Reported Speech

Direct Speech vs Reported Speech

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If we report what another person has said,
we usually don’t use the speaker’s exact
words (direct speech, and we use “”), but
reported speech.

Direct speech: He said: “I speak English”

Reported speech: He said that he spoke English

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When reporting, consider changing…

Place and time

01 Pronouns 02 expressions

Possessive
03 adjectives 04 Tenses

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Backshifting
Direct Speech Reported Speech
Present simple Past simple

Present continuous Past continuous

Past simple / Present Perfect Past Perfect
Future “going to” Was/were going to

Future “will” / would would

Can Could

Must Had to

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Time Expressions
Direct Reported
Today / tonight That day / that night

Now Then / at that moment

Yesterday The day before / the previous day

… days ago … days before

Last week The week before / the previous week

Next year The following year / the year after

Tomorrow The next day / the following day / the day after

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Place Expressions

Direct Reported
Here There

This That

These Those

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Types of sentences

Statements Questions

Commands

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 01
Statements

Oraciones enunciativas

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Statements

● Common verbs: say and tell

● The conjunction “that” can always me omitted

● Joaquin said: “I don’t like Real Zaragoza”

○ Joaquin said (that) he didn’t like Real Zaragoza

○ Joaquin told me (that) he didn’t like Real Zargoza

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 Say vs tell

Say (to someone) that…

He said that he was ill
He said to Jane that he was ill
He said me that he was ill

Tell someone that…

Jerry told me that he loved studying
Jerry told that he loved studying
Jerry told to me that he loved studying

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Other verbs for statements

• Announce (to sb)

• Complain
• Explain (to sb)
• Reply
• Mention
• Add
• Inform sb
• Insist
• Reveal

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02 Questions

Oraciones interrogativas

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Questions

Alicia: “Dora, are you coming to the party tomorrow?”

Dora: “What time is the party?”

Tom tells Mike what’s happening:

Alicia asked Dora if she was going to the party the following
day and Dora wanted to know what time the party was.

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Questions

• Yes-No questions: we use if or whether (Short Questions)

• “Dora, are you coming to the party tomorrow?”
• Alicia asked Dora if she was going to the party.
• Wh-questions: we use “wh-words” (Long Questions)
• “What time is the party?”
• Dora asked what time the party was

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Questions

• The order of the sentence must be

• Subject + verb + object

• Anne asked where lived Mary

• Anne asked where Mary lived

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Other verbs for questions

• Ask
• Want to know
• Wonder
• “Do you like chocolate?” she asked
• She wanted to know if I liked chocolate
• “Did you speak to Jorge last night?” he asked
• He wondered if I had spoken to Jorge the night
before

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Commands 03
Oraciones imperativas

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Commands

Orders /
Requests
Commands

Suggestions Invitations

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Commands: orders

Order / Command
My mother said: “make your bed”

My mother told me to make my bed

My mother ordered me to make my bed

My mother told me that I make my bed

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Commands: request

Request

I said to my father: “Can you make the bed for me?”

I asked my father to make the bed for me

I asked my father that he makes the bed for me

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Commands: invitations

Invitation

Lucía asked me: “Will you come to my birthday party?”

Lucía invited me to go to her birthday party

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Commands: advice

Advice
My teacher said: “You should study more”
My teacher advised me to study more

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Commands: warnings

Warning
Adriana said to Clara: “Don’t touch my mobile phone or…”

Adriana warned Clara not to touch her mobile phone

Adriana asked Clara not to touch her mobile phone

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Commands
Look!
My mother ordered me to make my bed

I asked my father to make the bed for me

Lucía invited me to go to her birthday party

My teacher advised me to study more

Adriana warned Clara not to touch her mobile phone

Verb + sb + (not) to + verb

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Commands: suggestions

Suggestions
Julia said: “Let’s go to the disco”

Julia suggested going to the disco

that we should go to the disco

Suggest + that + subject + verb without to

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Practice!
Let’s see if you understood

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He said: “I am happy”
Present Simple
He said that he was happy

She said: “I went to the cinema yesterday” Past Simple

She said that she had gone to he cinema the day before.

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“I am writing my essay righ now” she said
Present Continuous
She said that she was writing her essay then.

They said: ”They have never been to Brazil” Present Perfect

They said that they had never been to Brazil.

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“We are going to go to Acapulco”, they said
Future “going to”
They said they were going to go to Acapulco

“He will have three children” she thought Future will

She thought he would have three children

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Julia said “They would love to visit Madrid”
Would
Julia said they would love to visit Madrid.

“He can’t go to university next year” she said Can

She said he couldn’t go to university the following year.

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Exercises statements
1 Julia: “I live in my own apartment” She said that she lived in her own apartment

2 Nick: “I am going to visit my parents He said that he was going to visit his parents
next weekend” the following weekend

3 Tom: “I have studied Italian for a Tom said he had studied Italian for a year
year”

4 Linda and John: “We can’t come to They said they couldn’t come to the party the
the party next week” following week

5 Terry: “I’ll write as soon as I get Terry said that he would write as soon as he
there” got there

6 Andrew: “I’m learning to cook chinese ? Chinese

He said that he was learning to cook
food” food

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Exercises questions

1 She asked where her umbrella Elena: “Where’s my umbrella?”

was
2 Martin asked us how we were “How are you?” Martin asked us

3 He asked if he had to do it He asked: “Do I have to do it?”

4 The mother asked her daughter “Where have you been?” the mother
where she had been asked her daughter
5 She asked her boyfriend which “Which dress do you like best?” she
dress he liked best asked her boyfriend
?

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Exercises questions
1 He asked: “What time is it?”” He asked what time it was

2 “Are you working these days”, he said He wanted to know if I was working those
days

3 “Did you speak to John last night?” She wanted to know if I had spoken to John
she asked the night before

4 She asked: “What are you doing She wanted to know what I was doing the
tomorrow?” next day

5 “What happens?” He asked He wanted to know what happened

6 “Where did you go last summer?” He ? previous

He asked me where I had gone the
asked summer

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Reported Speech Statements
Reported Speech Questions
Reported Speech 1
Reported Speech 2
Reported Speech 3
Reported Speech 4
Reported Speech 5

More practice

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Pronouns in Reported Speech Exercise
Tenses in Reported Speech
Grammar Friends: Reported Speech
Grammar Friends: Reported Speech 2

More practice

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Reported Speech Exercises (Perfect English
Grammar)

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If you still don’t understand…

Genially Reported Speech

Includes: explanation, examples and exercises

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