INDIRECT

SPEECH
 “I am angry
DIRECT SPEECH
with you”

Jane
Jane told me that
Lisa she was angry with
me

INDIRECT SPEECH

Lisa
 Direct and Indirect Speech

DIRECT SPEECH INDIRECT SPEECH

•uses the exact words of •doesn’t use the exact
the speaker words of the speaker
•uses quotation marks •doesn’t use quotation
•we don’t usually change marks
anything in the original •we make some changes
message in the original message
 CHANGES

• Jane said,: “I am angry with you”

(direct speech)

• Jane said (that) she was angry with

me (indirect speech)

The structure is a little different depending on whether you want to

report a statement, question or request.
 REPORTED STATEMENTS
• When reported speech is used to talk
about the past most of the changes occur
so that the statement makes sense. For
example, the subject must always agree
with the verb. The most important
changes are:
• Verb tense: one step back.
• Personal pronouns and possessive
adjectives.
• References to time or place.
 TENSE CHANGES
(one tense back)

DIRECT SPEECH REPORTED SPEECH

PRESENT SIMPLE (*) PAST SIMPLE
Anna: I walk to school Anna said she walked to school
PRESENT CONTINUOUS PAST CONTINUOUS
Anna: I’m walking to school Anna said she was walking to school
PRESENT PERFECT PAST PERFECT
Anna: I have walked to school Anna said she had walked to school
PAST SIMPLE PAST PERFECT
Anna: I walked to school Anna said she had walked to school
PAST CONTINUOUS PAST PERFECT CONTINUOUS
Anna: I was walking to school Anna said she’d been walking to school

PRESENT PERFECT CONTINUOUS PAST PERFECT CONTINUOUS

Anna: I’ve been walking to school Anna said she’d been walking to school
PAST PERFECT PAST PERFECT
Anna:I had walked to school Anna said she had walked to school
 Modal verbs

Will Would
Can Could
May Might
Must Had to
Shall Should
 Time and place references
• Time and place references are also changed
in reported speech
Example:
“We will see you here tomorrow," Our parents
told us. (direct speech)
Our parents told us that they would see us
there the next day. (indirect speech)
“I went to the cinema yesterday,” my sister said
My sister said
she had gone to the cinema
the day before
The most common of these changes are:

Direct speech Indirect speech

Now Then, at that moment
Today / tonight That day / that night
Yesterday The day before
Tomorrow The next/following day
Next week/month/year The following week …
Last week/month/year The previous week …
This That
These Those
Here There
Come Go
 Reporting verbs
• We use reporting verbs like 'say', 'tell', and we may
use the word 'that' to introduce the reported words.
Quotation marks are not used.
• The man said, "I saw her." The man said that he had seen
her.
• 'That' may be omitted:
She told him that she was working in the garden.
She told him she was working in the garden.
• 'Say' and 'tell':

-Use 'say' when there is no indirect object:

My mother said that she was tired.

-Use 'tell' when there is an indirect object:

My mother told me that she was tired.
 Other verbs to report statements

SAY and TELL are the most common verbs

used to report statements. But there are
other verbs that can be used:
ADMIT
AGREE
COMPLAIN
EXPLAIN
PROMISE
“I will buy you a present.” She promised him

She promised him that

she would buy him …

“We are going to see you tonight,” they told us

They told us they were going to see us that

night

“I left my job yesterday,” he explained

He explained he had left his job the day before

 Reported questions
• If you put a question into reported speech
there are some steps which are the same as in
statements:
changing of the person, backshift of tenses, and
changing of expressions of time.
• But there are other aspects you have to take into
account:
• In reported questions, normal word order is used:
subject - verb, because the sentence becomes a
statement, and there is no auxiliary DO, DOES, or
DID
 She asked, "Where is he?"
She asked where he was ?

.
Sam asked: “Do you speak English?”

Sam asked: IF do
I spoke …

•We don’t use DO in reported questions.

•We use: where to introduce the first question
if to introduce the second question
 Yes/No questions

For this type of questions we have to use:

'ask' + 'if / whether + clause:

He asked me: “Can you lend me your bike?”

He asked me if I could lend him my bike

She asked him: “Did you come by train?”

She asked him if did
he had come …
 Wh- questions

For this type of questions we have to use:

'ask' + wh- + clause:

She asked Tom: “What time did you arrive?”

She asked Tom what time did
he had arrived.

“Where have you been, Jim?” asked Mary

Mary asked Jim where he had been.
 Reported commands
When we report a command, a piece of advice,
or a request, we use this structure:
Reporting verb + pronoun/noun + to-infinitive
Ask

Command “Open your books”

Demand
Order
Tell
Advise
Advice “Watch DVDs in Recommend
English” Warn
Ask

Request “Help me” Beg

Request
Reporting verb + pronoun/noun + to-infinitive

“Open your books” The teacher told the students

The teacher told the students to open their …

Negative form

“Don’t give it to me” the girl asked me

The girl asked me not to give it to her