Anglais Technique:

Reported Speech

PROF: ABDELLAH R’GUIBI

 Reported speech known also as
indirect speech refers to a sentence
reporting what someone has said.
 In all sentences , the quotation marks
and the comma immediately before the
first quotation mark are removed. Next,
the word ‘’that’’ is usually inserted after
the reporting verb. Then, there are
certain changes to be considered.
 If the reporting verb is in the present tense we
don’t need to change the tense, though probably
we do need to change the ‘person’ from ‘I’ to ‘she’
• ‘I like icecream’ she says
 She says she likes ice cream
But if the reporting verb is in the past tense, then
usually we change the tense in the reported speech:
• ‘I like ice cream’ she said
 She said she liked ice cream
 Tense changes
Direct speech Indirect speech

Present simple Past simple

She said, ‘’it is cold.’’ She said it was cold.

Present continuous Past continuous

She ssaid, ‘’i am teaching English She said she was teaching English
online.’’ online.

Preent Perfect Simple Past Perfect Simple

She said, ‘’i have been on the web She said she had been on the web
since 1999.’’ since 1999.
 Present perfect continuous Past Perfect Continuous
She said, ‘’ i have been teaching English She said she had been teaching English
for seven years for seven years.

Past Simple Past Perfect

She said, ‘’i taught online yesterday’’ She said she had taught online the
previous day.

Past continuous Past perfect continuous

She said, ‘’i was teaching earlier’’ She said she had been teaching earlier

Past perfect Past perfect-- no change

She said d, ‘’ the lesson had already She said the lesson had already started
started when he arrived.’’ whe he arrived.

Past Perfect Continuous Past Perfect Continuous--no change

She said, ‘’ i had already ben teaching for She said she had already been teaching
five minutes.’’ for five minutes.
 Direct speech Indirect Speech

Will Would
She said ‘’ i will teach online tomorrow’’ She said she would teach English online
the following day

Can Could
She said, ‘’i can teach German online’’ She said she could teach English online

Must Had to
She said , ‘’i must have a computer to She said she had to have a computer to
teach English online teach English online.

Shall Should
She said ‘what shall we learn today?’’ She asked what we should learn today.

May Might
She said, ‘’may i open a new browser?’’ She asked if she might open a new
browser.
 Adverbs of time changes
 Now= then
 Today= that day
 Here= there
 This= that
 This week= that week
 Tomorrow= the followin day/the next day
 Ago= previously/before
 Yesterday= the day before/ the orevious day
 Tonight= that night
 Examples
• ‘’I went to the theatre last night’’ he said
 He said that he had gone to the theatre the
previous night.

• ‘’I am staying here until next week’’ he said

 He said he was staying there until the
following week
 Some reporting verbs

• Apart from asked, said and told, we can use

one of the following reporting verbs:
Accused, admitted, advised, alleged, agreed,
apologised, begged, boasted, complained,
denied, explained, implied, invited, offered,
ordered, promised, replied, suggested and
thought
 Indirect questions
• He said, ‘’ where is she going’?’
 He asked where she was going.
• The kid asked, ‘’ where is my dad?’’
 The kid asked where was his dad.
• The man said, ‘’why are you looking at me like this’’
• The man wanted to know why i was looking at him like that.
• Thus, three reporting verbs are used in here: wonder/
wanted to know / asked except when we have an object of
the verb we use only ask.
• ex he said, ‘’Mary, when is the next train?.’’
 He asked Mary when the next train was.
 Yes/no questions
• ‘’Can you stop chatting?’’ He said
a) subject+asked if / whether….
b) Inversion of the subject order
c) Change pronouns, timeand place expressions
and tenses.
• He asked if we could stop chatting
• ‘’Can you pass the salt’’ heasked
• He asked if i could pass the sal.
 Commands, Requests, Advice and Order:
----Verb of command,/request/advice+ object+
(not)infinitive…..
• He said, ‘’ lie down, Tom’’
 He told Tom to lie down
• Verbs used: advise, ask, beg, command, order,
remind, tell, warn etc.
• ‘Stir it with your spoon’ his sister said
 His sister advised him to stir it with a spoon.
• ‘’don’t swim out too far, boys’’ he said
 He warned the boys not to swim too far.
 Positive or negative imperative:
a. Tell+(object)+infinitive….
b. Tell+(object)+ not+ infinitive…
• ‘’Close the door’’ he said
 He told me to lose the door.
• ‘’Don’t smoke in my house’’ he said.
 He told me not to smoke in his house.
Exercise & Practice