Reported Speech
There are two ways of relating what a person has
said: direct and indirect. In direct speech we repeat
the original speaker’s exact words.
E.g. He said, “I have lost my umbrella.”
Remarks thus repeated are placed between inverted
commas, and a comma or colon is placed
immediately before the remark.
Direct speech is found in conversations, in books, in
plays, any quotations.
In direct speech we the exact meaning of
a remark or speech, without necessarily
using the speaker’s exact words:
He said that he had lost his umbrella.
Indirect speech is normally used in
conversation, though direct speech is
sometimes employed here to give more
dramatic effect. When we turn direct
speech into indirect, some changes are
usually necessary.
A. The future, future cont-, simple present, present
cont-, present perfect, present perfect cont- as
follows:
Direct speech
Future
Future continuous
Simple present
Present continuous
Present perfect
Present perfect
continuous
Indirect speech
To conditional
To conditional continuous
To simple past
To past continuous
To past perfect
To past perfect continuous
E.g. He said, “Ann will be in Paris on
Monday.
=He said that Ann would be in Paris on
Monday.
He said, “I’ll be using the car myself on
the 24th.”
=He said that he would be using the
th
car himself on the 24 .
B. In theory the past tense changes
to the past perfect, but in spoken
English it is often left unchanged,
provided this can be done without
causing confusion about relative
times of actions. E.g. He said, “I
loved her.” must become He said
he had loved her.
In written English past tense usually do change
to past perfect but there are the following
expectations:
• I. Past/past continuous tense used in time clauses
do not normally change:
He said, “When we were living/lived in Paris…”
=He said that when they were living/lived in Paris…
The main verb of such sentences can either remain
unchanged or become the past perfect:
He said, “When we were living/lived we often saw
Paul.’
=He said that when they were living/lived in Paris
they often saw Paul/had often seen Paul.
II. A past tense used to describe a state of affairs which
still exists when the speech is reported remains
unchanged.
• She said, “I decided not to buy the house because it
was on the main road.”
• She said that she had decided to buy the house
because it was on a main road.
III. Would, should, ought, had better, might, used to,
could and must do not normally change:
• He said, “I might be there.”
• He said that he might be there.
IV. Conditional sentences type 2 remain entirely
unchanged, and past tenses (subjective) used after
wish, would rather, it is time:
• He said, “If my children were older I would
emigrate.
• He said that if his children were older he
would emigrate.
• He said, “I wish I knew.”
• He said that he wished he knew.
• She said, “I’d rather Tom went.”
• She said that she’d rather Tom went.
C. The past continuous tense in theory changes to the past
perfect continuous but in practice usually remains
unchanged except when it refers to a completed action:
• She said, “We were thinking of selling the house
but we have decided not to.”
• She said that they had been thinking of selling the
house but had decided not to.
Other changes necessary when turning direct
speech into indirect speech:
• A. In indirect speech the conjunction that can be
placed immediately after he introductory verb, but
it is not essential and is often omitted:
Other changes cont• He said, “I have seen a ghost.”
• He said (that) he had seen a ghost.
B. Pronouns and possessive adjectives normally change
from first or second person to third person except
when the speaker is reporting his own words:
• I said, “I like my new house.”
• I said that I liked my new house (speaker reporting his
own words).
• “You’ve overcooked the steak again, Mary,” he said.
• He told Mary that she had overcooked the steak again.
c. This and these
• This is used in time expression usually become
that.
• He said, “She is coming this week.”
• He said that she was coming that week.
Otherwise this and that used as adjectives usually
change to the:
• He said, “I bought this pearl/these pearls for my
mother.”
• He said that he had bought the pearl (s) for his
mother.
D. Adverbs and adverbial phrases or time change as
follows:
Indirect
Direct
Today
That day
Yesterday
The day before
The day before yesterday Two days before
Tomorrow
The next day/the
following day
The day after tomorrow In two day’s time
Next week/year etc.
The following week/year
Last week/year etc.
the previous week/year
A year ago
A year before/the
Questions in indirect speech
• When we turn direct questions into indirect speech, the
following changes are necessary: Tenses, pronouns, and
possessive adjectives, and adverbs of time and place
change as in the statement.
• The interrogative form of the verb changes to the
affirmative form. The question mark (?) is therefore
omitted in indirect questions:
• He said, “Where does she live?”
• He asked where she lived.
• If the introductory verb is say, it must be changed to a
verb of inquiry, e.g. ask, inquire, wonder, want to know
etc.
Questions in indirect speech cont• But inquire, wonder, want to know cannot take an
indirect object, so if we wish to report a question
where the person addressed is mentioned, we must
use ask:
• He said, “Mary, when is the next train?”
• He asked Mary when the next train was.
• If the direct question begins with a question word
(when, where, who, how, why etc.,) the word is
repeated in the indirect question:
• He said, “Why didn’t you put on the brake?”
• He asked (her) why she hadn’t put on the brake.
Questions in indirect speech cont• If there is no question word if or whether is placed
after the introductory verb:
• “Is anyone there?” he asked.
• He asked if any was there.
• “Did you enjoy the party?” she asked.
• She asked whether I had enjoyed the party.
Questions beginning shall I/we and will
you/would you/could you
• A. Questions beginning shall I/we can be of four
kinds:
I. Speculations, or requests for information about a
future event:
“Where shall I be this time next year?”
This follows the ordinary rule about shall/will.
Speculations are usually introduce by wonder:
He wondered where he would be in a year’s
time.
Questions beginning shall I/we and will
you/would you/could you cont• II. Requests for instructions or advice:
“What shall I do with it?”(=tell me what to do
with it).
These are expressed in indirect speech by ask, inquire
etc., with should or the be + infinitive construction;
requests for advice are normally reported by
should:
“Shall we send it to you flat, sir?” he said.
He asked the customer if they were to send it to
his flat.
• He asked the customer if they should send it to his
flat.
• III. Offers:
“Shall I bring you some tea?” could be reported:
He offered to bring me some tea.
• IV. Suggestions:
“Shall we meet at the theater?” could be
reported: He suggested meeting at the theater.
• B. Questions beginning will you/would you/could
you may be ordinary questions but may also be
requests, commands or invitations:
• He said, “Will you be there tomorrow?” (ordinary
question)
• He asked if she would be there the next day.
But He said, “Will you help me, please?” (request)
=He asked me to help him.
He said, “Will you have a drink/Would you like a
drink?” (invitation)
=He offered me a drink or asked if I would have
/like a drink.
“Will you post this for me?” he said.
=He asked if I would post for him.
Indirect commands
• Direct command: He said, “Lie down, Tom.”
• Indirect command: He told me to lie down.
Changes necessary when we turn direct commands
into indirect commands:
A. The introductory verb, say, etc., changes to a
verb of command or request, such as tell, order,
command, ask etc. (see the example above).
B. The introductory verb of the indirect command
must be followed immediately by the person
addressed and the infinitive (i.e. the accusative +
infinitive construction):
Indirect commands contHe said, “Get your coat, Tom.”
=He told Tome to get his coat.
In direct commands the person addressed is often not
mentioned:
He said, “Go away.”
But in indirect commands the person addressed must
be included, so that in cases such as the above it is
necessary to add a noun or pronoun:
He told me (him, her, the children ) to go away.
Indirect commands contC. Negative commands are expressed by not
+infinitive
He said, “Don’t move, boys.”
=He told the boys not to move.
D. Beg, urge, remind, warn, advise, recommend
and invite are often useful in indirect
commands/requests:
He said, “Please, please give me another chance.”
He begged them to give him another chance.
Indirect commands contE. Commands/requests introduced by will
you/would you/could you:
When used for requests they are expressed in
indirect speech by ask + object + infinitive.
He said, “Will you/would you/could you sign my
autograph book, please?”
=He asked the champion to sign his autograph book.
Let’s let him/them and second person suggestions
He said, “Let’s leave the case at the station.”
=He suggested leaving the case at the station.