Liceo Andrés Bello A-94Coordinación Técnico PedagógicaDepartamento de InglésSrta.: Ivonne Pérez F.Curso: III ° medio

English handoutReported speech

Objetivos:-Aplicar patrones gramaticales del estilo indirect.- Identificar tiempos usados en estilo directo para convertirlos a estilo indirecto.-Utilizar correctamente verbos say, offer, tell, order, suggest, ask, etc.

Habilidades:-Transformar-Aplicar-Reconocer

Reported speech (or indirect speech)is used to say what other person(s) said before, so when we change direct speech into reported speech, we usually go one tense back and we need an appropriate verb to complete the sentence.

In questions, we always use the verb “asked” when we change sentences into reported speech:

i.e. Pablo and Sara: “Why are you so sad?” They asked me why I was so sad.

In other kind of sentences, we can use “said”, “told”, “offered”, “suggested”, etc.

i.e. Tom: “ My wife is going to have a baby “ Tom told me his wife was going to have a baby.

In commands, we use the verb “ordered”

i.e. Alice: “Clean your room!” Alice ordered me to clean my room.

1) Using modal verbs:

2) Using commands:

Direct speech Reported speech

positive imperative Shut up!

tell + infinitive He told me to shut up.

Direct speech Reported speech

willI'll come and see you soon.

wouldHe said he would come and see me soon.

canI can swim under water for two minutes.

couldHe said he could swim under water for two minutes.

must All tickets must be bought in advance.

had to He said that all tickets had to be bought in advance.

shall What shall we do about it?

should He asked what we should do about it.

may May I smoke?

might He asked if he might smoke.

negative imperative Don't do that again!

tell + not + infinitive He told me not to do it again.

imperatives as requests Please give me some money.

ask + infinitive He asked me to give him some money.

3) Using other tenses:

Direct speech Reported speech present simpleI'm a teacher.

past simpleHe said he was a teacher

present continuousI'm having lunch with my parents.

past continuous.He said he was having lunch with his parents.

present perfect simpleI have been to France three times.

past perfect simpleHe said he had been to France three times.

present perfect continuousI have been working very hard.

past perfect continuousHe said he had been working very hard.

past simpleI bought a new car.

past perfectHe said he had bought a new car.

past continuousIt was raining earlier.

past perfect continuousHe said it had been raining earlier.

past perfectThe play had started when I arrived.

past perfectNO CHANGE POSSIBLE

past perfect continuousI had already been living in London for five years.

past perfect continuousNO CHANGE POSSIBLE

In the case of past perfect simple, past perfect continuous and past perfect, we use “HAD + the verb in participle (3rd column of the irregular verbs list)”

4) Using questions:When we have question words (who, why, how, when, etc) in direct speech, we have to maintain the question word but we have to change the order of the question:

Loretta: "How long have you lived in the United States?"Loretta asked me how long I had lived in the United States.

When we have questions starting with any auxiliary verb (do, does, did, will, etc.)in direct speech, we have to use “if” before the person.

María: “Does your sister study?”María asked me if my sister studied.

Question word

person Verb in the correct tense

personVerb in the correct tense

We make some changes in the adverbs of place and time in the following cases:

now then

today that day

here there

this that

this week that week

tomorrowthe following day the next day the day after

next weekthe following week the next week the week after

yesterday the previous day the day before

last week the previous week the week before

ago previously before

2 weeks ago 2 weeks previously 2 weeks before

tonight that night

last Saturday the previous Saturday the Saturday before

next Saturday

the following Saturdaythe next Saturdaythe Saturday afterthat Saturday

EXERCISESSusan: “I went to the theatre last night.”

Peter: “I'm staying here until next week.”

Vin: "Harold has left already."

Cindy: "The students didn’t have problems with the computers."

Rose: "I can work on Saturday."

My father: "Go to your room."

Malinda: "Why did you come to the United States?"

Claudio: “Do you like to travel on vacation?"

Try the following page with interactive exercises:http://www.ego4u.com/en/cram-up/grammar/reported-speech/exercises?10