Professional Documents
Culture Documents
We often need to tell others what someone else said. There are two ways to do this. One is to say
the same words and use quotation marks. That is "direct speech." The other method is to
summarize, or tell about what someone said. This is called "reported speech." Before we get into
the rules for reporting speech, here are the terms we are using to explain it.
To get this kind of sentence right, there are four things you should keep in mind:
When did the speech happen? With current, repeated or recent events, the reporting verb is in the
present tense. "He says he is hungry, so let's go to lunch." A habitual or repeated statement is in
the present tense: "Everyone says the water is safe to drink." For reporting less immediate
speech, choose the past tense. The reporting verb is often said, but it can also be told, or other
verbs like ordered, stated, or reported, depending on the situation. When reporting questions,
you can use verbs like asked or requested.
You can say, "He says he is at home" or "He says that he is at home." That is a conjunction
here, linking the two parts of the sentence. It is optional. Another conjunction, if, is required
when reporting on a question: "He asked me if I knew how to play tennis."
4. The fourth rule is to "backshift" the tense.
This is the trickiest part of reported speech. When the reporting verb is in the past tense, the verb
in the reported clause is in the past tense, too. The verb aspect, showing whether the action is
completed, matches. So, we can say that the verbs go one step back. Here are some examples:
Reported speech in English would be easy if these rules were all learners needed to know. But as
usual, there is more to learn. Let's look at what happens with questions and modals.
5. Reporting on questions
When we report questions, we have to pay attention to the auxiliary verb. These are words like
do, be, and have. Yes or no questions begin with an auxiliary, such as
Learners often make the mistake of leaving the auxiliary verb in the reported speech: He asked
me do I like pizza.
Here, learners often make the mistake of keeping the same word order: She asked me
where was I going.
A similar word order switch appears with the verb "be" in questions.
Finally, pay attention to whether the speech you are reporting uses a modal verb. Will, can, and
shall change to would, could, and should when reported. Will is used to make statements about
the future in English. When reporting this kind of statement, will becomes would. Compare these
sentences:
Caty asked, "Can you answer the phone while I'm out?"
-> Caty asked me if I could answer the phone while she was out.
If the modal verb is already in its past form, it does not change when reported.
Reported speech sometimes shows up in popular songs. The singer Lisa Loeb begins the song
"Stay" with a reported verb in the present tense to show that the action is a habit.
Follow these simple rules and you will be reporting speech like a pro.
VERBS BACKSHIFTING:
Direct
Reporting Reported
Direct Speech Speech Indirect Speech
Verb Tense Speech Tense
Tense
________________________________________________________________
aspect – grammar: the characteristic of a verb that expresses the way an action happens
auxiliary verb – n. a verb (such as have, be, may, do, shall, will, can, or must) that is used with
another verb to show the verb's tense, to form a question, etc.
modal verb – n. a verb (such as can, could, shall, should, ought to, will, or would) that is usually
used with another verb to express ideas such as possibility, necessity, and permission
Now it's your turn. Try changing these sentences into reported speech. Write your sentences in
the comments section and we will give you feedback.