WELCOME TO

DEAD HOUSE 1
Josh and I hated our new house.

Sure, it was big. It looked like a mansion compared to our old house. It was a tall
redbrick house with a sloping black roof and rows of windows framed by black
shutters.

It’s so dark, I thought, studying it from the street. The whole house was covered
in darkness, as if it were hiding in the shadows of the gnarled, old trees that bent over it.

It was the middle of July, but dead brown leaves blanketed the front yard. Our
sneakers crunched over them as we trudged up the gravel driveway.

Tall weeds poked up everywhere through the dead leaves. Thick clumps of weeds
had completely overgrown an old flower bed beside the front porch.

This house is creepy, I thought unhappily.

Josh must have been thinking the same thing. Looking up at the old house, we
both groaned loudly.

Mr. Dawes, the friendly young man from the local real estate office, stopped near
the front walk and turned around.

“Everything okay?” he asked, staring first at Josh, then at me, with his crinkly
blue eyes.

“Josh and Amanda aren’t happy about moving,” Dad explained, tucking his
shirttail in. Dad is a little overweight, and his shirts always seem to be coming
untucked.

“It’s hard for kids,” my mother added, smiling at Mr. Dawes, her hands shoved
into her jeans pockets as she continued up to the front door. “You know. Leaving all of
their friends behind. Moving to a strange new place.”

“Strange is right,” Josh said, shaking his head. “This house is gross.”
Mr. Dawes chuckled. “It’s an old house, that’s for sure,” he said, patting Josh on
the shoulder.
“It just needs some work, Josh,” Dad said, smiling at Mr. Dawes. “No one has
lived in it for a while, so it’ll take some fixing up.”

“Look how big it is,” Mom added, smoothing back her straight black hair and
smiling at Josh. “We’ll have room for a den and maybe a rec room, too. You’d like
that—wouldn’t you, Amanda?”

I shrugged. A cold breeze made me shiver. It was actually a beautiful, hot

summer day. But the closer we got to the house, the colder I felt.

I guessed it was because of all the tall, old trees.

I was wearing white tennis shorts and a sleeveless blue T-shirt. It had been hot in
the car. But now I was freezing. Maybe it’ll be warmer in the house, I thought.
“How old are they?” Mr. Dawes asked Mom, stepping onto the front porch.

Write a composition using THE REPORTED SPEECH.

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 DIRECT and INDIRECT REPORTED SPEECH

1) Puedes relatar o comentar lo que alguien dice en forma directa:

"Women are safer because they're more cautious", said the inspector.

2) Puedes relatar o comentar lo que alguien dice en forma indirecta:

The inspector thinks that the sex of the driver was irrelevant.

He believes that the load you carry in your car makes a difference.

Esta dos oraciones son ejemplos de reported speech (voz o lenguaje indirecto). El
verbo comunicador (thinks, believes) va seguido del pronombre relativo that (que) y
una cláusula, Cabe destacar aquí que el pronombre relativo that a veces puede
omitirse, especialmente en lenguaje más informal así como en el Inglés Americano.
Como regla muy general, úsalo cuando escribes y omítelo cuando hablas.

CAMBIOS EN LA PUNTUACION

Las comillas (" ") se utilizan únicamente para marcar el comienzo y el final de los
comentarios directos:

DIRECT STATEMENT ► inverted commas

"They are slower", she added.

REPORTED STATEMENT ► no inverted commas

This report shows that a risk of death at the wheel is high.

CAMBIOS EN LOS PRONOMBRES

El primer y segundo pronombre personal cambia a tercera persona:

DIRECT STATEMENT ► personal pronoun "I"

"I drive a van and women are terrible", said Ian Lewis.

REPORTED STATEMENT ► personal pronoun "he"

lan Lewis said that he drove a van and that women were terrible.
 CAMBIOS EN LOS ADVERBIOS DE TIEMPO

DIRECT STATEMENT REPORTED STATEMENT

now (ahora) ► at that time / then (en ese momento)

this morning (esta mañana)
today (hoy)
yesterday (ayer)
tomorrow (mañana)
next week (la semana próxima)
last year (el año pasado)
here (aquí)
come (venir)
► that morning (esa mañana)
► that day (ese día)
► the day before (el día anterior)
► the day after (el día siguiente)
► the following week (la siguiente semana)
► the year before (el año anterior)
► there (allí)
► go (ir)

CAMBIOS EN LOS TIEMPOS VERBALES

Cuando el verbo comunicador (reporting verb, en inglés) se encuentra en pasado
(said, added, explained, etc), generalmente deben ajustarse los verbos que
contenga la cláusula relativa that:

Ian Lewis said that he drove a van and that women were terrible.

DIRECT STATEMENT REPORTED STATEMENT

am/is, are, have/has ► was, were, had
present simple ► past simple
present progressive ► past progressive
present perfect ► past perfect
past simple ► past perfect
past progressive ► past perfect progressive
can ► could
may ► might
must ► had to
will ► would
 REPORTING VERBS (Verbos Comunicadores)
Estos son algunos de los verbos comunicadores o reporting verbs más utilizados
(seguidos por una cláusula relativa con that):

add complain feel repeat say tell

(agregar) (quejarse) (sentir) (repetir) (decir) (comentar)

agree deny inform reply show threaten

(acordar) (negar) (informar) (responder) (demostrar) (amenazar)

answer explain promise report suggest warn

(contestar) (explicar) (prometer) (comunicar) (sugerir) (advertir)

DOS ASPECTOS QUE HAY QUE TOMAR EN CUENTA

1) Los verbos que se encuentran en Pasado Perfecto en la voz directa no cambian

al cuando pasan a la voz indirecta.
"I had driven a van before this", said Ian Lewis.

Ian Lewis said that he had driven a van before that.

2) Otros verbos modales -could, might, ought to, should, would- normalmente
no cambian. En determinadas situaciones, incluso must puede permanecer sin
cambios.
"I might drive a van if I wanted to do it", said Ian Lewis.

Ian Lewis said that he might drive a van if he wanted to do it.

"Young people ought to drive more carefully", said the policeman.

The policeman said that young people ought to drive more carefully.