Reported Speech

Prepared BY
Mr. Meyphalla Oudom
 Reported Statement
O When do we use reported speech? Sometimes
someone says a sentence, for example "I'm
going to the cinema tonight". Later, maybe we
want to tell someone else what the first person
said.
 Here's how it works
O We use a 'reporting verb' like 'say' or 'tell'. If
this verb is in the present tense, it's easy. We
just put 'she says' and then the sentence:
O Direct speech: I like ice cream.
O Reported speech: She says (that) she likes ice
cream.
O We don't need to change the tense, though probably we do
need to change the 'person' from 'I' to 'she', for example.
We also may need to change words like 'my' and 'your'.

O (As I'm sure you know, often, we can choose if we want

to use 'that' or not in English. I've put it in brackets () to
show that it's optional. It's exactly the same if you use
'that' or if you don't use 'that'.)

O But, if the reporting verb is in the past tense, then usually

we change the tenses in the reported speech:

Direct speech: I like ice cream.

Reported speech: She said (that) she liked ice cream.
Tense Direct Speech Reported Speech
She said (that) she liked ice
present simple I like ice cream
cream.
present She said (that) she was living in
I am living in London
continuous London.

She said (that) she had bought a

past simple I bought a car car OR She said (that) she
bought a car.

I was walking along the She said (that) she had been
past continuous
street walking along the street.

She said (that) she hadn't seen

present perfect I haven't seen Julie
Julie.

I had taken English She said (that) she had taken

past perfect*
lessons before English lessons before.
 She said (that) she would see me
will I'll see you later
later.
She said (that) she would help
would* I would help, but..”
but...
I can speak perfect She said (that) she could speak
can
English perfect English.

I could swim when I was She said (that) she could swim
could*
four when she was four.
She said (that) she would come
shall I shall come later
later.
She said (that) she should call her
should* I should call my mother
mother

might* I might be late She said (that) she might be late

She said (that) she must study at

I must study at the
must the weekend OR She said she had
weekend
to study at the weekend
1) Present simple -> past simple
O "I know you." -> She said she knew him.
2) Present continuous -> past continuous
O "I am having coffee" -> He said he was having coffee.
3) Present perfect -> past perfect
O "I have finished my homework" -> He said he had finished his
homework.
4) Present perfect continuous -> past perfect continuous
O "I have been studying Chinese" -> She said she had been studying
Chinese.
5) Is going to -> was going to
O "I am going to go home" -> She said she was going to go home.
6) Future simple - > would
O "I will go to the bank later" -> He said he would go to the bank
later.