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Reported Speech (Indirect Speech) : Statements

The document discusses how to summarize reported or indirect speech. When reporting what someone else has said, their exact words are not used but rather the statement is reported indirectly. There are different structures for reporting statements, questions, and requests. For statements, pronouns, verb tenses, place/time expressions may need to be changed depending on whether backshifting is required. For questions, the same changes may apply along with transforming the question into an indirect question using an interrogative. Requests follow a similar structure to statements but focus more on changing pronouns and place/time expressions. There are also additional aspects like connecting clauses, tense of the introductory clause, exceptions to backshifting, and reporting different types

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33 views3 pages

Reported Speech (Indirect Speech) : Statements

The document discusses how to summarize reported or indirect speech. When reporting what someone else has said, their exact words are not used but rather the statement is reported indirectly. There are different structures for reporting statements, questions, and requests. For statements, pronouns, verb tenses, place/time expressions may need to be changed depending on whether backshifting is required. For questions, the same changes may apply along with transforming the question into an indirect question using an interrogative. Requests follow a similar structure to statements but focus more on changing pronouns and place/time expressions. There are also additional aspects like connecting clauses, tense of the introductory clause, exceptions to backshifting, and reporting different types

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Reported Speech (Indirect Speech)

If we report what another person has said, we usually do not use the speakers exact words (direct speech), but reported (indirect)
speech. Therefore, you need to learn how to transform direct speech into reported speech. The structure is a little different depending
on whether you want to transform a statement, question or request.

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
He says that he speaks English.
(no backshift)
reported speech
He said that he spoke English.
(backshift)

more on statements in reported speech

Questions
When transforming questions, check whether you have to change:

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

Also note that you have to:

transform the question into an indirect question


use the interrogative or if / whether

Type Example
direct speech Why dont you speak English?
with interrogative
reported speech He asked me why I didnt speak English.
direct speech Do you speak English?
without interrogative
reported speech He asked me whether / if I spoke English.

more on questions in reported speech

Requests
When transforming questions, check whether you have to change:

pronouns
place and time expressions

Type Example
direct speech Carol, speak English.
reported speech He told Carol to speak English.

Additional Information and Exeptions


Apart from the above mentioned basic rules, there are further aspects that you should keep in mind, for example:

main clauses connected with and / but


tense of the introductory clause
reported speech for difficult tenses
exeptions for backshift
requests with must, should, ought to and lets

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