• Reported speech is when we tell someone what another person said.
To do this, we can use direct speech or indirect speech.
• direct speech: 'I work in a bank,' said Daniel.
• indirect speech: Daniel said that he worked in a bank.
• 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.
• direct speech: 'I love the Toy Story films,' she said.
indirect speech: She said she loved the Toy Story films.
direct speech: 'I worked as a waiter before becoming a chef,' he said.
indirect speech: He said he'd worked as a waiter before becoming a
chef.
direct speech: 'I'll phone you tomorrow,' he said.
indirect speech: He said he'd phone me the next day.
• Say + object (possible: to+object)
He said that …
He said to me …
• Tell + object
He told me …
Mostly context requires pronouns to change
‘’I like you.’’ ͢͢͢ He said he liked her.
‘’I like you.’’ ͢͢ I said I liked her.
‘’I eat meat.’’ ͢͢ He said he ate meat.
When we backshift,
present simple changes to past simple,
present continuous changes to past continuous
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.
suffixes
• A suffix is a word part (affix) that is added to the end of a root word.
-ful
-ous – full of
-ful -ous
• helpful fame-famous
• useful miracle-miraculous
• painful adventure-adventurous
• careful nervous
ion – tells about an action, a process or a result
• Act-action
• Invent-invention
• Decide-decision
• Divide-division
• Depress-depression
• Educate-education
-ity
• Activity
• Ability
-er
-or describe people and their jobs
-ian
-ian
Canadian
librarian
musician
electrician
I Conditional – real condition
II conditional clauses – unreal condition
Unreal Conditionals IF
This involves the If+ past simple + would +
verb
•
This is used for hypothetical or unlikely situations.
Also for unreal or improbable situations now or in the future.
• If I won the lottery, I would travel a lot.
• past simple would+verb
If I won the lottery, I would travel around the
world. (Though I am unlikely to win the lottery)
If I knew his name, I would tell you.
If I didn’t have a headache, I would go to the party.
If I became President, I would reduce the salaries of
all politicians.
We can also reverse the order and use:
Conditional verb (would + verb) + If + Past Simple
• I would be happy if I had more free time.
• I would tell you the answer if I knew what it was.
• There would be fewer accidents if everyone drove more carefully.
Examples
• If I were taller, I would buy this dress.
• If I were 20, I would travel the world.
• If I were you, I would give up smoking.
• If I were a plant, I would love the rain.
