REPORTED SPEECH

Welcome to this lecture headed “REPORTED SPEECH”. We will be discussing all about repoted speech. Enjoy your lecture.

How to use Reported Speech

If you have a sentence in Direct Speech, these five rules we have provided below will assist you to put the sentence into reported or direct speech.

Identify the type of the sentence (statement, questions, command)

Find out the type of tense that was used in the introductory sentence

Check if you have to alter the person (pronoun)

Check if you have to backshift the tenses

Check if you have to alter expressions of time and placeStatements, Questions, Commands

The details of what to do abou5 the sentences of statements, questions commands or request will be provided later down the article.

The introductory sentence

While writing the reported speech there are mainly two major differences.

The introductory sentence in Reported Speech can be in the Present or in the Past.

If the introductory sentences are in the Simple Present, there is no backshift of tenses.Direct Speech:

Jessica: “Catherine works in an office.”Reported Speech:

Introductory sentence in the Simple Present → Jessica says (that)* Mary works in an office.

Introductory sentence in the Simple Past → Jessica said (that)* Mary worked in an office.

Change of persons/pronouns

If there is a pronoun in Direct Speech, it may perhaps to be changed in Reported Speech, depending on the circumstances.

Direct Speech → Jessica: “I work in an office.”

Reported Speech → Jessica said (that)* she worked in an office.

In this instance I is changed to she.Backshift of tenses

When there is backshift of tenses in Reported Speech, the tenses are shifted as shown below:

Direct Speech → Patrick: “I work in the garden.”

Reported Speech → Patrick said (that)* he worked in the garden.

Direct Speech	Reported Speech
Simple forms
Simple Present	Simple Past
Simple Past	Past Perfect
Present Perfect	Past Perfect
Past Perfect	Past Perfect
Will	Would
Progressive forms
am/are/is	was/were
was/were	had been
has been	had been
had been	had been

Conversion of expressions of time and place

If there is an expression of time/place in the sentence, it may be altered, depending on the situation.

Direct Speech → Patrick: “I worked in the garden yesterday.”

Reported Speech → Patrick said (that) he had worked in the garden the day before.

Direct Speech	Reported Speech
this evening	that evening
today/this day	that day
these days	those days
now	Then
a week ago	a week before
last weekend	the weekend before / the previous weekend

Additional information

In a few instances backshift of tenses is not essential like in the example below, e.g. when statements are still true. Backshift of tenses is by no means wrong.

Philip: “My brother is at Lagos University.”

Philip said (that) his brother was at Lagos University. or

Philip said (that) his brother is at Lagos University.

or

when you make use of general statements.

Iyke: “The sun rises in the east.”

Iyke said (that) the sun rose in the east. or

Iyke said (that) the sun rises in the east.

* The word that is optional, you can decide to put it or not put it.

Reporting Hopes, Intentions and Promises

When we report an intention, hope or promise, we make use of a suitable reporting verb followed by a ‘that’ clause with ‘would’ in it, or a to-infinitive clause.

Verbs made use of this pattern are: hope, promise, threaten, guarantee, and swear. Remember that the word ‘that’ is optional when using a that clause, as in the first instance below.Examples

Direct Speech	Indirect speech/ reported speech
“I’ll pay you the money tomorrow,” he said.	He promised to pay me the money the next day. OR He promised that he would pay me the money the next day. OR He promised he would pay me the money the next day.
“I’ll be back by mealtime,” he said.	He promised to be back by mealtime. OR He promised that he would be back by mealtime
“We should arrive in Lagos before twilight,” they said.	They hoped to arrive in Lagos before twilight. OR They hoped they would arrive in Las before twilight.
“Give me the keys to the safe or I’ll hit you!” he shouted	He threatened to hit me if I didn’t give him the keys to the safe. OR He threatened that he would hit me if I didn’t give him the keys to the safe.
“I will not tell anyone your secret” he said.	He swore that he would not tell anyone my secret. OR He swore not to tell anyone my secret.

You can answer the question What did he say? in two ways:

by repeating the words spoken (direct speech)

by reporting the words spoken (indirect or reported speech).

Direct Speech

Direct speech repeats, or cites the exact words spoken. When we make use of direct speech in writing, we place the words spoken between quotation marks (” “) and there is no change in these words.

We may be reporting something that’s being said NOW (for instance a telephone conversation), or telling someone later about a earlier conversation.Examples

She says, “What time will you be home?”

She said, “What time will you be home?” and I said, “I don’t know! “

“There’s an ant in my soup!” screamed David.

John said, “There’s a goat outside the window.”

Indirect Speech

Reported or indirect speech is typically used to talk about the past, thus we usually alter the tense of the words spoken. We make use of reporting verbs like ‘say’, ‘tell’, ‘ask’, and we may use the word ‘that’ to introduce the reported words. Inverted commas are not used.

She said, “I saw him.” (Direct speech) = She said that she had seen him. (Reported speech)

‘That’ may be absent:

She told him that she was angry. = She told him she was angry.‘Say’ and ‘Tell’

Use ‘say’ when there is no indirect object:

He said that he was tired.

Always use ‘tell’ when you say who was being spoken to (i.e. with an indirect object):

He told me that he was tired.‘Talk’ and ‘Speak’

Use these verbs to explain the action of communicating:

He talked to us.

She was speaking on the telephone.

Use these verbs with ‘about’ to talk about what was said:

He talked (to us) about his parents.

Change of Tense when using Reported Speech

Generally, the tense in reported speech is one tense back in time from the tense in direct speech:

She said, “I am tired.” = She said that she was tired.

Phrase in Direct Speech	Phrase in Direct Speech
Simple present	Simple past
“I always drink tea”, she said	She said that she always drank coffee.
Present continuous	Past continuous
“I am reading a book”, he clarified	He clarified that he was reading a book
Simple past	Past perfect
“Baron arrived on Sunday”, he said	He said that Baron had arrived on Sunday.
Present perfect	Past perfect
“I have been to UK”, he told me.	He told me that he had been to UK.
Past perfect	Past perfect
“I had just turned on the light,” he explained.	He explained that he had just turned on the light
Present perfect continuous	Past perfect continuous
They complained, “We have been waiting for days”.	They complained that they had been waiting for days
Past continuous	Past perfect continuous
“We were living in Lagos”, they told me.	They told me that they had been living in Lagos.
Future	Present conditional
“I will be in Abuja on Monday”, he said.	He said that he would be in Abuja on Monday.
Future continuous	Conditional continuous
She said, “I’ll be using the car next weekend”.	She said that she would be using the car next weekend.

You do not require altering the tense if the reporting verb is in the present, or if the original statement was about something that is still true, e.g.

He says he has missed the bus but he’ll catch the next one.

We explained that it is very difficult to find our shop.

 These modal verbs do not change in reported speech: might, could, would, should, ought to: e.g.

We explained, “It could be difficult to find our shop.” = We explained that it could be difficult to find our house.

She said, “I might bring friends to the party.” = She said that she might bring friends to the party.

Changing Time and Place References

Time and place must often change when going from direct to reported speech.

In general, personal pronouns change to the third person singular or plural, apart from when the speaker reports his own words:

I/me/my/mine, you/your/yours = him/his/her/hers

we/us/our/ours, you/your/yours = they/their/theirsQuestion Forms and Reported Speech

Word Order

Normal word order is used in reported questions, that is, the subject comes before the verb, and it is not essential to use ‘do’ or ‘did’:Examplesm

Direct Speech	Indirect speech
“Where does James live?”	She asked him where Peter lived.
“Where are you going?”	She asked where I was going.
“Why is she crying?”	He asked why she was crying.

Yes / No Questions

This type of question is reported by using ‘ask’ + ‘if / whether’ + clause:Examplesm

Direct Speech	Indirect speech
“Do you speak Igbo?”	He asked me if I spoke Igbo.
“Is it snowing?”	She asked if it was snowing.
“Have you got a car?”	He wanted to know whether I had a car.
“Can you dance?”	She asked if I could dance.

Question Words

This type of question is reported by with the use of ‘ask’ (or another verb like ‘ask’) + question word + clause. The clause is made up of the question, in normal word order and with the essential tense change.Examplesm

Direct Speech	Indirect speech
“What is your name?” he asked me.	He asked me what my name was.
“How old is your father?”, he asked.	He asked how old her father was.

Reporting Verbs

Some reporting verbs may emerge in more than one of the following groups because they can be used in a lot of ways.Verbs followed by “If” or “Whether”

ask

know

remember

say

seeVerbs followed by a “That”

add

admit

agree

announce

answer

argue

boast

claim

comment

complain

confirm

considerVerbs followed by either “That” or an infinitive with “To”

decide

expect

guarantee

hope

promise

swear

threatenVerbs followed by a “That” clause containing should, which may be omitted, leaving a subject + zero-infinitive

advise

beg

demand

insist

prefer

propose

recommend

request

suggest

Reporting Orders and requests

When we want to report an order or request, we can use a verb like ‘tell’ with a to-clause: He told me to go away. The pattern is verb + indirect object + to-clause.

The indirect object is the person spoken to. Other verbs used to report orders and requests in this way are: command, order, warn, ask, advise, invite, beg, teach and forbid.Examples

Direct Speech	Indirect speech
The doctor said to me, “Stop smoking!”	The doctor told me to stop smoking.
“Get out of the car!” said the man.	The man ordered him to get out of the car.

Requests for Objects

Requests for objects are reported using the pattern “asked for” + object.Examples

Direct Speech	Indirect speech
“Can I have a pear?”, she asked.	She asked for a pear.
“May I have a cup of water?” he said.	He asked for a cup of water.
“Sugar, please.”	She asked for the sugar.

Suggestion Examples

Direct Speech	Indirect speech
She said, “Why don’t you get a mechanic to look at the car?”	She suggested that I should get a mechanic to look at the car. OR She suggested I should get a mechanic to look at the car. OR She suggested that I get a mechanic to look at the car. OR She suggested I get a mechanic to look at the car.
“Why don’t you go to the hospital?” he said.	He suggested I go to the hospital. OR He suggested that I go to the hospital. OR He suggested I should go to the hospital. OR He suggested that I should go to the hospital.

Thanks for reaching to this point marking the end of this lecture.

Your Lecture Master:

Mst. Ugonwanne Joshua