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Reported speech

  •  Reported speech is used when you want to tell someone else what a person said before.
  •  The tense in reported speech is one tense back in time from the tense in direct speech.

I/ you/ we/ they

He/ she/ it/ James

  • Present simple Ex: “I go shopping every Friday”, my mom said.
  • Past simple Ex: My mom said (that) she went shopping every Friday.

  • Present continuous Ex: “We are watching TV”, they told me.
  • Past continuous Ex: They told me (that) they were watching TV.
  • Present perfect Ex: “I have lived here for 10 years”, David said.
  • Past perfect Ex: David said (that) he had lived there for 10 years.
  • Past simple Ex: “I was at school yesterday”, my sister said.
  • Past perfect Ex: My sister said (that) she had been at school the day before.
  • Past continuous Ex: “We were cooking when she came”, they told me.
  • Past perfect continuous Ex: They told me (that) they had been cooking when he had come.
  • Past perfect Ex: “I had had a car accident”, Marry told me.
  • Past perfect Ex: Marry told me (that) she had had a car accident.
  • Present perfect continuous Ex: “I have been explaining to her for hours”, Jim said.
  • Past perfect continuous Ex: Jim said (that) he had been explaining to her for hours.
  • Simple future with WILL Ex: “I will travel to Asia next year”, my cousin told me.
  • WOULD + bare infinitive Ex: My cousin told me (that) she would travel to Asia the following year.
  • Simple future with BE GOING TO Ex: “I am going to write a story”, Sarah said.
  • WAS/ WERE GOING TO + Bare infinitive Ex: Sarah said (that) she was going to write a story.
  • Future continuous Ex: “I will be coming back in an hour”, Michael told me.
  • WOULD BE verb-ING Ex: Michael told me (that) he would be coming back in an hour.
  • modal verb MAY Ex: “I may see you in the afternoon”, Jane said.
  • MIGHT/ COULD Ex: Jane said (that) she might see me in the afternoon.
  • modal verb MIGHT
     Ex: “Jim might visit me tomorrow”, my sister said.
  • MIGHT Ex: My sister said (that) Jim might visit her the following day.
  • modal verb MUST Ex: “You must make your final decision by 20th May”, she said.
  • MUST/ HAD TO Ex: She said (that) I had to make my final decision by 20th May.
  • modal verb SHALL Ex: “We shall need your help”, they told me.
  • WOULD/ SHOULD Ex: They told me (that) they would need my help.
  • modal verb CAN Ex: “You can wait for me in the office”, my boss said.
  • COULD Ex: My boss said (that) I could wait for him in the office.
  • modal verb COULD Ex: “We could finish everything soon”, My husband told me.
  • COULD Ex: My husband told me (that) we could finish everything soon.
  • modal verb SHOULD Ex: “You should go to bed early”, my mom said.
  • SHOULD Ex: My mom said (that) I should go to bed early.
  • modal verb WOULD Ex: “I would teach you how to make cookies”, my mom said.
  • WOULD Ex: My mom said (that) she would teach me how to make cookies.
  • modal verb NEED Ex: “You need to drink more water a day”, my doctor told me.
  • NEED Ex: My doctor told me (that) I need to drink more water a day.
    • Place, time words and demonstratives

    Direct speech

    Reported speech

    Time

    Today

    That day

    Yesterday

    The day before

    Tomorrow

    The next day/ the following day

    … days ago

    … days before

    Last week

    The week before

    Next week

    The following week

    Now

    Then

    Place

    Here

    There

    Demonstratives

    This

    That

    These

    Those

    Reported questions
    • There are two types of questions: WH-question and Yes/No question.
    • In reported speech, the word orders change.
    • In WH-question, the WH-words (what, where, why, how, etc.) remains the same.

    ...ASK ME + WH-WORDS

    • In Yes/ No question, the auxiliary is deleted. We use if/ whether instead.

    ... ASK ME + IF/ WHETHER 

    Direct speech

    Reported speech

    WH-questions

    “Where do you go?” She asked.

    She asked me where I went.

    “What have you done?” He asked.

    He asked me what I had done.

    “Why are you crying?” She asked.

    She asked me why I was crying.

    Yes/ No questions

    “Are you going shopping?” Jenny asked.

    Jenny asked me if/ whether I was going shopping?

    “Have you ever been to London?” He asked.

    He asked me if/ whether I had ever been to London.

    “Can you help me with this homework?” Tom asked.

    Tom asked me if/ whether I could help him with that homework.

    Reported commands/ requests

    ...ASK ME + (NOT) TO DO SOMETHING

    Direct speech

    Reported speech

    “Go away.” She said.

    She asked me to go away.

    “Don’t come any closer.” He said.

    He asked me not to come any closer.

    “Jack, wait for a second.” He said.

    He asked Jack to wait for a second.

     

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    Related Lessons

    Past Perfect Continuous Tense

    Past Continuous Tense

    Simple Future Tense

    Relative clause

    Comparative and Superlative Adjectives – List and Example Sentences

    Conditionals

    Passive voice

    Question tags

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