1. Reported Speech Teens 4

2. Direct and indirect or reported speech
We use direct speech to show the exact words that a person used:
Julia: ‘I want to go home’
We use reported speech to tell somebody else what a person said.
Julia said (that) she wanted to go home.
Direct and indirect or reported speech

3. I’ve been chosen to run a new office in Barcelona
I’m going to work in Spain next year.
What are you going to do in Spain?
Last week Meg ran into Rachel, a friend she hadn’t seen for a long time
I work for a small Company.
Where do you work?
I hope my friends will come and visit me.
Do you know Barcelona?
I went there last week with my secretary
Write to me, please

4. Yesterday Meg met Alice and told her all the things Rachel had said.
She said she had been chosen to run a new office in Barcelona.
She told me she was going to work in Spain the following year.
Yesterday Meg met Alice and told her all the things Rachel had said.
She told me she worked for a small Company.
She said she hoped her friends would come and visit her.
She said she had been there the previous week with her secretary.

5. After a past tense reporting verb the original verbs usually shift one tense into the past, and the pronouns and possessive adjectives change.
Reported Statements

6. Reported Statements Direct Speech Indirect or Reported Speech
Present Simple
Past Simple
Present Continuous
Past Continuous
Past Perfect Simple
Present Perfect Simple
Past perfect Simple
Past perfect Cont.
Present perfect cont.
Past perfect cont.
Past Perfect Simple and Continous
No change

7. Reported Statements Direct Speech Indirect or Reported Speech
am/is/are going to
Was/were going to
Will
Would
Can
Could
May
Might
Must/have to
Had to
Should/could/might/ought to/would
No change
Reported Statements

8. Expressions of time and place

9. … and all the things she had asked and requested Rachel.
I asked what she was going to do in Spain.
That’s awesome!
I asked her where she worked.
… and all the things she had asked and requested Rachel.
I asked her if/whether she knew Barcelona.
I told her to write to me.

10. We change tenses and expressions of time and place in reported questions in the same way as reported statements.
Reported questions

11. When we report direct questions, we change the word order and use IF/WHETHER
‘Can I have a drink?’, she asked
She asked IF/WHETHER she could have a drink.
If/whether
Word order of statements
No auxiliary
DIRECT QUESTIONS

12. When we report WH- questions we use the same question word and change the word order.
‘Where does Sally live?’, she asked
She asked where Sally lived.
WH- word
Word order of statements
No auxiliary
WH- QUESTIONS

13. Reported commands/ requests
When telling somebody to do something we use:
TO + infinitive
‘Go away’, she said to him.
She told him TO go away.
Reported commands/ requests

14. Say or tell? The most common reporting verbs are SAY and TELL.
She said (that) she was leaving
They said (that) they were going on holiday.
We can use TELL when we know who somebody is talking to.
She told him/her (that) she was leaving.
They told me (that) they were going on holiday.
Say or tell?