Today, my teacher told the class that there were at least 40 billion planets in the Milky Way.

"What did the teacher say?"

Reporting means to talk about what someone else said earlier. In English, you can report things using direct or reported speech.

Direct Speech

In direct speech, we use the exact words said by the speaker with quotation marks. Direct speech is very common in stories, novels, and newspaper / blog articles. We usually use the verb, say for statements, and ask for questions. Notice the punctuation:

"My name is John."

  • He said, "My name is John."

"I don't want to do that."

  • He said, "I don't want to do that."

"Where are you going?"

  • She asked, "Where are you going?"

Reported Speech

Reported speech is another way we report what others have said. Unlike direct speech, with reported speech, we do not use the person's exact words, nor do we use quotation marks. We also need to change the pronouns (I, me, you, etc.) and possessive adjectives (my, your, etc.):

"My name is John."

  • He said his name was John.

"I don't want to do that."

  • She said she didn't want to do that.

"Where are you going?"

  • He asked me where I was going.

Backshifting of Tenses

We usually backshift the tense of the statement or question we are reporting:

Teacher's Note

No Change in Verb Tenses in Reported Speech. There is no change in verb tenses in Indirect Speech when:

  • The introductory verb is in the Present, Present Perfect or Future.
  • If the reported sentence deals with a fact or general truth.
  • The reported sentence contains a time clause.
  • The verb of the sentence is in the unreal past (the second or the third conditional).
  • The subjunctive stays unchanged in the subordinate clause.
  • Had better, could, would, used to, should, might, ought to, and mustn’t remain unchanged.
  • If the speaker reports something immediately or soon after it was said.

 

Tense Quotation Reported Speech
Present Simple "I live alone." You said (that) you lived alone.
Present Continuous "I am having a good time." You said (that) we were having a good time.
Past Simple "I ate eggs for breakfast." You said (that) you had eaten eggs for breakfast.
Past Continuous "I was walking to school at 8:30 AM." You said (that) you had been walking to school at 8:30 AM.
Present Perfect Simple "I have never seen a spaceship in real life." You said (that) you had never seen a spaceship in real life.
Present Perfect Continuous "I have been living here for 3 years." You said (that) you had been living there for 3 years.
Past Perfect Simple* "I hadn't woken up, yet." You said (that) you hadn't woken up yet.
Will "It will probably rain this afternoon." You said (that) it would probably rain this afternoon.
Be Going To "I am going to study tonight." You said (that) you were going to study tonight.
Can "I can play guitar." You said (that) you could play guitar.
Could* "I couldn't understand the movie very well." You said (that) you couldn't understand the movie very well.
Must "I must do better." You said (that) you had to do better.
Mustn't* "I mustn't waste time." You said (that) you mustn't waste time.
Should* "I should go home soon." You said (that) you should go home soon.
Would* "I would like to have a snack." You said (that) you would like to have a snack.
May "The tea may be too hot to drink." You said (that) the tea might be too hot to drink.
Might* "We might go away for the weekend." You said (that) you might go away for the weekend.
*These tenses or words do not change. Discuss which others may not change and why.

Reported Speech: Say or Tell

In reported speech, we usually use one of these two words. They have the same meaning but different usages. With tell, we need an object after the verb. This is almost always a person's name or pronoun. Also, with both say and tell, we may use the word, that to begin the statement, but it is not necessary.

  • I told her (that) she was very pretty.
  • The teacher told the class (that) class would be cancelled the following week.
  • You didn't tell me (that) you were coming today!

 

With say, we do not need an object before the statement. Although not necessary, we can explain who the sentence was said to with the preposition, to:

  • I said (to her) (that) she was very pretty.
  • The teacher said (to us) (that) class would be cancelled the following week.
  • You didn't say (to me) (that) you were coming today!

Reported Speech: Questions

When we report questions, we are not actually asking a question. Because of this, we need to change the inversion (as we studied in Grammar 11-1) to the word order of a normal sentence:

"Do you know Pam's phone number?"

  • You asked (me) if I knew Pam's phone number.

"Where are you going?"

  • You asked (me) where I was going.

In inversion, the auxiliary verb comes before the subject. To remove the inversion, we need to place the auxiliary verb after the subject:

  • "Where are you going?"
    • You asked me where I was going.
  • "What time will class start tomorrow?"
    • You asked me what time class would start tomorrow.

Remember: the auxiliary verbs do, does, and did are not necessary in normal sentence word order:

  •  "Where do you live?"
    • You asked me where I lived.
  • "What kind of food does he like?"
    • You asked what kind of food he liked.

With questions, we usually use the verb, ask in reported speech. With ask, you have the choice to use an object or not:

  • "Why can't we go to a restaurant tonight?"
    • You asked why we couldn't go to a restaurant tonight.
    • You asked me why we couldn't go to a restaurant tonight.

After ask, we need a question word. For yes or no questions, use if or whether:

"Where should we eat lunch today?"

  • You asked where we should eat lunch today.

"What time do you want to meet?"

  • You asked me what time I wanted to meet.

"Could you give me a hand?"

  • You asked if / whether I could give you a hand.

"Does he like pizza?"

  • You asked if / whether he liked pizza.

Reported Speech: Place & Time Expressions

For place expressions and time expressions you have to be careful. Look at the following possible changes:

Direct Speech Reported Speech
today that day
now then / at that time
yesterday the day before / Tuesday, etc.
… days ago … days before
last week the week before / the previous week
next year the following year
tomorrow the next day / the following day
here there
this that
these those

Exercise

Open the exercise to begin the activity. Follow the instructions in the document..

Exercise

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