INTRODUCTION

REPORTED SPEECH (1)

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Types

ConjunctionThings to note

Sentences / Statements
Reported Speech

that

Close Questions (Yes/No Questions)

Questions

inversion
Open Questions

Tense, Pronoun,
Time/place expressions

if /
Tense, Pronoun,
whether /
Time/place expressions,
whether or not Order,Punctuation

Question words Tense, Pronoun,

What, Why, Time/place expressions,
When, How,Order, Punctuation,
How much
inversion

-Requests / Commands

to / not to + verb
Pronouns
(infinitive without "to")
Time /place

(2)

expressions
SENTENCES / STATEMENTS Change Tense
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Change Tense
Direct Speech:
Mr. Fong said, Mr. Chan is a good artist.
Reported Speech: Mr. Fong said that Mr. Chan was a good artist.
Change Tense
Direct Speech:

Mr. Fong said, Mr. Wong is a good conductor.

Reported Speech: Mr. Fong said that Mr. Wong was a very good conductor.

SENTENCES / STATEMENTS Change Tense + Pronoun

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Change Tense + Pronoun
Direct Speech:
Peter said, I like playing basketball.
Reported Speech: Peter said that he liked playing basketball.
Change Tense + Pronoun
Direct Speech:
Mary said, I hate doing Mathematics homework.
Reported Speech: Mary said that she hated doing Mathematics homework.

SENTENCES / STATEMENTS Change Tense + Pronoun + Time

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Change Tense + Pronoun + Time
Direct Speech:
Helen said, I posted the letter yesterday.
Reported Speech: Helen said that she had posted the letter the previous day.

Change Tense + Pronoun + Time

Direct Speech:
Patrick said, I will watch an opera tomorrow.

Reported Speech: Patrick said that he would watch an opera the following day .

CLOSE QUESTIONS Yes/No Questions

Change Order + Punctuation if / whether / whether or not (4)
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Change Order + Punctuation

Direct Speech:

Lisa asked, Is Seattle a big city?

Reported Speech:

if
Lisa asked whether
Seattle was a big city .
whether or not

Change Order + Punctuation

Direct Speech:
Reported Speech:

David asked Yuki, Do you like jazz music?

David asked Yuki

if
whether
she liked music .
whether or not

OPEN QUESTIONS
Change Order + Punctuation
Question Word
(5)
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Change Order + Punctuation

Direct Speech:

Rita asked, What does the picture stand for?

Reported Speech:

Rita asked what the picture stood for .

Change Order + Punctuation

Direct Speech:

Sam asked Irene, How many books have you read?

Reported Speech: Sam asked Irene how many books she had read .

REQUESTS / COMMANDS

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When transforming requests and commands, check whether you have to change:

pronouns

place and time expressions

Direct speech
Reported speech
Nancy,do the exercise.
He told Nancy to do the exercise.
"Nancy, give me your pen, please." He asked Nancy politely to give him her pen.

Tenses are not relevant for requests simply use to / not to + verb (infinitive without "to")
Example:
She said, Sit down." - She asked me to sit down.
She said, "don't be lazy" - She asked me not to be lazy
For affirmative use to + infinitive (without to)
For negative requests, use not to + infinitive (without to).

Examples of the main changes in the tense

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Direct Speech
Simple Present
He said: "I am happy"
Present Continuous
He said: "I'm looking for my keys"
Simple Past
He said: "I visited New York last year"
Present Perfect
He said: " I've lived here for a long time "
Past Perfect
He said: "They had finished the work when Iarrived"
Past Continous
He said: "I was playing football when the
accidentoccurred"
Future Simple (will+verb)
He said: "I will open the door."
Conditional (would+verb)
He said: "I would buy Mercedes if I were rich"
Present Modals:

can, may, must, will

Past Modals: could, should, would, might, needn't,

ought to, used to

Reported Speech
Simple Past
He said that he was happy
Past Continuous
He said that he was looking for his keys
Past Perfect Simple
He said that he had visited New York the previous year.
Past Perfect
He said that he had lived there for a long time
Past Perfect
He said that they had finished the work when he had arrived"
Past Perfect Continuous
He said that he had been playing football when the accident had
occurred
Conditional (would+verb)
He said that he would open the door.
Conditional (would+verb)
He said that he would buy Mercedes if he had been rich"
Become Past modals: could, might, must/had to, would
Do not change: could, should, would, might, needn't, ought to,
used to

Place and time expressions / Pronouns

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Place and time expressions change if the context of the reported statement (i.e. the location and/or the period of time) is
different from that of the direct speech.
In the following table, you will find ways of transforming place and time expressions into reported speech.
Direct Speech
today
now
yesterday
days ago
last week
next year
tomorrow
here
this
these

Reported Speech
that day
Direct speech
Then/ at that time
I
the day before
me
days my
before
the weekmine
before
we year
the following
the next us
day / the following day
our
there ours
that
you
those you
yours
this
these

Indirect speech
he, she
him, her
his, her, the
his, hers
they
them
their, the
theirs
they, them
their, the
theirs
that, the
those, the