We can report people’s speech in two main ways. We can, for example, give the exact words spoken by them. This kind of structure is called ‘direct speech’.
- She said, ‘What do you want?’
- Sam asked, ‘Where are you going?’
We can also make the speaker’s words part of our own sentence, using conjunctions and changing pronouns and other words where necessary. This kind of reporting is called ‘indirect speech’ or ‘reported speech’.
- She asked what I wanted.
- Sam asked me where I was going.
Note that we cannot normally mix these two structures.
Basic rules for indirect speech
When words and thoughts are reported, there is usually a change of tenses, pronouns and other words. These changes are mostly natural and logical.
Change of pronouns
A change of speaker may mean a change of pronoun. Study the following example.
She said, ‘Where are you going?’ (Direct speech)
She asked me where I was going. (Indirect speech)
You may have noticed that the pronoun you in the direct speech changed to I in the indirect speech. There are no exact rules regarding the change of pronouns. It all depends upon the context.
Change of ‘here and now’ words
A change of place and time may mean changing words like here, this, now, today etc. For example, here may become there in indirect speech; this may become that; now may become then.
- He said, ‘I got my report yesterday.’ (Direct speech)
- He said that he got his report the previous day. (Indirect speech)
Change of tenses
A change of time may mean a change of tense. So after past reporting verbs, the verbs of the original speech are usually made more past.
Simple present tense in the direct speech will become simple past tense in the indirect speech.
Present continuous tense will become past continuous tense.
Present perfect tense will become past perfect tense.
Simple past tense will become past perfect tense
Past continuous tense will become past perfect continuous tense.
Reported Speech - Direct Speech and Indirect Speech
|
Direct Speech
Direct speech with quotation marks: "l learn at school."
Reported Speech:
Reported Speech: He said he worked in a bank.
The tenses, word-order, pronouns are different from those in the direct speech sentence.
| Direct Speech | Reported Speech |
| Jake says: "I bought some DVDs." | Jake says that he bought some DVDs. |
Introduction Simple Present - English
| Direct Speech | Reported Speech |
| Susan says: “I want an ice- cream.” | Susan says that she wants an ice-cream. |
Reported Speech Speech: Change of tenses
| Introduction | Tenses Direct Speech | Tenses Reported Speech |
| Ann said: | “I want ice-cream.” | Ann said that she wanted ice-cream. |
| Simple Past | Simple Present | Simple Past |
| Simple Past | Simple Past
Present Perfect
Past Perfect | Past Perfect |
| Simple Past | will | would |
| Reported Speech: 'to be' |
| Simple Past | am/is/are | was/were |
| Simple Past | was/were
have/has been
had been | had been |
The Past Perfect Tense does not change in the Reported Speech.
Questions - Reported Speech English
Do you like Jake?
She asked me if/whether I liked Jake.
Questions with questions words- Reported Speech
“Who is your friend?”
She asked me who my friend was.
Commands Reported Speech - English
“Sit down!” - The teacher told them to sit down.
“Drink a lot of tea!” - He told us to drink a lot of tea.
Changes - Reported Speech
The tenses, word-order, pronouns are different from those in the direct speech sentence.
Change of pronouns - Change of place and time - Reported Speech
| | Direct Speech | Reported Speech
(Reported speech) |
| Change of pronouns | I
We
my
your
our
me
us | ⇒ he/she
⇒ they
⇒ his/her
⇒ my
⇒ their
⇒ him/her
⇒ them |
| Change of place and time | here
today
this morning
yesterday
tomorrow
next week
next month | ⇒ there
⇒ that day
⇒ that
morning
⇒ the day before
⇒ the next day
⇒ the following week
⇒ the following month |
|
| Tense | Direct Speech | Reported Speech |
|---|
| simple present | I like ice cream | She said (that) she liked ice cream. |
| present continuous | I am living in London | She said (that) she was living in London. |
| simple past | I bought a car | She said (that) she had bought a car OR She said (that) she bought a car. |
| past continuous | I was walking along the street | She said (that) she had been walking along the street. |
| present perfect | I haven't seen Julie | She said (that) she hadn't seen Julie. |
| past perfect* | I had taken English lessons before | She said (that) she had taken English lessons before. |
| will | I'll see you later | She said (that) she would see me later. |
| would* | I would help, but..” | She said (that) she would help but... |
| can | I can speak perfect English | She said (that) she could speak perfect English. |
| could* | I could swim when I was four | She said (that) she could swim when she was four. |
| shall | I shall come later | She said (that) she would come later. |
| should* | I should call my mother | She said (that) she should call her mother |
| might* | I might be late | She said (that) she might be late |
| must | I must study at the weekend | She said (that) she must study at the weekend OR She said she had to study at the weekend |
* doesn't change.
The direct question is the present simple of 'be'. We make the question form of the present simple of be by inverting (changing the position of)the subject and verb. So, we need to change them back before putting the verb into the past simple.
Here are some more examples:
| Direct Question | Reported Question |
|---|
| Where is the Post Office, please? | She asked me where the Post Office was. |
| What are you doing? | She asked me what I was doing. |
| Who was that fantastic man? | She asked me who that fantastic man had been. |
So much for 'wh' questions. But, what if you need to report a 'yes / no' question? We don't have any question words to help us. Instead, we use 'if':
- Direct speech: Do you like chocolate?
- Reported speech: She asked me if I liked chocolate.
No problem? Here are a few more examples:
| Direct Question | Reported Question |
| Do you hate me? | He asked me if I hated him. |
| Have you ever been to Mexico? | She asked me if I had ever been to Mexico. |
| Are you living here? | She asked me if I was living here. |
Reported Requests
There's more! What if someone asks you to do something (in a polite way)? For example:
- Direct speech: Close the window, please
- Or: Could you close the window please?
- Or: Would you mind closing the window please?
All of these requests mean the same thing, so we don't need to report every word when we tell another person about it. We simply use 'ask me + to + infinitive':
- Reported speech: She asked me to close the window.
Here are a few more examples:
| Direct Request | Reported Request |
| Please help me. | She requested me to help her. |
| Please don't smoke. | She requested me not to smoke. |
| Could you bring my book tonight? | She asked me to bring her book that night. |
| Could you pass the milk, please? | She asked me to pass the milk. |
| Would you mind coming early tomorrow? | She asked me to come early the next day. |
To report a negative request, use 'not':
- Direct speech: Please don't be late.
- Reported speech: She requested us not to be late.
Reported Orders
And finally, how about if someone doesn't ask so politely? We can call this an 'order' in English, when someone tells you very directly to do something. For example:
In fact, we make this into reported speech in the same way as a request. We just use 'tell' instead of 'ask':
- Reported speech: She told me to sit down.
| Direct Order | Reported Order |
| Go to bed! | He told the child to go to bed. |
| Don't worry! | He told her not to worry. |
| Be on time! | He told me to be on time. |
| Don't smoke! | He told us not to smoke |
Time Expressions with Reported Speech
Sometimes when we change direct speech into reported speech we have to change time expressions too. We don't always have to do this, however. It depends on when we heard the direct speech and when we say the reported speech.
For example:
It's Monday. Julie says "I'm leaving today".
If I tell someone on Monday, I say "Julie said she was leaving today".
If I tell someone on Tuesday, I say "Julie said she was leaving yesterday".
If I tell someone on Wednesday, I say "Julie said she was leaving on Monday".
If I tell someone a month later, I say "Julie said she was leaving that day".
So, there's no easy conversion. You really have to think about when the direct speech was said.
Here's a table of some possible conversions:
| now | then / at that time |
| today | that day |
| yesterday | the day before / the previous day |
| last night | the night before, previous night |
| last week | the week before / the previous week |
| tomorrow | the next day / the following day
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