Direct Speech vs Reported Speech
Direct speech
¡ Direct speech repeats or quotes, WORD FOR WORD.
¡ We need to place these words between inverted commas (“……….”).
¡ We may be reporting what is being said NOW or telling someone later about the PREVIOUS conversation.
Reported speech
¡ Is usually used to indicate something that was said in the past. Hence, we need to change the tense of the words spoken.
¡ Use reporting verbs such as: say, tell, ask.
¡ Inverted commas ARE NOT USED.
Converting direct speech to reported speech
Things to consider
- Pronoun (unless you are talking about yourself)
- Change of place reference
- Change of time reference
- Tense
- The use of the reporting verbs
Change in pronoun
¡ In general, personal pronouns are changed to the third person singular or plural, except when speakers report their own words:
¡ I/ me/ my/ mine
¡ You/your/ yours
¡ He/him/her/hers
¡ We/ us/our/ours
Change in time and place reference
Direct Speech | Indirect/ Reported Speech |
Today | that day |
Yesterday | the day before |
The day before yesterday | 2 days before |
Tomorrow | the next/ following day |
The day after tomorrow | in 2 days’ time/ 2 days later |
Next week/month/ year | The following week/ month/year |
Last week/month/year | The previous week/month/year |
Ago | Before |
This (for time) | That |
This/ that (adjectives) | the |
Tense change (backshift)
ORIGINAL TENSES | NEW TENSES IN REPORTED SPEECH |
Simple Present
She said, "It's cold." | Past Simple She said it was cold. |
Present continuous
| Past continuous
|
Present Perfect
| Past Perfect
|
Present Perfect Continuous
| Past Perfect Continuous
|
Past simple
| Past perfect |
Past continuous | Past perfect continuous |
Past perfect | Past perfect |
Past perfect continuous | Past perfect continuous |
Selecting your reporting verb
Each sentence is uttered with a specific function.
For example :
Pearl (to Alexa): Stop disturbing Max or I will beat you.
Reported speech : Pearl warned Alexa to stop disturbing Max or she would beat her.
Hopes, intentions, promises
¡ We need to use an appropriate reporting verb (ex: hope, threaten, guarantee, swear) followed by a THAT clause or a TO-infinitive
Orders
¡ When we want to report an order or request, we can use verbs like ‘tell or command, order, warn, ask, advise, invite, beg, teach, forbid’ with a TO clause.
Requests
¡ Request for objects are reported by using this pattern: ask for+ object
Suggestions
¡ Verbs to suggest (suggest, insist, recommend, demand, request propose) are usually reported with a that-clause and that/ should are optional.
Questions
¡ Normal word order is used in reported question, that is the subject comes before the verb, and it is not necessary to use do or did.
¡ Ex: Where does Satoru live?
¡ She asked him where Satoru lived
¡ This type of question is reported by using “ask+ if/whether” clause.
¡ Ex: Do you speak Japanese?
¡ He asked me if I spoke Japanese.
¡ Ex: Is it raining?
¡ He asked me if it was raining.
¡ This type of question is reported by using “ask+ question word+ clause” and it requires the normal word order with change in tenses.
¡ Ex: “What is your name?” Alan asked the young girl.
¡ Alan asked what her name was.
¡ Ex: “What time does the plane arrive?” Satoru asked.
¡ Satoru asked what time the plane arrived
Exceptions
¡ You do not need to change the tense if the reporting verb is in the present or if the original statement was about something that is still true.
¡ Ex: The students lamented that English is a difficult language to master.
¡ Modal verbs do not change in reported speech, might, could, would, should, ought to.
¡ Ex: My mother said, “it could be difficult to find a new apartment in this area.”
¡ Ex: My mother said that it could be difficult to find a new apartment in that area.
Apart from the above mentioned basic rules,
there are further aspects that you should keep
in mind, for example:
¡ main clauses connected with and / but
¡ tense of the introductory clause
¡ reported speech for difficult tenses
¡ exceptions for backshift
¡ requests with must, should, ought to and let’s