REPORTED SPEECH

Reported speech, also known as indirect speech, is commonly used in spoken

conversations to report what others have said. A keen grasp of correct tense usage, as
well as the ability to correctly shift pronouns and time expressions, is essential when
using reported speech.

The use of reported speech is especially important in fine-tuning communication skills

to include expressing the ideas of others, as well as one’s own opinions. With reported
speech, there is need to focus not only on the grammar involved but also on production
skills.

Reported speech includes some rather tricky transformations that need to be

practiced repeatedly before students feel comfortable using reported speech in everyday
conversations.

Finally, it is important to know that reported speech is generally used with the verbs
'say' and 'tell' in the past. 

"The teacher will help you with the homework." -> She told me that the teacher would
help me with my homework. 

However, if the reporting verb is conjugated in the present tense, no reported speech
changes are necessary.

"I'm going to Seattle next week." -> Peter says he's going to Seattle next week. 

Lesson Outline

Aim: Developing reported speech grammar and productions skills

Activity: Introduction and written reporting activity, followed by spoken practice in the
form of a questionnaire

Level: Upper-intermediate

Outline:

 Introduce/review reported speech by making simple statements and asking

students to report what you have said. Make sure to emphasize reporting in the
past (i.e., "the teacher said", NOT "the teacher says")
 Provide review sheet of principle reported speech transitions (included in lesson
printout pages)
 Have students get into pairs and convert the reported speech paragraph into the
direct speech form.
 Correct worksheet as a class.

1
  Ask students to divide up into new pairs and ask each other questions from the
questionnaire. Remind them to take notes on what their partners say.
 Have students divide into new pairs and ask them to report what they have
learned about the other students to their new partner (i.e., John said he had lived
in Breubach for two years).
 Follow-up with class conversation focusing on problematic tense
transformations.

Reported Speech
Study the following chart carefully. Notice how reported speech is one step back into the
past from direct speech.
Tense Quote Tense Reported Speech
Present Simple "I play tennis on Past Simple He said that he played tennis
Fridays." on Fridays.
Present "They're watching TV." Past Continuous She said that they were
Continuous watching TV.
Present Perfect "She's lived in Portland Past Perfect He told me that she had lived
for ten years." in Portland for ten years.
Present Perfect "I've been working for Past Perfect He told me that he had been
Continuous two hours." Continuous working for two hours.
Past Simple "I visited my parents Past Simple She told me that she visited
in New York." her parents in New York.
Past Continuous"They were Past Continuous He told me they were preparing
preparing dinner at 8 dinner at 8 o'clock.
o'clock."
Past Perfect "I had finished in Past Perfect He told me that he had finished
time." in time.
Past Perfect "She had been Past Perfect She said that she had been
Continuous waiting for two hours." Continuous waiting for two hours.
Future With "I'll see them Conditional He said that he would see them the
'Will', ‘Shall’ tomorrow." would next day/ the following day.
Future With "We're going to fly to Past Continuous He told me that they were going
'Going To' Chicago." to fly to Chicago.
Can “You can go home.” Could He told me that I could go home.

Imperative “Stop writing!” Infinitive He told me to stop writing.

Questions
Interrogative Word Quote Interrogative Reported
Word
How, Why, When, - “What are you How, Why, When, - He asked me
Where, What doing?” Where, What what I was
- “How have you doing.
2
 managed.” - He asked me
how I had
managed.
Questions that require a ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ answer; use ‘if’
Direct Speech: “Do you live in Lusaka?” she asked me.
Reported speech: She asked me if I lived in Lusaka
Time Expression Changes

Time expressions such as 'at the moment' are also changed when using reported speech.
Here are some of the most common changes:

at the/this moment/time -> at that moment / at that time

right now / now ->  right then / then or at that time

E.G. "We're watching TV right now." -> She told me that they were watching TV at
that time.

yesterday -> the previous day / the day before

E.G. "I bought some groceries yesterday." -> He told me he had bought some groceries
the previous day/ the day before.

Tomorrow -> the following day / the next day

"She'll be at the party tomorrow." -> She told me she would be at the party the next day/
the following day.

Reporting Verbs for English Language Learners

By 
Kenneth Beare
Updated August 10, 2018

Reporting verbs are verbs that serve to report what someone else has said. Reporting
verbs are different than the reported speech in that they are used to paraphrase what
someone has said. Reported speech is used when reporting exactly what someone has
said. To do this, use 'say' and 'tell'.

John told me that he was going to stay late at work.

Jennifer told Peter that she had lived in Berlin for ten years.

3
Peter said that he wanted to visit his parents that weekend.
My friend said that he would finish his work soon.

Other verbs used with reported speech include 'mention' and 'comment'. Here are some
examples:

Tom mentioned that he enjoyed playing tennis.

Alice mentioned that she could take care of the kids this weekend.

The teacher commented that the students weren't getting their homework done on
time.
The man commented that he felt tired after such a long journey.

When using reported speech, change the verb used by the original speaker to match
your usage. In other words, if you report using 'said,' you need to move everything back
one step into the past. There are also pronoun changes and time cue changes that need
to be made as appropriate in reported speech. 

"I like playing tennis." - Tom mentioned that he liked playing tennis. 
"I have lived in Berlin for ten years." - Jennifer told Peter that she had lived in Berlin
for ten years. 

Say and tell are the most common reporting verbs used to report what others have said.
However, there are a number of other reporting verbs which can more accurately
describe what someone has said. These verbs take a variety of structures that differ from
reported speech. For example:

Original Statement: “I will come to your party. I promise.”

Reported Speech: He said that he would come to my party.

Reporting Verb: He promised to come to my party.

In this example, reported speech changes the original verb to 'would' as well as changing
the possessive pronoun 'your' to 'my'. In contrast, the reporting verb 'promise' is simply
followed by the infinitive. There are a number of formulas used with reporting verbs.
Use the chart below to identify the structure required. 

The following list gives you reporting verbs in various categories based on sentence
structure. Note that a number of verbs can take more than one form.

verb object verb verb (that) verb gerund verb object verb
infinitive infinitive preposition preposition
gerund gerund
advise agree admit deny accuse apologize
encourage decide agree recommend blame insist

4
invite offer decide suggest congratulate
remind promise deny
warn refuse explain
threaten insist
promise
recommend
suggest
Examples: Examples: Examples: Examples: Examples: Examples:
Jack She offered Tom He denied They accused He apologized
encouraged to give him a admitted having the boys of for being late.
me to look for lift to work. (that) he had anything to cheating on the
a new job. tried to leave do with her. exam. She insisted
My brother early. on doing the
They invited refused to Ken She blamed her washing up.
all their take no for She agreed suggested husband for
friends to an answer. (that) we studying missing the Peter
attend the needed to early in the train. apologized for
presentation. Mary reconsider morning. interrupting
decided to our plans. The mother the meeting.
Bob warned attend Alice congratulated
his friend not university. The teacher recommends her daughter
to open the insisted that playing golf on graduating
can of worms. He he didn't give in Bend, from college.
threatened enough Oregon.
I advised the to sue the homework.
students to company.
study Our
carefully for manager
the test. suggested we
take some
time off
work.