REPORTED SPEECH

PART 1
STATEMENT

INTRODUCTION

We often tell others what someone else said. In doing this we either say directly what the person said using
quotation mark (Direct speech) or by summarizing what the person said (Indirect / Reported speech)
When we want to repeat what someone else has just said, we normally use a special formulation called
Indirect or Reported Speech.
Example;
John said, I often come here (Direct Speech)
What did John Say?
John said (that) he often come here (Indirect Speech)
Now let’s compare the Direct and Indirect statement
John said ‘’I often come here”
John said that he often come here
1. The pronoun has changed to indicate the person who spoke (I change to he)
2. The verb of the original sentences has changed its tenses (come change to came)
3. We see that two parts (Reporting Verbs and Reported sentences can be compared with ‘that’ or
without ‘that’).
Note that if the reporting verb is in the present, there is no tense change.
John ‘I often come here’ (Direct Speech)
What is John saying; he is saying (that) he often comes here (Indirect Speech)

Reporting Verb for Statement

There are many reporting verbs for statement, however the most common reporting verbs for statement are
‘say’, ‘tell’ and ‘explain’
Be careful that ‘say’ and ‘explain’, you have a choice to specify the person or not.
If you specify the person, use the preposition ‘to’.
Example;
He said (to her); they explained (to us)
With ‘tell’, you should specify the person
He told her…………………………. They told us.
How different tenses changes to Reported Speech.

Verb ‘to be’ and Modal Verbs

Am/is - Was
Are - Were
Can - Could
Must - Must/ had to
May - Might
Could - Could/had been able to
Was/were - Had/been
Shall - Should
Should - Should
Ought to - Ought to
 Simple Tenses

Direct Speech Indirect Speech

Do/does did
Did had done
Will do would do
Have/has done had done
Had done had done
Will have done would have done.

Continuous Tenses
Direct Speech Indirect Speech
Am/is/are doing was/were doing
Have/has been doing had been doing
Was/were doing had been doing
Had been doing had been doing
Will be doing would be doing
Will have been doing would have been doing

PART 2
QUESTION
Reporting verb for question, the commonest reporting verb for questions is ‘ask ‘.
You have a chance to specified the person or not. If you specified, the person do not use ‘to’.

Example:
He asked
He asked me (Not: He asked to me)
What changes?
Other than the changes that happens to statement, there is one more thing you must do when you formulate an indirect
question; you need to change the question from back to statement form.
Example:
He asked me when can I call you back
Ans : He asked me when he could call me back.
(Note! He asked me when could he call me back)
They asked us, where will you be?
Ans: They asked us where we could be.
(Note: They asked us where would we be)

YES, OR NO QUSTIONS
When you have yes or no question(closed), we need to connect the two parts (reporting verb and reported question)
with word ‘If’.

Examples
1. We asked Steven, ‘have you bought a new book?’
Ans We asked Steven if he had bought a new book
2. They asked us, ‘are you good at French?’
Ans They asked us if we were good at French.
 POLITE QUESTIONS

We sometime asked an indirect question to be polite or formal. We formulate this questions with expressions such as:
Could you tell me.../ would you mind telling me…?
May I ask …
I was wondering …

Direct question: where did you go?

Indirect (politer) question: could you tell me where you went?

Direct question: How old are you?

Indirect (politer) question: may I ask how old are you?

Direct question: how much did you pay?

Note that with ‘I was wondering’, you must change the tense of the original sentence, because this expression is in the
past.

SPECIFIC CASES
When we report a sentence that has a specific function (inviting, apologizing, making a requests etc.), It is better to use a
specific verb.
For example:
He said to me ‘Slow down, please.’ (a request)
He asked me to slow down.

He said to him: ‘stop shouting.’ (an order)

He told him to stop shouting.

She said: ‘why don’t we write a letter?’

(a suggestion /
She suggested / recommended writing a letter).

 Rules for reporting speech. ...

 The first rule is to choose a reporting verb and tense. ...
 The second rule is to change the perspective, or point of view. ...
 Next, choose whether to include "that or "if." ...
 The fourth rule is to "backshift" the tense. ...
 Reporting on questions.
SUMMARY
References:
https://Learningenglish.voanews.com
http://www.oxfordonlineenglisg.com,
https://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org
and Apex pamphlets(software) for high school education
written by Sheku Kamara