UNIT 15

REPORTED SPEECH
FCE 1 Tense changes in reported speech; reporting in the same tense;
verbs for reporting; verbs for reporting with to infinitive;
reporting questions; reference to time, place, etc.
 UNIT 15: REPORTED SPEECH
WHAT’S REPORTED SPEECH?

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 UNIT 15: REPORTED SPEECH
REPORTING STATEMENTS

DIRECT SPEECH: She said: “I like Peter!”.

REPORTED SPEECH: She said she liked Peter.

VERB TENSE CHANGES!

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 UNIT 15: REPORTED SPEECH
REPORTING STATEMENTS

BACKSHIFTING → verb “moves back” one tense

DIRECT SPEECH REPORTED SPEECH

PRESENT SIMPLE PAST SIMPLE

I work in an office. He said he worked in an office.

PRESENT CONTINUOUS PAST CONTINUOUS

‘We aren’t going away on She said they weren’t going
holiday,’ she said. away on holiday.
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 UNIT 15: REPORTED SPEECH
REPORTING STATEMENTS

DIRECT SPEECH REPORTED SPEECH

FUTURE SIMPLE (will) WOULD

I will go to London. He said he would go to London.

BE GOING TO WAS/WERE GOING TO

She is going to study You said she was going to
engineering. study engineering.

PAST SIMPLE PAST PERFECT

‘I saw Julie in town,’ he said. He said he had seen Julie in town.
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 UNIT 15: REPORTED SPEECH
REPORTING STATEMENTS

DIRECT SPEECH REPORTED SPEECH

PAST CONTINUOUS PAST PERFECT CONTINUOUS

‘We were trying to help him,’ They said they had been trying
they said. to help him.
PRESENT PERFECT PAST PERFECT
‘I have known her for a long She said she had known her
time,’ she said. for a long time.
CAN COULD
‘I can cook lunch,’ he said. He said he could cook lunch.
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 UNIT 15: REPORTED SPEECH
REPORTING STATEMENTS: MUST

DIRECT SPEECH (must) REPORTED SPEECH (had to)

I must buy some She said she had to buy
new trainers. some new trainers.

BUT we use must when we report a negative or a deduction

DIRECT SPEECH REPORTED SPEECH

You mustn’t tell Sam. She said we mustn’t tell Sam.
Brook must be tired. She said that Brook must be tired.
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 UNIT 15: REPORTED SPEECH
REPORTING STATEMENTS

No changes in the verb tense:

● Verb in the past perfect.

‘He had never spoken about it before,’ she said.
→ She said he had never spoken about it before.

● Contains modal verbs: would, might, could, should, ought to.

‘You should go to the doctor’s,’ she said.
→ She said I should go to the doctor’s.
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 UNIT 15: REPORTED SPEECH
REPORTING STATEMENTS

No changes in the verb tense:

● Reported statement still true.

‘I like fish’, she said. → She said she likes/liked fish.

● Reporting verb in the present.

‘It is 40º in Athens at the moment.’ (Jeremy to his mother on the phone)
→ Jeremy says it is 40º in Athens at the moment.
(Jeremy’s mother to her husband)
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 UNIT 15: REPORTED SPEECH
REPORTING STATEMENTS

Other changes in reported speech:

● Pronouns.

‘I’ll see you soon,’ said John. → John said he would see me soon.

● Words indicating place and time.

I will talk to her tomorrow.
→ He said he would talk to her the following day.

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 UNIT 15: REPORTED SPEECH
VERBS FOR REPORTING

We often use say and tell to report speech:

He said (that) he would be late. Other reporting verbs:

add, agree (with),
He said to me (that) he would be late.
answer, explain, inform,
He told me (that) he would be late. remind, reply and warn.

Some verbs are nearly always followed by that and we

use to if we mention the person spoken to.
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 UNIT 15: REPORTED SPEECH
REPORTING ORDERS & REQUESTS

We usually report orders and requests by using:

tell or ask + object + to infinitive

‘Be quiet!’ → The teacher told us to be quiet. (= an order)

‘Please, help me!’ → He asked them to help him. (= a request)

Other reporting verbs: advise, offer, promise and agree.

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 UNIT 15: REPORTED SPEECH
REPORTING QUESTIONS

Same changes to verb tenses (“backshifting”)

AUXILIARY VERBS Auxiliary verbs do, does and did are omitted.

WORD ORDER The same as of a statement.

PUNCTUATION Question marks are not used.

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 UNIT 15: REPORTED SPEECH
REPORTING QUESTIONS

● Questions with question words (who, what, how, etc.):

‘What do you want to do?’ he asked me.
→ He asked me what I wanted to do.
‘Where have you been?’ she asked him.
→ She asked him where he had been.

● Yes/No questions > if/whether

‘Does she know Joe?’
→ He asked if/whether she knew Joe.
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 UNIT 15: REPORTED SPEECH
LET’S PRACTICE WITH

Peppa: Hello Suzie!

Suzie: Hello Peppa, what are you doing?
Peppa: I’m learning to whistle. But I can’t do it yet…
Suzie: Hm…That sounds hard!
Peppa: It’s impossible! Uh, can you whistle, Suzie?
Suzie: No…
Peppa: Oh good! I mean… that’s sad if you can’t whistle, but good,
because I can’t whistle.
Suzie: What’s whistling anyway?
Peppa: You put your lips together and blow.
Suzie: Like this? (whistles)
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 UNIT 15: REPORTED SPEECH
LET’S PRACTICE WITH

Peppa said hi to Suzie. Suzie said hi to Peppa and asked her what she was
doing. Peppa told her that she was learning to whistle, but couldn’t do it yet.
Suzie replied saying that it sounded hard. Peppa explained that it was
impossible and asked her if she could whistle. Suzie answered that she
couldn’t. Peppa said it was good; that she meant that it
was sad she couldn’t whistle, but good because she couldn’t
whistle either. Then, Suzie asked what whistling was. Peppa
told her she had to put her lips together and blow. Suzie
whistled and Peppa hung up the phone.
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