Reported speech- Play of the tenses:
Direct speech tense Indirect/Reported speech tense
Simple present simple past
present continous past continuous
simple past past perfect
past continuous past perfect continuous
present perfect tense past perfect tense
past perfect tense past perfect tense
Tense Direct speech Reported speech
Simple present I like to swim in the ocean She said she liked to swim in the ocean
Simple present I live in New Orleans He said he lived in New Orleans
She said she had gone to school that
Past simple I went to school in the morning
morning
Present continuous I was going to the Himalayas He said he was going to the Himalayas
She said that she had been walking near
Past continuous I was walking near the beach
the beach
Present perfect I have caught a few fishes She said she had caught a few fishes
He said he had trekked the Himalayas
Past perfect I had trekked the Himalayas this time last year
this time last year
Some word transitions from direct to reported speech that will come
in handy:
Will becomes would
Can becomes could
would stays would
should stays should
must stays must or had to(matter of choice)
shall becomes should
Exception: A present tense in direct speech may not become a past
tense in the reported speech if it’s a fact or something generic we are
talking about in the sentence. For example-
Direct speech: The sun rises from the East.
Reported speech: She said that the sun rises/rose from the East.
Reported speech- Handling questions:
What happens when the sentence we are trying to report was actually
a question? That’s something we are going to deal with in this
section. Reported questions- It’s quite interesting. let’s get into it:
Well the good news is that the tense change you learnt above stays
the same in reported speech for questions. The only difference is that
when you report a question, you no more report it in the form of a
question but in the form of a statement. For example:
Direct speech: Where do you want to eat?
Reported speech: She asked me where I wanted to eat.
Notice how the question mark is gone from the reported speech. The
reported speech is a statement now. Keep that in mind as you read
further.
Remember the tense change? Let’s apply that to a few questions now.
Direct speech Reported speech
Are you going to my house? She asked me if I was going to her house.
Where were you going? He asked me where I was going.
Where have you been? She asked me where had i been.
Now these are questions that have wordy answers to them. What
about the questions that has yes/no answers to them? In these type of
questions just add “if” before asking the question. For example:
Direct speech: Would you like to eat some cupcakes?
Reported speech: He asked me if i would like to eat some
cupcakes.
Direct speech: Have you ever seen the Van Gogh paintings?
Reported speech: She asked me if I had ever seen the Van Gogh
paintings.
Direct speech: Are you eating your vegetables?
Reported speech: She asked if I was eating my vegetables.
Reported speech- Reported requests:
Well not all questions require answers. Some questions are polite
requests. Remember? Could you please try to remember? And then
there are request statements. Let’s see how do we convert these into
reported speech.
Reported request = ask me + to + verb or requested me + to +verb
Just add this rule to your reported speech and you have what is called
a reported request.
Direct speech Reported speech
Could you please shut the door? She asked me to shut the door.
Can you please help me? She requested me to help her.
Reported speech- Reported orders:
Well, not everyone is going to be polite. Sometimes, we get orders.
Now how will you report them? Unlike the request, the reporting
verb isn’t ask but told or tell. Also, when in orders, sometimes
subjects are omitted but while reporting we have to revive the
subjects. Let’s see a few examples:
Direct speech: Sit down!
Reported speech: She told me to sit down.
Direct speech: don’t worry!
Reported speech: She told me not to worry.
Reported speech- Time transitions:
Direct speech Reported speech
now then / at that time
today yesterday / that day / Tuesday / the 27th of June
yesterday the day before yesterday / the day before / Wednesday / the 5th of December
last night the night before, Thursday night
last week the week before / the previous week
tomorrow today / the next day / the following day / Friday
