REPORTED SPEECH

STATEMENTS, QUESTIONS, COMMANDS & SPEECH ACTS

He said... They told ...

She asked...
 CONTENTS
1 Defining Reported Speech 3 Reported Requests & Commands

2 Reported Statements 4 Reported Verb

Defining Reported Speech

Reported speech, also known as indirect

speech, is the process of paraphrasing or
reporting someone else's words.
It allows us to relay information from one
person to another while making appropriate
changes in tenses, pronouns, and time
expressions.
Reported Requests & Commands

Commands, also known as imperatives, can

be reported using reporting verbs like "tell"
or "order" followed by an infinitive verb.
Requests, on the other hand, are usually
reported using verbs like "ask" and an
infinitive verb.
Commands and requests are speech acts.
We will learn more about reporting Speech
Acts on the following slides.
Please call me when you get home.
Don't stay out late.

Request:
She asked me to call her when I
get home.*
Command:
Please call me when you get home.
Don't stay out late.

Request:
She asked me to call her when I
get home.*
Command:
She told me not to stay out late.
*Only the main verb changes in complex sentences (NOT: when I got home).
Sit on the bed, please.

Indirected
Sit on the bed, please.

Indirected
He asked me to sit on the bed.
Give Cooper a house

Reported Speech:
Give Cooper a house

Reported Speech:

He told me to give him a house.

 Reported Statements

When reporting statements, we need to shift

the tense back in time (Backshifting). For
example, present simple changes to past
simple, present continuous to past
continuous, etc.

Pronouns and place and time references

may also need to change.

If the message of the reported statement is

still valid at the moment of reporting it, then
there is no backshifting.
I'm travelling to Italy tomorrow.

On the same day:

She says she is travelling to Italy
tomorrow.
I'm travelling to Italy tomorrow.

After the day:

She said she was travelling to
Italy the following/next day.
I will go to Disneyland with my boy friend today.

On the same day

After the day:

I will go to Disneyland with my boy friend today.

On the same day

She says she will go to Disneyland
with her boy friend today.
After the day:
I will go to Disneyland with my boy friend today.

On the same day

She says she will go to Disneyland
with her boy friend today.
After the day:
She says she would go to
Disneyland with her boy friend
that day.
REPORTING VERBS PATTERNS

STATEMENT REQUEST COMMAND

said that ... asked ... to + verb told ... to + verb

REPORTED TENSE