1

• Reported Reported SpeechSpeech

Departamento de Inglés.Departamento de Inglés.

Curso : 3º de Escuela Oficial de Idiomas.Curso : 3º de Escuela Oficial de Idiomas.

Profesor : ALFONSO GARCIA BALANProfesor : ALFONSO GARCIA BALAN

Presentation.

Statements in indirect speech. Tense changes.

Other changes : adjectives, adverbs etc.

Say/ tell ; Infinitive, gerund constructions.

Questions.

Requests, offers,suggestions,commands etc.

Exercises 1 Exercises 2

Exercise 3 +(key) Exercise 4 +(key)

2

I´m feeling tired

You want to tell someone else what Ann said.

There are two ways of doing this:

You can repeat Ann´s words (direct speech) :

Ann said “I´m feeling tired”.

Or you can use reported speech:

Ann said ( that ) she was feeling tired.Compare the two sentences :

direct Ann said “ I am feeling tired “.

reported Ann said (that) she was feeling tired.

3

Statements in indirect speech : tense changes necessary

• Indirect speech can be introduced by aq verb in a present tense:

he says that.... This is usual when we are:

1 reporting a conversation that is still going on.

2 reading a letter and reporting what it says.

3 reading instructions and reporting them.

4 reporting a statement that someone makes very often.

• But indirect speech is usually introduced by a verb in the past tense.

Verbs in the direct speech have then to be changed into a corresponding

past tense.

4

Tense changesThe changes are shown in the following table

Direct speech Indirect speech

SIMPLE PRESENT SIMPLE PAST

“ I never eat meat, “ he explained He explained that he never ate meat.

PRESENT CONTINUOUS PAST CONTINUOUS

“ I´m waiting for Ann,” he said He said he was wating for Ann.

PRESENT PERFECT PAST PERFECT

“ I have found a flat, “he said He said he had found a flat.

PRESENT PERFECT CONTINUOUS PAST PERFECT CONTINUOUS

He said, “ I´ve been wating for ages” He said he had been wating for ages.

SIMPLE PAST PAST PERFECT

“ I took it home with me,” he said He said he had taken it home with him.

FUTURE CONDITIONAL

He said, “ Ann will be in Paris on Monday” He said that Ann would be in Paris on Monday.

FUTURE CONTINUOUS CONDITIONAL CONTINUOUS

“ I´ll be using the car myself on the 24th,” he said He said he´d be using the car himself on the 24th.

5

Other changes necessary when turning direct speech into indirect speech.THIS used in time expressions 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/pearls for his mother.

THIS,THESE used as pronouns can b ecome IT,THEY/THEM

Adverbs and adverbial phrases of time change as follows:Direct Indirect

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 days´time

Next week/ year etc. The following week/year

Last week/ year etc. The previous week/year etc.

A year etc ago a year before/the previous year

6

Infinitive and gerund constructions in indirect speechA agree,refuse,offer, promise,threaten + infinitive can sometimes be used

instead of say (that)...

Paul : I´ll help you if you like.

Paul offered to help her/me or Paul said that he´d help her/me.

B accuse+object+of, admit, deny,apologize for, insist on+gerund can sometimes

be used instead of say that :

“ You took the money!” might be reported by He accused me of taking the money.

C other useful verbs are : add, admit, answer, argue, assure +object, complain,

deny, explain, observe, point out, promise, remark, remind + object, reply.

These can be used with direct or indirect speech.

“ It won´t cost more,”said Tom “ But it will take longer “, said Bill

Tom assured us that it wouldn´t cost more. But Bill objected that it would take longer.

Say, tell Say can introduce a statement or follow it :

Tom said, “ I´ve just heard the news” or “ I´ve just heard the news,” Tom said.

say+to+person addressed is posible, but following the direct statement

tell requires the person addressed: tell me he told us

7

Questions in indirect speech Direct : He said, “ Where is he going?” Indirect : He asked where she was going.

A Tenses, pronouns and possessive adjectives, and adverbs of time and place change in statements.

The interrogative form of the verb changes to the affirmative form The question mark (?) is therefore omitted in indirect questions :

B If the introductory verb is say, it must be changed to a verb of inquiry, e.g. Ask, inquire, wonder, want to know etc.:

He said, “ Where is the station? “ = He asked where the station was.

C ask can be followed by the person addressed (indirect object).

He asked, “ What have you got in your bag?”= He asked (me) what I had got in my bag.

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.

D If the direct question begins with a quqestion word ( when, where, who, how, why etc. ) the question word is repeated in the indirect question :

He said, “ What do you want?” = She asked (them) what thet wanted.

E If there is no question word, if or whether must be used:

“Is anyone there? He asked = He asked if/whether anyone was there.

8

Requests for instructions or advice: “ What shall I do with it? = “ Tell me what to do with it.”

Offers : “ Shall I bring you some tea? He offered to bring me some tea.

Suggestions : “ Shall we meet at the theatre? “ He suggested meeting at the theatre.

Commands, requests, advice in indirect speech He said, “ Lie down, tom “ He told Tom to lie down.

The following verbs can be used: advise, beg, command, encourage, entreat, forbid

forbid, implore, invite, order, recommend, remind, request, urge, warrn.

Negative commands, requests etc. Are usually reported by not + infinitive :

“Don´t swim out too far, boys,” I said I warned/told the boys not to swim out too far “

Exclamations and yes and no He said, “ What a dreadful thing! Or “ How dreadful !” = He said that it was a dreadful thing.

He said, “ Thank you!” = He thanked me.

He said,” Happy Christmas!” = He wished me a happy Christmas.

9

“ How much do you think it will cost ? “ He said.

A: He asked how much I think it would cost.

B: He asked how much I thought it would cost.

C: He asked how much I thought it will cost.

1.- Which of the following answers : A, B, C, is correcct ? CLICK the picture you think is the correct one according to its transformation into reported speech.

10

“I´m leaving tomorrow”.she said”“by the 4.30 from Victoria”.

She said ” she was leaving tomorrow by the 4.30 from

Victoria”.

She said she was leaving the

following day by the 4.30 from

Victoria

She said I wsas leaving today by 4.30 from

Victoria

2.- CLICK the picture you think is the correct one according to its transformation into reported speech.

11

3.- Choose the best alternative according to the usage of the verb tenses.

A.- The clerk said it would / will take a little time to look up her file.

B.- She reminded me to insure / insuring my luggage.

C.- She told him not to put / to put not sticky things in his pocket.

4.- You have to read a sentence and write a new sentence with the same meaning.

1.- “ Listen carefully”, he said to us.

He told ..............................................................................................................................

2.- “ Don´t wait for me if I´m late”, Ann said.

Ann said.............................................................................................................................

3.- “ Can you speak more slowly? I can´t understand”, he said to me.

He asked..........................................................................because....................................

4.- “ Read the instructions before you switch on the machine”, he said to me.

He told ...............................................................................................................................

5.- “ Don´t come before 6 o´clock”, I said to him.

I told .................................................................................................................................

key

12

1 I´m thinking of going to live in Canada. 2 My father is in

hospital.

4 Margaret has had a baby.

5 I´ll tell Jim I saw you.

3 I´ve been playing tennis a lot recently.

6 I don´t know what Fred is doing.

Later that day you tell another friend what Charlie said. Use reported speech.

1 Charlie said that....................................................................................................

2 Charlie said...........................................................................................................

3 Charlie...................................................................................................................

4 Charlie...................................................................................................................

5 Ch..........................................................................................................................

6 ...............................................................................................................................

5.- Yesterday you met a friend of yours, Charlie. Charlie told you alot of things. Here are some of the things he said to you :

key

13

4.- Key

1 He told us to listen carefully.

2 Ann said not to wait for her if she was late.

3 He asked me to speak more slowly because he couldn´t understand.

4 He told me to read the instructions before I switched on yhe machine.

5 I told him not to come before 6 o´clock.

5.- Key

1 Charlie said that he was thinking of going to live in Canada.

2 Charlie said that his father was in hospital.

3 He said ( that) he had been playing tennis a lot recently

4 He said (that) Margaret had had a baby.

5 He said (that) he would tell Jim he had seen me./ ... He saw me.

6 He said (that) he didn´t know what Fred was doing.