REVISION SAY/TELL/ASK Reported Speech REVISION SAY/TELL/ASK

“I will be there tomorrow morning.” Reported Speech Before we start Although there are certain rules, let’s study the following examples: Monday morning: The washing machine breaks down. You call the technician and ask him to come. He says: “I will be there tomorrow morning.”

Reported Speech he would be here tomorrow morning. Monday morning A friend calls you and you tell her that the technician said that he would be here tomorrow morning.

“You said you would be here this morning.” Reported Speech Tuesday morning The technician does not show up and you call him and say: “You said you would be here this morning.”

Reported Speech Wednesday The technician has still not shown up. You call him again and say, “You said you would be here yesterday.”

Reported Speech ThursdaY A friend calls you at work. You tell him about the problem. He said he would go to my house the day before yesterday.

In other words, you must use your... Reported Speech In other words, you must use your... COMMON SENSE!!!!

Reported Speech is the grammar we use when we want to tell another person about a conversation that took place in the past.

WHAT IS REPORTED SPEECH?

Quoted speech Quoted speech tells you who said something and what they said. We use quoted speech for the exact words someone uses. We use it in novels, stories and newspaper articles.

example Elvis said, “I don’t know anything about music. In my line, you don’t have to”

Reported speech When we don’t want to use the exact words someone said, we use reported speech. We use reported speech often in both speech and writing. It has a main clause and a noun clause. We use reporting verbs such as say or tell.

Example Quoted speech: Muhammad Ali said, “I´m the greatest.” Repoted speech: Muhammad Ali said he was the greatest.

We often use reported speech to . . . Give someone a message: Example: Ellen said she couldn’t come today because her son had a fever.

We often use reported speech to . . . Tell someone news that we heard from someone else: Example: Tom told me that he and Karen got engaged!

We often use reported speech to . . . To report something that happened: Example: Sam said that the other driver wasn’t paying attention and hit his car.

How to use reported speech: When we use reported speech, we are usually talking about the past. Therefore, verbs usually change to the past tense in reported speech. for example:

was are were have/has had Am/is could couldn’t can/can’t become was are becomes were have/has become had could couldn’t can/can’t become would wouldn’t become will/won’t

Reported speech typically uses the following structure: Someone said (that) … Sentence, past OR Someone told me (that) … Sentence,past However, in English, you can NEVER say Someone said me . . .

Time and place expressions can change in reported speech. now today, tonight yesterday tomorrow this week last / next week two weeks ago here in this place then, at that time that day, that night the day before the next/following day that week the week before / after two weeks before there in that place

Examples of reporting what someone said . . . I talked to Sandra yesterday. She was telling me about her job. Her job is quite stressful. Sandra said: “I’m not happy at my job anymore. I think I’ll quit.”

Sandra said, “I’m not happy at my job anymore. I think I’ll quit. Now you want to tell someone else what Sandra said. In this situation, it’s natural to use reported speech: You say:

Sandra said, “I’m not happy at my job anymore. I think I’ll quit. Sandra told me that she happy at her job anymore and she she quit. wasn't thought would

“I worked really hard today.” When a person told you something in the past tense, you can use either the past tense or the past perfect after the “said” phrase. Example: Tim said: “I worked really hard today.”

past tense past perfect tense

Let’s practice!

Rewrite the sentences as reported speech. Make the necessary changes. 1. I really like this house,” she said. She said she really liked that house. 2. She said, “We can walk to the shops from the house.” She said they could walk to the shops from the house. 3.She said, “We have looked for a long time.” She said they had looked for a long time. 4. He said, “we’re getting married next month.” He said they were getting married the following month. 5. She said, “My parents saw the house yesterday.” She said her parents had seen the house the day before. 6. My father said, “You have to do some work on the house.” My father said we had to do some work on the house.

Reported questions

What happens with … Wh- questions? Yes/no questions?

Reported questions We use verbs like ask, inquire, wonder or the expresssion want to know to report questions. We do not use say or tell. “Where do you live?”, she asked me. She asked me/wanted to know/wondered where I lived. When the question begins with a wh- word- when, where, what, how, …, the noun clause in the reported question begins with the same word. He asked me, “What do you want?” He asked me what I wanted.

When the question is a yes/no question, we begin the noun clause in the reported question with if or whether. “Are you coming?” he asked He asked if/whether I was coming. In reported questions, we don’t invert the subject and verb or use auxiliaries: He asked me, “How are you?” He asked me how I was. (subject+verb) He asked me, “Do you like classical music?” He asked me if I liked classical music. (subject-verb) Reported questions use the same rules as reported speech for changing verb tenses, modal auxiliaries and other words.

Write the following conversation in reported questions. She asked me… 1. “Can you speak English?” (ask) She asked me if I could speak English. 2. “Where do you want to go?” (ask) She asked me where I wanted to go. 3.” Have you got a map?” (enquire) She enquired if I had a map. 4. “Have you seen Buckingham Palace?” (ask) She asked if I had seen … 5.”Is this your first time in London?” (want to know) She wanted to know if that was my first time in London. 6. “How long are you going to stay?” (ask) She asked how long I was going to stay. 7. “Would you like to have a cup of tea?” (ask) She asked me if I would like to have a cup of tea.