, tell a lie.

EXERCISE: Complete the sentences using the correct form of say or tell:

Example: I’ll tell you all about my holiday when 1 see you.

	1 Could you _____me how to get to Paris?	4 They______ the plane was going to be late.
	2 Do you think she’s ____________________us the truth?	5 Did he______ you that he could play chess?
	3 Have you_______ goodbye to everyone?	6 Why didn’t you________ what you wanted?

•	Frequently we also need to change:
a)	Personal pronouns: Jim to Sarah: “We can go to a pub!” » He told her that they could go to a pub.
b)	Demonstratives: Tom: “I will stay here, in this classroom” » He said the he would stay there, in that classroom.
c)	Time expressions: Phil: “They will arrive tomorrow.” » He said that they would arrive the day after.

	“DIRECT SPEECH”	REPORTED SPEECH

Compare:
‘I’m here on holiday.’
She said she was there on holiday.

‘1’ll see you tomorrow.’
He said he would see me the next day.

	here	there
	this	that/the
	now	then
	today	that day
	tonight	that night
	tomorrow	the next day/the following day
	yesterday	the day before/the previous day
	next Monday	the following Monday
	last Monday	the previous Monday

Exception: The way these words change depends on the situation. For example, if someone was speaking yesterday and they said ‘I’ll see you tomorrow.’ we could now say He said he would see me today.

Part II – Verb Tenses

When the reporting verb is in the past (e.g. he said, you told me), the tense in reported speech normally ‘moves back’ to the past equivalent of the verb used in Direct speech:

	Verbs Tenses in the present change into the past.

EXERCISE: (Put the names of the verb tenses.)

	“DIRECT SPEECH” 	REPORTED SPEECH

Paul: ‘I’m going home.’(.............................)	He said he was going home. (.............................)
‘1 want to stop.’ (.............................)		You told me you wanted to stop.(............................)
Janet: ‘I don’t like tea.’ (.............................)	She said she didn’t like tea. (.............................)
‘Sally has finished.’ (.............................)		You said that Sally had finished. (..........................)

Exceptions:
+ Verbs in the Past Simple, change into the Past Perfect or they do not change. The past perfect does not change
 ‘1 spoke to them.’         1 said 1 had spoken to them./ I said 1 spoke to them.
‘We arrived late.’         They said they had arrived late./ They said they arrived late.

+ We do not always change tenses in reported speech when we use a past reporting verb. If we report something that is still true now, we sometimes use the same tense as the speaker.

“Reported Speech”				REPORTED SPEECH

‘The population of London is around 9 million.’	He said that the population of London is around 9 million.

‘1 live in Brighton.’				She told me that she lives in Brighton.

But even when something is still true, we often change the tense in reported speech.

He said that the population of London was around 9 million.

	Modal Verbs:

Note the past forms of these modal verbs: can —~ could; will —~ would; shall —~ should; may —~ might.

“DIRECT SPEECH”		REPORTED SPEECH

‘I can swim.’			He said he could swim.
‘1 will be at home.’		She said that she would be at home.
‘We may go by train.’		They told me they might go by train.

Exception: The past modals could, would, should and might do not change in reported speech.

Must either doesn’t change or it takes the past form (of have to) had to: He said he must go./He said he had to go.

	Pronouns, possessive adjectives, adverbs, etc

Pronouns (e.g. 1, me) and possessive adjectives (e.g. my, your) often change in reported speech. Compare:

Direct speech:		Sue said, ‘I’m on holiday with my friend’.
Reported speech:	Sue said (that) she was on holiday with her friend.

Exercises:
1. I say to Anne: ‘I can’t swim very well’.
	I told her…
2. Teacher to you: ‘You are reading too fast’
	The teacher told me…
3. ‘Mr Mason has gone out!’
	The secretary explained that...
4 Andrew: ‘1 don’t want to go to this Pub!’
	Andrew said…
5. Jim and Miriam: ‘We left France yesterday.’
	They said…
6. Press Report: ‘She had lunch in Luigi’s restaurant.’
	The police explained…
7. Sarah to Simon: ‘I’ll phone you later.’
	Sarah told Simon…
8. Janet with you on the phone: “Can you come to my party?”
She…
9. Peter to his friends: “I had already seen this movie!”
	He…
10. Mother to daughter: “Clean your room immediately!”
	She…

(there’s no keuy because the quiz may be used in class with your teacher)