Reported speech

Reporting Statements

​

​PRESENT SIMPLE

​Ciselle: "I practice hockey on Sundays."

​

​PRESENT CONTINUOUS

​Alex: "I'm writing a nice poem now".

​Reported Speech

​

​PAST SIMPLE

​Giselle told me she practiced hockey

on Sundays."

​

​PAST CONTINUOUS

​ Alex told me he was writing a poem in that

​ moment

John said (that) he would be late.

John told me (that) he was going to be late.

With 'tell' we NEED the object (e.g. 'me', 'you', 'her').

With 'say' we CAN'T use the object (e.g. 'me', 'them', 'us').

It's used when we want to talk about something we said or heard someone say in the past or in another situation.

For example:

"I fell asleep during the maths lesson," said Martin.

Becomes:

Matin said that he had fallen asleep during the maths lesson.

• Usually, when we report something in the past the verb "goes back" one tense.

• For example: "I have a present"

• Becomes: He said he had a present.

• Past Simple ► Past Perfect

• Past Continuous ► Past Perf. Continuous

• Past Perfect ► Past Perfect

• Remember we always 'go back'.

• Present Simple ► Past Simple

• Present Continuous ► Past Continuous

• Present Perfect ► Past Perfect

• But... What about past tenses?

• These are verbs we use to start our 'report'. For statements we usually use the verbs:

• He said that he had been there before.

• She told me that she liked my idea.

• For tell you need an object while we use say without anything after it.

• She said me that she ate ice-cream. X

• He told he liked to ride bicycles. X

• will/can/may ► would/could/might

• have to/must ► had to

• would/could/might/should ► no change

• Deictic words  are those whose meaning shifts depending on the point of view of the speaker.

• "I'm polishing my nails" ► Steph said she was polishing her nails.

• "I will go tomorrow" ► He said that he would go the following day.

• today ► that day

• now ►at that moment

• here ► there / this ► that

• yesterday ► the previous day / the day before