UNIT 8.

5
GRAMMAR: REPORTED
SPEECH
AIM: By the end of this lesson you will
be able to report what other people said
Warming-up practice:
▣ You have a look at the title of the true story and the
boy in the photo and speculate what might have
happened to him.
▣ You brainstorm on the key words and phrases:
▣ E.G:
▣ Mystery, forest, disappear, reporters, police, look
after, remember, aged fifteen….
 Reading-grammar practice:
▣ You read the true story about The German Boy and
tell what happened to him in these times:
▣ Yesterday
▣ Two weeks ago
▣ Five years ago
▣ Before that
▣ E.G: Yesterday: A boy walked out of a German
forest.
 Grammar practice 1:
▣ Compare and contrast the direct statements with the
indirect/reported ones in blue in the text.
▣ Tell what changes have been made to the verb forms
and pronouns.
▣ E.G:
▣ Direct: My name is Ray and I’m probably 15.
▣ Reported: His name was Ray and he was probably
15.
 Grammar Focus:
▣ Indirect/Reported speech. (We report later what
someone said before)
▣ Verbs and pronouns change depending on the
context.
▣ Direct: Indirect:
▣ Present Simple Past Simple
 Other changes:
▣ Direct: ▣ Indirect:
▣ Present Continuous: ▣ Past Continuous:
▣ I am doing ▣ She was doing
▣ Present Perfect: ▣ Past Perfect:
▣ I have gone ▣ He had gone
▣ Past Simple: ▣ Past Perfect:
▣ I went ▣ He had gone
 Grammar Practice 2:
▣ 6 months later the German police were interviewed
about Ray. Try to report their statements. You
should begin with “They said….”
▣ E.G:
▣ Direct: We looked everywhere for information
about Ray.
▣ Reported: They said they had looked everywhere
for Ray.
 Grammar Practice 3:
▣ SAY vs TELL:
▣ Say (that): He said his father had died two weeks
ago.
▣ Tell somebody that…
▣ He told the police first (that) his first name was
Ray.
▣ Now practice exercise 5, choose: say or tell:
 Grammar Practice 4:
▣ Try the other way round, so turn the sentences in
exercise 4 from indirect to direct speech.
▣ E.G:
▣ 1. Indirect: The teacher told me I wasn’t
concentrating.
▣ Direct: The teacher said: “You aren’t
concentrating.”
 Feed back:
▣ Tell your friends five true things about yourself:
▣ 1. I am tired of this online learning.
▣ He/she reports later what you said, like this:
▣ She said she was tired of that online learning.
▣ Give some more examples.