Unit 10 - Grammar A

Reporting what people say

Reported speech: Statements

When transforming statements, check whether you have to change:

• pronouns
• present tense verbs (3rd person singular)
• place and time expressions
• tenses (backshift)

Type	Example
direct speech	“I speak English.”
reported speech (no backshift)	He says that he speaks English.
reported speech (backshift)	He said that he spoke English.

Example:     He said, “I am happy.” – He said that he was happy.

Direct Speech	Reported Speech
Simple Present	Simple Past
Present Progressive	Past Progressive
Simple Past	Past Perfect Simple
Present Perfect Simple
Past Perfect Simple
Past Progressive	Past Perfect Progressive
Present Perfect Progressive
Past Perfect Progressive
Future I (going to)	was / were going to
Future I (will)	Conditional I (would)
Conditional I (would)

The verbs could, should, would, might, must, needn’t, ought to, used to do not normally change.

Example:

He said, “She might be right.” – He said that she might be right.

Direct Speech	Reported Speech
today	that day
now	then
yesterday	the day before
… days ago	… days before
last week	the week before
next year	the following year
tomorrow	the next day / the following day
here	there
this	that
these	those

Exercises on reported speech
Exercises on Request (positive)

Requests in Reported Speech

• Exercise 1 – requests (positive)
• Exercise 2 – requests (negative)
• Exercise 3 – requests (mixed)

A complete review of reported speech. Click here to see it bigger.