Amal International School

152, Dharmarama Road, off Havelock Road, Colombo-6.

Grade 10 REVISION NOTES – March 2020 English Language

2010

Reported speech- How does it work?

Whenever you report a speech there’s a reporting verb used like “say” or “tell”. For example:

Direct speech: I love to play football.

Reported speech: She said that she loves to play football. (Note 1 : Assume a gender if not mentioned already.
Note 2: Using “that” is optional. This sentence could also have been written as “She said she loves to play
football.”)

The tense doesn’t have to be changed in this case of reported speech. But of the reporting verb is in the past
tense, we do change the tense of the sentence.

Browse more Topics under Transformation Sentences

Active and Passive Voice

Parts of Speech

Types of Sentences

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 Reported speech- Play of the tenses:

Direct speech tense Indirect/Reported speech tense

Simple present simple past

present continous past continuous

simple past past perfect

past continuous past perfect continuous

present perfect tense past perfect tense

past perfect tense past perfect tense

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 Learn more about Parts of Speech here in detail

This is a summary table that will be crystal clear to you as you read further. Just come back to this table after
this section and use this as a summary table:

Tense Direct speech Reported speech Changed tense

She said she liked to

Simple present I like to swim in the ocean Simpe past
swim in the ocean

He said he lived in New

Simple present I live in New Orleans Simpe past
Orleans

She said she had gone

Past simple I went to school in the morning Past perfect
to school that morning

Present He said he was going to Past

I was going to the Himalayas
continuous the Himalayas continuous

She said that she had

past perfect
Past continuous I was walking near the beach been walking near the
continuous
beach

She said she had caught

Present perfect I have caught a few fishes past perfect
a few fishes

He said he had trekked

I had trekked the Himalayas
Past perfect the Himalayas this time Past perfect
this time last year
last year

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 Some word transitions from direct to reported speech that will come in handy:

Will becomes would

Can becomes could

would stays would

should stays should

must stays must or had to(matter of choice)

shall becomes should

Exception: A present tense in direct speech may not become a past tense in the reported speech if it’s a fact or
something generic we are talking about in the sentence. For example-

Direct speech: The sun rises from the East.

Reported speech: She said that the sun rises/rose from the East.

Reported speech- Handling questions:

What happens when the sentence we are trying to report was actually a question? That’s something we are
going to deal with in this section. Reported questions- It’s quite interesting. let’s get into it:

Well the good news is that the tense change you learnt above stays the same in reported speech for
questions. The only difference is that when you report a question, you no more report it in the form of a
question but in the form of a statement. For example:

Direct speech: Where do you want to eat?

Reported speech: She asked me where I wanted to eat.

Notice how the question mark is gone from the reported speech. The reported speech is a statement now.
Keep that in mind as you read further.

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 Remember the tense change? Let’s apply that to a few questions now.

Direct speech Reported speech

Are you going to my

She asked me if I was going to her house.
house?

Where were you going? He asked me where I was going.

Where have you been? She asked me where had i been.

Forming Present Perfect Passive

Affirmative Form Object + have / has + been + verb3 (past participle)

Question Form Have / has + object + been + verb3 (past participle)

Something has been done by someone at sometime up to now.

Active : They have cleaned the clinic.

Passive: The clinic has been cleaned by them.

Active : Thomas has written many books.

Passive: Many books have been written by Thomas.

Active : Have the police caught the man?

Passive: Has the man been caught by the police?

Active : UPS has delivered the letters.

Passive: The letters have been delivered by UPS.

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 Quick Exercise

Put the following sentences into passive voice. (present perfect passive)

Top of Form
1. Has the surgeon performed the operation?
Has the operation been performed by the surgeon
?

2. Has Lionel signed the contract?

?

3. Our salesmen have sold all the carpets.

.

4. The zookeepers have captured the lion in the forest.

.

5. Dr. Phillips have treated all the patients.

.

6. Have the customers paid you?

?

7. Everybody has approved Joana's suggestion.

Bottom of Form

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