Reported Speech
“He said what??!!”
Two types of speech
Direct speech )‫(דיבור ישיר‬
Indirect speech )‫(דיבור עקיף‬
Direct speech
• Direct speech is used when we
quote exactly what another
person has said. We repeat the
speaker’s exact words.
Direct speech
• Direct speech is usually
represented by quotation marks
(“ “) and a comma (,) or a
colon (:).
Examples of direct speech
Quotations and a colon
He said: “ I am studying about
indirect speech”.
Quotations and a comma
“I am studying about indirect
speech,” said Alon.
Indirect (Reported) speech
If we report on what another
person has said, we usually do
not use the speaker’s exact
words (direct speech), but
reported (indirect) speech.
Reported Speech
• When we see that the reporting
verb (said, told, answered, etc.) is
in the past tense, the tense of
the direct statement moves back
one tense in time.
• We eliminate the quotations.
Reported speech examples
She said: “ I like chocolate ice
cream.”
(direct speech – present simple)
She said that she liked chocolate
ice cream.
(indirect speech – past simple)
What do you need to do?
1) Look for “past reporting verbs”
(said, told, answered, etc.) – this
lets you know that the tense of
the sentence needs to move back.
2) Figure out which tense the
sentence is written in – that will
help you know which tense it
shifts to….
Example
He said: “I am staying at home.”
1) Do we have a past reporting verb?
2) Which tense is this direct
statement written in?
So which tense does it shift back to?
He said that he was
staying at home.
Things to pay attention to…
When we turn a sentence from direct
to indirect (reported) speech, it is
important to remember to change:
1) The tense itself
2) Pronouns
3) Place and time expressions
Reported Speech
There are two kinds of reported speech:
1) Reported speech with tense shift what has been explained in the previous
slides
2) Reported speech without tense shift
Reported speech without tense
shift
When do we NOT shift in tense?
When the reporting tense is in the present.
Example:
“This chocolate is delicious,” John
says.(direct)
John says that this chocolate is
delicious.(indirect)
Asking Questions
Reported Speech
Asking Questions in Reported
Speech
Normal word order is used in reported
questions, that is, the subject comes before
the verb, and it is not necessary to use 'do'
or did':
"Where does Peter live?"
She asked him where Peter lived.
(the “to do” helping verb is dropped)
Yes/No Questions
This type of question is reported by using
asked + if / whether + clause:
Direct speech yes/no question (present simple):
"Do you speak English?“
The question in reported speech:
He asked me if I spoke English.
More Yes/No Questions
"Is it raining?" (present continuous)
She asked if it was raining.
"Did you come by train?" (past simple)
He asked whether I had come by train.
WH Questions
This type of question is reported
by using 'asked' (or another verb
like 'ask') + question word +
clause. The clause contains the
question, in normal word order
(subject before verb) and with
the needed tense change.
WH Questions
Peter said to John, "Why are you so late?"
Peter asked John why he was so late.
"When can we have dinner?" she asked.
She asked when they could have dinner.
WH Questions
"What is your name?" he asked me.
He asked me what my name was.
"How old is your mother?", he asked.
He asked how old her mother was.
Commands and Requests
Making requests
• When we make a request, we are asking
someone to do something….
• The modals “can” and “could” are often
used. Also the word “please” appears.
Do you remember what “please”
even means?
Requests
When we report on a request we use “asked”
+ the “to – infinitive” in positive statements
or “not + to – infinitive” in negative
statements.
Example:
“Please close the window”
He asked me to close the window.
Commands
• When we command someone to do
something we are not asking them to do
something, WE ARE TELLING THEM TO
DO IT!
• We usually see an exclamation mark!!!!!
• No “please” or request modals (can or
could)
Commands
When we command someone to do
something, we use “told” + the “to –
infinitive” in positive statements or “not +
to – infinitive” in negative statements.
Example:
“Close the window!”
He told me to close the window.