REPORTED SPEECH

REPORTED STATEMENTS

She said, ‘I know where they are hiding’. (direct speech – ‘quoting’ someone’s words)
She said that she knew where they were hiding. (reported speech – ‘retelling’ someone’s words – the
exact meaning of what someone said but not the exact words)

Changes that occur in reported speech:

-tenses (know – knew, are hiding – were hiding)

Present simple  Past simple

Present continuous Past continuous
Past simple Past perfect
Present perfect Past perfect
Past continuous Past perfect continuous
Future simple (WILL) WOULD

-certain words (personal / possessive pronouns and possessive adjectives) and time expressions

Now  then / immediately / at that moment

Today  that day
Yesterday  the day before / the previous day
Tomorrow  the next / following day
This week  that week
Last (week / month)  the week / month before or: the previous week / month
Next week  the week after / the following week
Ago  before
Here  there

When we are reporting a general truth or law of nature, the tenses can change or remain the same, as in
the example below:

‘Madrid is the capital of Spain’, she said.

She said that Madrid WAS / IS the capital of Spain.

Tenses DO NOT CHANGE in the following cases:

1.when the introductory i.e. reporting verb is in the present, future or present perfect:

She says, ‘I am satisfied with my new job.’  She says that she is satisfied with her new job.

2.in up-to-date reporting (i.e. when we are reporting someone’s words a short time after they were said
and when the time of the information being reported is not over yet):

She said, ‘I will call you tomorrow’.  She said she will call me tomorrow (it’s still the same day)
3.there is past simple / past continuous in a time clause:

‘While I was staying in Madrid, I met Pedro twice’, she said.

She said that she met Pedro twice while she was staying in Madrid.

4.the following modals and phrases do not change: SHOULD, MIGHT, COULD, NEEDN’T HAVE, WOULD,
USED TO, HAD BETTER, OUGHT TO

5.the 2nd and 3rd type conditionals and past subjunctive after WISH, IT’S TIME, IF ONLY, I’D RATHER do not
change:

‘If I were you, I would apologize’  He said that if he were me, he would apologize.

‘If I had studied harder, I would have passed the exam’  He said that if he had studied harder, he
would have passed the exam.

‘I wish I earned more’  She said she wished she earned more.

‘It’s time we left.’  They said it was time they left.

‘I’d rather you called me later’  She said she’d rather I called her later.

REPORTED QUESTIONS

I WH questions

1.‘Where are you going?’  He asked me where I was going.

2.‘What languages do you speak?’  He asked me what languages I spoke.

In reported questions the word order changes – there is no inversion (example 1) or an auxiliary (DO,
DOES, DID) (example 2) – the word order i.e. sentence structure is the same as in a statement.

II Yes / No questions

‘Do you speak Spanish?’  He asked me if I spoke Spanish.

In reported questions of this type we use IF / WHETHER and the structure is the same as in a statement,
i.e. there is no inversion or an auxiliary (DO, DOES, DID).