REPORTED SPEECH
Reported
speech is often also called indirect speech. When we use reported speech,
we are usually talking about the past (because obviously the person who
spoke originally spoke in the past). The verbs therefore usually have to
be in the past too. For example:
"I'm going
to the cinema".
He said he was going to the cinema.
Basic tense chart
The tenses
generally move backwards in this way (the tense on the left changes to the
tense on the right):
present simple
I'm a
teacher. |
past simple
He said he was a
teacher |
present continuous
I'm having lunch with my
parents. |
past continuous
He said he was having lunch
with his parents. |
present perfect simple
I've been to France
three times. |
past perfect simple
He said he had been to
France three times. |
present perfect continuous
I've been working
very hard. |
past perfect continuous
He said he had been
working very hard. |
past simple
I bought a new car. |
past perfect
He said he had bought a new car. |
past continuous
It was raining
earlier. |
past perfect continuous
He said it had been
raining earlier. |
past perfect
The play had started when I arrived. |
past perfect
NO CHANGE POSSIBLE |
past perfect continuous
I'd already been
living in London for five years. |
past perfect continuous
NO CHANGE
POSSIBLE |
Other verb forms
Other verb
forms also sometimes change:
will
I'll come and see you soon. |
would
He said he would come and see me
soon. |
|
can
I can swim under water for two
minutes. |
could
He said he could swim under water for two
minutes. |
must
All tickets must be bought in advance. |
had to
He said that all tickets had to be bought in
advance. |
shall
What shall we do about it? |
should
He asked what we should do about
it. |
may
May I smoke? |
might
He asked if he might smoke. |
Things are
slightly more complicated with imperatives.
positive imperative
Shut
up! |
tell + infinitive
He told me to shut
up. |
negative imperative
Don't do that
again! |
tell + not + infinitive
He told me not to do
it again. |
imperatives as requests
Please give me some
money. |
ask + infinitive
He asked me to give
him some money. |
When verbs don't
follow the rules
The verb
tenses do not always follow the rules shown above. For example, if the
reporting verb is in the present tense, there is no change in the reported
sentence. Also, a sentence in direct speech in a present or future tense
can remain the same if what is said is still true or relevant. For
example:
You've
invited someone for dinner at your house, and the phone rings. It's
them! They say:
I'm sorry, but
I think I'm going to be a bit late. There's a lot of
traffic.
After you
finish speaking on the phone, you say to someone
else:
That was Juan.
He said he thinks he's going to be late because there's a lot of
traffic.
Another
example:
A friend
says to you:
María's ill.
She's got chickenpox!
You say to
someone else:
Laura said that
María's ill. She's got chickenpox.
However, the
following day you see María at the beach. You're surprised and say to
her:
Laura said that
you were ill. She said you had chickenpox.
This has to
change to the past because it isn't true. María obviously isn't ill.
Direct
statements in a past tense do not always change either, because a change
might alter the meaning or just make it sound confusing. For
example:
A friend is
telling you about the horrible weather:
It started raining heavily when I left work.
This is
where things get confusing:
He said it had started raining heavily when he had left
work (it sounds
horrible and the sentence is almost nothing but
verbs).
He said it had started raining heavily when he left
work (is wrong
because it means it was already raining when he left
work)
He said it started raining heavily when he left
work (is the best version because it is accurate, short, and
there is no confusion because of the time context)
Generally
speaking, the past simple and continuous don't always need to be changed
if:
there is a
time context which makes everything clear,
and/or
there is
another action already using the past perfect, which might alter the
meaning or make things confusing.
Time and place references
Time and place
references often have to change:
| now |
then |
| today |
that
day |
| here |
there |
| this |
that |
| this
week |
that
week |
| tomorrow |
the
following day
the next day
the day
after |
| next
week |
the
following week
the next week
the week
after |
| yesterday |
the
previous day
the day before |
| last
week |
the
previous week
the week before |
| ago |
previously
before |
| 2 weeks
ago |
2 weeks
previously
2 weeks before |
| tonight |
that
night |
| last
Saturday |
the
previous Saturday
the Saturday before |
| next
Saturday |
the
following Saturday
the next Saturday
the Saturday
after
that Saturday |
Examples:
I went to
the theatre last night.
He said he had
gone to the theatre the night before.
I'm having a
party next weekend.
He said he was having
a party the next weekend.
I'm staying
here until next week.
He said he was
staying there until the following week.
I came over
from London 3 years ago.
He said he had
come over from London 3 years before.
Personal pronouns
You also need
to be careful with personal pronouns. They need to be changed according to
the situation. You need to know the context. For example, there is
possible confusion when you try to change reported speech to direct
speech:
She said
she'd been waiting for hours.
(Is she one
person or two different people?)
I told them they would have to ask permission.
(Are we
talking about two groups of people or only one?)
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