Lic. En Mercadotecnia
UNIVERSIDAD AUTONOMA DEL ESTADO DE HIDALGO
Lic. En Mercadotecnia
Modalidad Virtual
Inglés 6
Report Information
Knowledge
Language Information I
“Reported Speech”
LELI. Karim Juárez Cortes
Idea original
Reported Speech
Direct Speechis exactly what someone says. We use quotation marks (“”) in direct speech.
Reported Speech is the exact meaning of what someone said but not the exact words. We do not use quotation marks in reported speech.
Example:
- George said (that) her hair looked great and she was really pretty.
- The teacher said to the students (that) to wait a moment because she couldn’t listen to their opinions clearly.
REPORTING GENERAL TRUTHS
- When we report something which is always true, the verb tense is the same as in direct speech.
Examples:
Direct Speech:
“My father has bad temper”, Susana says.
“Whales are endangered species”, he says.
“Mexico city is too polluted”, he says to his sister.
Reported Speech:
She says that her father has bad temper.
He says that Wales are endangered species.
He says to his sister that Mexico is too polluted.
REPORTING STATEMENTS
Direct Speech / Reported Speech/ She says (that) she wants to help with the new Marketing project.
NOTE: When the reporting verb (say, tell etc) is in the simple present, the verb tenses do not change in reporting speech. We use the same tense as direct speech.
She said (that) she wanted to help with the new Marketing project.
NOTE: When the reporting verb changes in the past tense, the verb tenses in direct speech change in reported speech.
- In reported speech, we say what someone else said and the word THAT is optional.
Examples:
Direct Speech / Reported Speech“I feel nervous”, Susana said.
Rodrigo: “I won an award”. / Susana said that she felt nervous.
OR
Susana said she felt nervous.
Rodrigo told us that he had won an award.
OR
Rodrigo told us that he had won an award.
- In reported speech the personal pronouns also change.
Examples:
Direct Speech / Reported Speech“I lost my keys”, Susana said
Rodrigo: “I’m tired and my head hurts”.
“ He is right,” she says / Susana said thatshe had lost her keys.
Rodrigo said to me that he was tired and his head hurt.
She said thathe was right.
- Some words change too, especially those which express time.
Examples:
Direct Speech / Reported Speech“Ana isn’t here”, Susana said
Rodrigo: “I’ll come back next week”.
“I went to Mexico city yesterday”, Susana said. / Susana said that Ana wasn’t there.
Rodrigo said to me that he would come back the following week.
Susana said that she had gone to Mexico City the day before.
- When the reporting verb is in the past tense, the verb tenses change in reported speech.
Simple Present
“ I want to go out tonight”, he said. / Simple Past
He said that he wanted to go out that night.
Present Continuous
“ I am looking for information on the web”, he said. / Past Continuous
He said that he was looking for information on the web.
Future “Will”
“ I will buy a new history book”, he said. / “Would”
He said that he would buy a new history book.
“Can”
“ I can’t go to the doctor with you”, he said. / “Could”
He said to Ana that he couldn’t go to the doctor with her.
“May”
“I may participate in the literature contest,” he said. / “Might”
He said that he might participate in the literature contest.
“Be ( am/ is/ are) + going to “
“I’m going to buy a new computer next weekend”, he said. / “Be ( Was/ were) + going to “
He said that he was going to buy anew computer the following weekend.
Simple Past
“I met my best friend in high school”, he said. / Past Perfect
He said that he had met his best friend in high school.
Present Perfect
“I have visited a lot of cultural places”, he said. / He said that he had visited a lot of cultural places.
Past Perfect
“I had prepared the food”, he said. / He said that he had prepared the food.
Past continuous
“Thomas was eating with his girlfriend”, he said. / Past Perfect Continuous
He said that Thomas had been eating with his girlfriend.
Present perfect continuous
“I have been working on my Marketing project for 2 weeks”, he said. / He said that he had been working on his Marketing project for 2 weeks.
Past perfect Continuous
“ I had been working in the factory”, he said. / He said that he had been working in the factory.
SAY or TELL
- We use SAY or TELL both in direct and reported speech.
Examples:
Direct Speech:
“I don’t want to go to the discotheque”, Ricardo said.
Reported Speech:
Ricardo said (that) he didn’t want to go to the discotheque.
(We use say without a personal pronoun)
Ricardo said to me(that) he didn’t want to go to the discotheque.
(We always use TO after SAY if we are going to mention a personal pronoun.)
Ricardo told me (that) he didn’t want to go to the discotheque.
(We always use TELL with a personal pronoun and we never use TO with TELL)
- Say and Tell are also used with the next expressions:
SAY / TELL
- Good morning, Good afternoon, etc.
- Something, nothing, etc.
- One’s prayers
- A few words
- No more etc.
- The truth
- A lie
- A secret
- A story
- The time
- The difference
- Somebody one’s name
- One’s fortune, etc.
REPORTING QUESTIONS
Examples:
Direct speech- Read the next bubbles about some questions that a girl asked.
Reported Speech
- Now read the reported speech form of the previous questions.
Yesterday …
Susana asked me if I liked to dance reggae music.
She asked (me) if I had gone to the welcome party the day before.
Yes- No questions FORM
Ask + if + subject + verb / Yesterday…
She asked ( me) where I lived
She asked (me) what I was doing.
Wh- questions FORM
Ask + WH + subject + verb
REPORTING ORDERS OR INSTRUCTIONS
Direct Speech- Read the next bubbles about some instructions a teacher is giving in class.
Reported Speech
- Now, read the reported form of the previous orders and instructions.
Yesterday …
Our teacher ordered usto keep silence.
Our teacher told usto doour homework. / Yesterday…
Our teacher saidnot to arrive late.
Our teacher saidnot to eat in the classroom.
To report instructions we use:
Affirmative:
Ask/ tell/ say / order + direct object + TO – infinitive
Negative:
Ask/ tell/ say / order + direct object + NOT + TO – infinitive
Time Expressions
- When we use certain words that express time in direct speech, we also change them in reported speech as follows.
Direct Speech / Reported Speech
Tonight, today
Now
Yesterday, last night, last week, etc .
Tomorrow, next week, next month, etc.
Two days ago, three hours ago, etc.
This, these / That night, that day
Then, at the time
The day before, the night before, the week before, etc.
The following day, the following week, the following month, etc.
Three days before, three hours before, etc.
That, those
R E F E R E N C E S:
- Evans Virginia and Dooley Jenny (1999). Enterprise 2 Course book. USA: Express Publishing.
- Evans Virginia and Dooley Jenny (1999). Enterprise 2 Grammar book. USA: Express Publishing.
- Evans Virginia and Dooley Jenny (1999). Enterprise 3 Grammar book. USA: Express Publishing.
- C. Richards Jack and Proctor Susan (1997). New interchange student’s book. USA: Cambridge University Press.
- Stempleski Susan and Curtis Andy (2005). World Link 3 teacher’s book. USA: Thomson.
- Redston Chirs and Cunningham (2005). Face2Face pre- intermediate student’s book. Italy: Cambridge University Press.
- Johannsen Kristin (2010). World English 3 teacher’s book. USA: Heinle, Cengage Learning.
LELI. Karim Juárez Cortés 1