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    Reported Speech: But, If The Reporting Verb Is in The Past Tense, Then Usually We Change The Tenses in The

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    Nicoleta Lipan
    The document discusses reporting speech in English. It explains that when using a present tense verb like "says" to report speech, the tense and pronouns are not changed. However, when using a past tense verb like "said", the tenses within the reported speech are usually changed, such as "I like ice cream" becoming "She said she liked ice cream". It provides a table outlining these typical tense changes between direct and reported speech.

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    Reported Speech: But, If The Reporting Verb Is in The Past Tense, Then Usually We Change The Tenses in The

    Uploaded by

    Nicoleta Lipan
    53 views5 pages
    The document discusses reporting speech in English. It explains that when using a present tense verb like "says" to report speech, the tense and pronouns are not changed. However, when using a past tense verb like "said", the tenses within the reported speech are usually changed, such as "I like ice cream" becoming "She said she liked ice cream". It provides a table outlining these typical tense changes between direct and reported speech.

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    The document discusses reporting speech in English. It explains that when using a present tense verb like "says" to report speech, the tense and pronouns are not changed. However, when using a past tense verb like "said", the tenses within the reported speech are usually changed, such as "I like ice cream" becoming "She said she liked ice cream". It provides a table outlining these typical tense changes between direct and reported speech.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
    53 views5 pages

    Reported Speech: But, If The Reporting Verb Is in The Past Tense, Then Usually We Change The Tenses in The

    Uploaded by

    Nicoleta Lipan
    The document discusses reporting speech in English. It explains that when using a present tense verb like "says" to report speech, the tense and pronouns are not changed. However, when using a past tense verb like "said", the tenses within the reported speech are usually changed, such as "I like ice cream" becoming "She said she liked ice cream". It provides a table outlining these typical tense changes between direct and reported speech.

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    Reported speech

    We use a 'reporting verb' like 'say' or 'tell'. If this verb is in the present tense, it's easy.
    We just put 'she says' and then the sentence:

     Direct speech: I like ice cream.


     Reported speech: She says (that) she likes ice cream.

    We don't need to change the tense, though probably we do need to change the 'person'
    from 'I' to 'she', for example. We also may need to change words like 'my' and 'your'.

    (As I'm sure you know, often, we can choose if we want to use 'that' or not in English.
    I've put it in brackets () to show that it's optional. It's exactly the same if you use 'that' or
    if you don't use 'that'.)

    But, if the reporting verb is in the past tense, then usually we change the tenses in the
    reported speech:

     Direct speech: I like ice cream.


     Reported speech: She said (that) she liked ice cream.

    Tense Direct Speech Reported Speech


    present simple I like ice cream She said (that) she liked ice cream.
    present
    I am living in London She said (that) she was living in London.
    continuous
    She said (that) she had bought a car OR She
    past simple I bought a car
    said (that) she bought a car.
    past I was walking along She said (that) she had been walking along the
    continuous the street street.
    present
    I haven't seen Julie She said (that) she hadn't seen Julie.
    perfect
    I had taken English She said (that) she had taken English lessons
    past perfect*
    lessons before before.
    will I'll see you later She said (that) she would see me later.
    would* I would help, but..” She said (that) she would help but...
    can I can speak perfect She said (that) she could speak perfect English.
    English
    I could swim when I She said (that) she could swim when she was
    could*
    was four four.
    shall I shall come later She said (that) she would come later.
    I should call my
    should* She said (that) she should call her mother
    mother
    might* I might be late She said (that) she might be late
    I must study at the She said (that) she must study at the weekend
    must
    weekend OR She said she had to study at the weekend
    * doesn't change.

    Occasionally, we don't need to change the present tense into the past if the information
    in direct speech is still true (but this is only for things which are general facts, and even
    then usually we like to change the tense):

     Direct speech: The sky is blue.


     Reported speech: She said (that) the sky is/was blue.
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