Reported Speech (Indirect Speech)

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Reported Speech (Indirect Speech)

• There are 2 ways of telling a person what
  somebody else said.
• Direct Speech
• Ann What did Tom say?
• Sue Tom said I love SPACE.
• Reported Speech
• Ann What did Tom say?
• Sue Tom said that he loved SPACE.

2

• When we use direct speech, we give the exact
  words (more or less) that were said.
• When we use reported speech, we changed the
  words that were said to make them fit into our
  own sentence.
• NOTE Dont use quotation marks and question mark
  when writing reported speech!
• A conjunction is used to join a reported speech
  clause to the rest of the sentence.
• A Reported Statements that
• e.g. He said that he loved SPACE.
• In an informal style that can be left out.

3

• Reported Questions
• (a) simple questions if, whether
• e.g. She asked me if she was beautiful.
• (b) information questions what, where, who, how,
  etc.
• e.g. He asked me where the HK Bank was.
• Reported orders, requests, advice, etc.
  infinitive structure.
• e.g. I ordered them to close all the windows.

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Direct Speech Indirect Speech
A statement A THAT-clause (THAT can be omitted)
A question A WH-clause (or IF-clause)
A command (Imperative) An Infinitive clause
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Reported Speech changes

• Tense (One tense back)
• Present forms ? past forms
• NOTE we dont have to change the tense if the
  fact is believed to be true.
• Past forms ? past perfect forms
• Past perfect forms ? past perfect forms
• Will/can/may/shall ? would/could/might/should
• Must/ought to/used to ? had to/ought to/used to
• Would/could/might/should ? would/could/might/shoul
  d

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Reported Speech changes (2)

• Pronouns/possessives
• First and second pronouns usually change to third
  person pronouns
• Other words (e.g. time adverbials)
• This ? that these ? those
• Here ? there now ? then/at that moment
• yesterday ? the previous day/the day before
• Today ? that day
• Tomorrow ? the next day
• This week/month/year ? that week/month/year
• Last week/month/year ? the previous
  week/month/year
• Nest week/month/year ? the following
  week/month/year

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Reported speech (modals)

• Will ? would
• Can ? could/would be able to
• May ? might
• Shall ? should (advice)/would (information)
• Must ? must/had to
• Should ? should
• Had better ? had better
• Neednt ? didnt need to/ didnt have to/wouldnt
  have to

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Exercise (reported statements)

• I work hard, she said
• She said (that) she worked hard.
• I am working hard, she said.
• She said (that) she was working hard.
• I have worked hard, she said.
• She said (that) she had worked hard.
• I worked hard, she said.
• She said (that) she had worked hard.
• Ill work hard, she said
• She said (that) she would work hard.

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• I have been working hard she said.
• She said (that) she had been working hard.
• I am going to work hard, she said.
• She said (that) she was going to work hard.
• I can work hard, she said.
• She said (that) she could work hard.
• I may work hard, she said.
• She said (that) she might work hard.
• I must work hard, she said.
• She said (that) she had to/must work hard.
• I should work hard, she said.
• She said (that) she should work hard.
• I ought to work hard, she said.
• She said (that) she ought to work hard.

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Exercise (Reported questions)

• Do you work hard enough? he said to her.
• He asked her if she worked hard enough.
• She asked me,Shall I phone you?
• She asked me whether/if she should phone me.
• She asked me, What time is it?
• She asked me what time it was.
• She asked me, Where can I put it?
• She asked me where she could put it.

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Exercise (Reported commands/requests/suggestions)

• Work harder! he said to her.
• He told her to work harder.
• Dont lie down, he said to her.
• He told her not to lie down.
• Can I open the door? she said.
• She asked to open the door.
• Lets play basketball, he said.
• He suggested playing basketball.