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

Quoted speech tells 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.

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 reported verbs such as say or tell.

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

Changes in reported speech Simple present Present continuous Simple past Present perfect Will Can Have to / had Simple past Past continuous Past perfect Would Could Had to

Other changes There are many possible pronoun changes in reported speech. We use the logic of each situation to decide on the changes. Bob said to Alice, “You gave me the wrong book.” Bob said to Alice she had given him the wrong book.

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 day that week the week before / after two weeks before there in that place

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. “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 The president of the company wanted to know why nobody had finished the report.

 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 yo coming?” he asked He asked if/whether I was coming.  In reported questions, the words are in statement form. 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 chnaging verb tenses, modal auxiliaries and other words.

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

Reported commands The man said, “Stop.” The man told me to stop.

Reported commands  To report commands, we can use a reporting verb like tell or order + someone + (not) infinitive. “Don’t talk!” the teacher said to us. The teacher told us not to talk. “Stay in the car,” the police officer said. The police officer ordered us to stay in the car.  We can report commands with the reporting verb ask. “Wait a minute, please,” Ted said. Ted asked me to wait a minute.

Report the speaker’s words. 1. “Don´t leave your job,” my father said. My father told me not to leave my job. 2. “Write your essay,” the teacher said. The teacher told us to write our essay. 3. “Please, give me the key to the car,” Mary said to her brother. Mary asked her brother to give her the … 4. “Please, don’t tell Dad,” Mary told Steve. Mary asked Steve not to tell Dad. 5. Paul said to his mother, “Don’t touch my CD player.” Paul told her mother not to touch his CD player. 6. “Sit down, please,” the interviewer said. The interviewer asked me to sit down.

Extra practice hilfen.de/en/exercises_list/reported.htmhttp:// hilfen.de/en/exercises_list/reported.htm speech/repmult.htmhttp://esl.lbcc.cc.ca.us/eesllessons/reported%20 speech/repmult.htm