Reported speech

PG8

Cristóbal Valenzuela Jorge Antonio

 Reported speech
He said that he knew where the burglar lived

The police told us that they had arrested someone for the crime

The police of icer asked me where I had been the night before.

I asked Emma if she could help me with my homework.

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 Reported speech
• We use reported speech to say what someone said.
• Direct speech: I live downtown.
• Reported speech: she said (that) she lived downtown.

• In reported speech, we usually change the tense of the verbs.

• Simple present > simple past
• I work in a bank > He said (that) he worked in a bank.
• Present continuous > past continuous
• The train is arriving > Sara said (that) the train was arriving.
• Present perfect > past perfect
• I’ve just inished work> Mike said (that) he’d just inished work.
• Simple past > past perfect
• I lost my keys > She said (that) she’d lost her keys.
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 Reported speech
• Some modal verbs can also change in reported speech.
• I can speak French > Luke said (that) he could speak French.
• I’ll see you tonight > Lisa said (that) she would see us tonight.
• We may get married > Sarah told me (that) they they might get married.
• We must buy her a present > They said (that) they had to buy her a present.

• The following modal verbs don’t change in reported speech: mustn’t would, could,
might and should.

 Reported statements
• The most common verbs that we use to
report statements are say and tell. When
we use say, we don’t usually specify the
person who was spoken to.
• He said he was Spanish
• NOT he said me that he was Spanish.
• When we use tell, we always specify the
person who was spoken to.
• He told me that we has Spanish
• NOT he told that he was Spanish
• We often use that after said and told, but it
isn’t essential.
• In reported speech, we change
pronoun and words referring to time
and place if the sentences is reported
on a different day or in a different
place.
• I’m coming tomorrow > She said
that she was coming the next day.
• We visited him yesterday > They
said they had visited him the day
before.
• I’ll wait for you here > He said he’d
wait for us there.

 Reported questions
• We report a Yes/No question with the following structure:
• S + asked (+object) + if + S + positive verb form + rest of the sentence
• Do you want an ice cream?
• > She asked (me) If I wanted an ice cream.
• Is this your car?
• > He asked (me) if it was my car.
• When we report Wh questions, we include the question words instead of if.
• Why did you call me?
• >She asked (me) why I had called her.
• When will you buy a car?
• >They asked (us) when we would buy a car.

Source: Scrivener, J. (2018). Personal Best B1+ Intermediate. Richmond: Spain.