Reported Speech

1. What is it?

Reported speech is when we report or repeat somebody’s words or sentences. We can report directly by simply repeating the exact sentence we heard:

Joe: ‘It is very hot today.’

‘It is very hot today’, Joe said.

Or indirectly, when report somebody’s sentence from our point of view:

Peter to Anne: ‘I like your new dress.’

Anne: ‘Peter says that he likes my new dress.’

2. What can we report?

We can report many different types of sentences: statements, thoughts, questions, instructions, offers, advice, promises, suggestions

Frank to Bill: ‘Stop using my bike!’

Frank told Bill to stop using his bike.

‘You shouldn’t smoke so much’, said Fred.

Fred suggested that I shouldn’t smoke so much.

‘Do you like blue cheese?’ , asked Mary.

Mary asked Phil if he liked blue cheese.

3. Tense change or not?

When we report somebody’s sentences which relate to the present, we do not have to change the tenses. Usually the reporting verb (eg. say, tell) is in the present.

Chris to Liza: ‘I love you.’

Liza to her friend: ‘Chris says that he loves me.’

When we report somebody’s sentences which relate to the past, we have to change the tenses. Usually the reporting verb is in the past.

‘I went on an excursion around the city’, said Bill.

Bill said that he had gone on an excursion around the city.

4. Statements, thoughts, etc.

When we report somebody’s words and thoughts, we have to pay attention to the following:

• Tense change
• Pronoun change
• Changing words of time and place

Study the examples carefully:

‘I can swim very fast’, said Frank.

Frank said that he could swim very fast.

‘I am going to travel to Paris next year’, insisted Bill.

Bill insisted that he was going to travel to Paris the following year.

5. Wh-question

When we report somebody’s wh-question, we have to pay attention to the following changes:

• Tense change
• Pronoun change
• Changing words of time and place
• Word order change from question to statement

Look at the example sentences, and study how the word order changes:

‘ Where are you going?’ asked mum.

Mum asked where I was going.

When does the plane arrive?’ asked the passenger.

The passenger asked when the train arrived.

6. Yes/no questions

When we report somebody’s question, we have to pay attention to the following changes:

• Tense change
• Pronoun change
• Changing words of time and place
• Word order change from question to statement
• Add if/whether in reported speech

Study how the word order changes in yes/no questions:

‘ Do you have a car?’

She asked if/whether I had a car.

‘ Have you ever been to New York?’

He asked if/whether I had ever been to New York.

7. Reporting advice, promise, etc.

When reporting advice, command/instruction, promise, request, warning, etc, we use:

advise / ask / tell / warn / promise / beg / expect / want / allow / command / tell / invited / offer, etc (+ pronoun) + the to-infinitive

‘Open, the door, please.’ He told me to open the door.

‘Can you help me?’ He asked me to help him.

‘You shouldn’t smoke.’ He advised me not to smoke.

‘I’ll will visit you.’ She promised to visit me.

‘We could do it for you.’ They offered to do it for us.

‘Don’t tell him anything.’ She instructed me not to tell him anything.

8. Suggestions

When we report suggestions and recommendations with the word suggest, we can use four constructions:

‘Let’s order pizza.’

He suggested that we order pizza.

He suggested that we should order pizza.

He suggested that we ordered pizza.

He suggested ordering pizza.

Note: We cannot use ‘to-infinitive’ after suggest!

9. Tense changes

When we report somebody’s speech and the reporting verb is in the past, we have to move the tense one step back in time:

present simple past simple

present continuous past continuous

past simple past perfect

present perfect (continuous) past perfect (continuous)

past perfect past perfect

past continuous past perfect continuous

am going to was going to

will would

can/could could

may/might might

must had to

mustn’t couldn’t

shall/should should

10. Time, place word changes

When the reporting verb is in the past tense, we usually have to change the following words:

today that day

tonight that night

tomorrow the next day, the following day

yesterday the previous day, the day before

two days ago two days before, two days earlier

next (week/day) the following (week/day)

last (week/month) the (week/month) before

now then

here there

come go

this/these that/those/that

ago before

before earlier

11. Other changes

In reported speech, pronouns can change depending on the speaker’s viewpoint.

Peter to his son: ‘I will buy you a video game.’

Son to his friend: ‘Dad said that he would buy me a video game.’

This/that/these/those may change to the. This/that may change to it.

‘I love this ice-cream’, said Clara.

Clara said that she loved the ice-cream.

‘Please, give me that book’, asked Fred.

Fred asked me to give it to him.

12. Common reporting verbs: