Professional Documents
Culture Documents
2 - UNIT 3
GRAMMAR
REPORTED SPEECH
Reported speech (also known as indirect speech) is what we use when we want to
tell somebody what another person (or other people) said.
To introduce reported speech we usually use the verbs say and tell, normally in the
past simple (said and told) . However, there are more reporting verbs which you can
use: admit, warn, agree, decide, explain, promise. .. You will study them in detail in
this unit.
‘I want to take up a new activity.’ → He told me that he wanted to take up a new
(a man is talking to me) activity.
The verb to say is normally used when the person who receives the message is
not specified.
He said that he missed me. NOT: *He said my mother that he missed me.
She said that she couldn’t go. NOT: *She said me that she couldn’t go.
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Tom said all those horrible things to me.
As you can see, we need to add the preposition ‘to’ if we want to indicate who
receives the message.
The verb to tell i s used when we know who receives the message.
Direct speech is exactly what the person said and we write those words in inverted
commas.
As you can see, the comma (,) goes before the quotation mark.
NEGATIVES IN REPORTING
‘I agree. This is not a good plan.’ → He agreed that it wasn’t a good plan.
‘I disagree. It’s not a good plan at all.’ → He didn’t agree that it was a good plan.
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● With some verbs (such as believe, feel, intend, plan, propose, suppose, think
and want) to report a negative sentence we usually make the verb in the
reporting clause negative.
r ‘I →
‘I think he won’t make it on time.’ o She didn’t think he would make it on
don’t think we’ll make it on time.’ time. (rather than She thought he
wouldn't make it on time.)
REPORTING QUESTIONS
● When the original question begins with what, which or who and is followed
by be + complement, we can put the complement before or after the verb be
in the report.
‘Who was the murderer?’ Vanesa → Vanesa asked who the murderer was.
asked. (Or Vanesa asked who was the
murderer.)
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DIRECT SPEECH REPORTED / INDIRECT SPEECH
‘Do you like my new smartphone?’ → John asked me if I liked his new
John asked. smartphone.
TENSE CHANGES
At a C1 level, students should know that when we want to report what someone said,
tenses usually change from direct to reported speech.
‘I am a teacher,’ Rose said. Rose said (that) she was a teacher.
‘She is singing,’ Greg said. Greg said (that) she was singing.
‘I have watched a film,’ Rachel said. Rachel said (that) she had watched a
film.
‘I finished my degree,’ Sarah said. Sarah said (that) she had finished her
degree.
‘I had never met someone like you,’ Stefan said (that) he had never met
Stefan said. someone like me.
‘I will go to university,’ Paul said. Paul said (that) he would go to
university.
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We also change these modal verbs:
‘I can speak Russian,’ Rose said. Rose said (that) she could speak
Russian.
may → might
‘I may give the dress to Laura,’ Lily Lily said (that) she might give the dress
said. to Laura.
must ( obligation)
→ had to ( in affirmative sentences)
‘I must finish before 6 o’clock,’ Klaus Klaus said (that) he had to finish before
said. 6 o’clock.
➔ it’s negative:
➔ it expresses a deduction:
However, the verb form does not need to change when the information being
reported:
● is unchanged.
(Reported speech) The news reporter said that the temperatures are rising.
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● happened recently.
(Reported speech) Mary said that she’l l do the washing up. ( It’s still the same day)
ad a
(Reported speech) ‘She said that she h lready f orgotten i t.
I he / she
→
Mary said: ‘I’m in a hurry.’ Mary said (that) she was in a hurry.
he / she / it he / she / it
Changes →
in the Ann told me: ‘He is a liar.’ Ann told me (that) he was a liar.
speaker
we they
→
Will and Tom told them: ‘We are Will and Tom told them (that) they
the champions.’ were the champions.
they
they
→
She said (that) they were very
She said: ‘They are very noisy.’
noisy.
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Pronouns in Direct Speech Pronouns in Reported Speech
me him / her
→
Robert said: ‘My mum takes Robert said (that) his mum took
care of me.’ care of him.
them them
→
Alex said: ‘My brother is taking Alex said (that) his brother was
care of them.’ taking care of them.
my his / her
→
Tim said: ‘My mum cares for Tim said (that) his mum cared for
me.’ him.
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our their
→
Rosemary and Kim said: ‘Our Rosemary and Kim said (that) their
country is amazing.’ country was amazing.
their their
→
Kate said: ‘Their bicycles are Kate said (that) their bicycles were
new.’ new.
CHANGES IN ADVERBS
today / this week / this month / this that day / that week / that month / that
→
year year
here → there
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VERB PATTERNS: STRUCTURES IN THE REPORTED CLAUSE
Verb Examples
complain The customers complained ( that) they had been given bad service.
explain He explained ( that) the police must obey the rules too.
say She said (that) she would take the kids to the countryside.
Verb Examples
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3. Verb + to infinitive
Verbs Examples
agree The parties agreed to suspend the direct distribution of royalty income.
Verbs Examples
advise The dentist advised me not to eat so many sweets.
invite Mark hasn’t invited me to go to the party with him yet.
urge Lawyers will urge t he parents to take legal action against the company.
persuade e to go shopping.
She persuaded m
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Do you know how we make negative sentences? We write not before the to
infinitive.
Verbs Examples
deny The girls denied t hrowing the party while their parents were away.
Verb Examples
accuse sb of e of telling a
They accused m lie.
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efore the
Did you realise how we make negative sentences? We write not b
-ing form.
We can use impersonal structures (with verbs such as accept, agree, announce,
believe, claim, hope, know, report, say, suggest or think) after verbs of mental
processes to avoid mentioning the agent or to focus the attention on the last part of
the sentence.
Having regard to these circumstances, i t is believed that the lifting of the ban at this
stage would be premature.
y a Roman architect.
The town hall is believed to have been designed b
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