​Vocabulary

​Math - isosceles, distance, speed

Social - dictatorship, population, drought

Science - duration, habitat, eruption

Health - reject, repair, resource

Language - convince, humorous, spectacular​

Subject | Subject

Some text here about the topic of discussion

​Reported speech is when we tell someone what another person said. To do this, we can use direct speech or indirect speech.

In indirect speech, we often use a tense which is 'further back' in the past (e.g. worked) than the tense originally used (e.g. work). This is called 'backshift'. We also may need to change other words that were used, for example pronouns.​

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Present simple, present continuous and present perfect

When we backshift, present simple changes to past simple, present continuous changes to past continuous and present perfect changes to past perfect.

'I travel a lot in my job.'

• Jamila said that she travelled a lot in her job.

'The baby's sleeping!'

• He told me the baby was sleeping.

'I've hurt my leg.'

• She said she'd hurt her leg.

​Past simple and past continuous

When we backshift, past simple usually changes to past perfect simple, and past continuous usually changes to past perfect continuous.

'We lived in China for five years.'

• She told me they'd lived in China for five years.

'It was raining all day.'

• He told me it had been raining all day.

  Past perfect

  The past perfect doesn't change.

  'I'd tried everything without success, but this new medicine is great.'

  • He said he'd tried everything without success, but the new medicine was great.