Indirect Speech / Reported Speech

Indirect Speech / Reported Speech

 

Indirect speech (sometimes called reported speech), doesn't use quotation marks to enclose what the person said and it doesn't have to be word for word.
When reporting speech the tense usually changes. This is because when we use reported speech, we are usually talking about a time in the past (because obviously the person who spoke originally spoke in the past). The verbs therefore usually have to be in the past too.

For example:
He said he was going to the cinema.

Tense change

As a rule when you report something someone has said you go back a tense: (the tense on the left changes to the tense on the right:

• 
  

  Past continuous: She said she was teaching English online.

• 
  

  Past perfect simple:  She said she had been on the web since 1999.

• 
  

  Past perfect continuous: She said she had been teaching English for seven years.

• 
  

  Past perfect:  She said she had taught online yesterday

• 
  

  Past perfect continuous: She said she had been teaching earlier.

• 
  

  Past perfect NO CHANGE - She said the lesson had already started when he arrived.

• Past perfect continuous NO CHANGE - She said she'd already been teaching for five minutes.

• Past simple:  She said it was cold.

Modal verb forms also sometimes change:

• 
  

  Would:She said she would teach English online tomorrow

• 
  

  Could: She said she could teach English online.

• 
  

  Had to: She said she had to have a computer to teach English online.

• 
  

  Should: She asked what we should learn today.

• 
  

  Might: She asked if she might open a new browser.

The end.