Learning reported speech, 3º eso

1. Reported Speech
3ºESO
By Estela Albaladejo Martínez

2. Let’s learn it through music!
• The Scientist- Coldplay
• WHAT’S THE SONG ABOUT?
• WHERE CAN YOU FIND REPORTED SPEECH?
“Nobody said it was easy
It's such a shame for us to part
Nobody said it was easy
No one ever said it would be this hard”

3. When to use it
• If you want to repeat what somebody else said, wrote or thought, you have two
options: direct reported speech or indirect reported speech. In direct reported speech,
you put what the person said in quotation marks (“”):
Nobody said, “It’s easy.”
No­one said, “It will be hard”.
■ Indirect reported speech is where you change the speaker’s original words by
indirectly reporting what they said. Such sentences are made up of two parts: a
reporting clause and a reported clause:
Nobody said, “It’s easy” (Direct)
Nobody said it was easy. (Indirect- from the song)
REPORTING CLAUSE REPORTED
CLAUSE

4. TENSE CHANGES
• AS WE ARE REPORTING SOMETHING THAT HAPPENED IN THE PAST, WE NORMALLY HAVE
TO GO ONE STEP BACK TO THE PAST TAKING INTO ACCOUNT THE REPORTING VERB
THAT WE ARE USING. SO THE CORRESPONDING CHANGES ARE THE FOLLOWING:
DIRECT SPEECH REPORTED SPEECH
Present Simple Past Simple
Present Continuous Past Continuous
Will/Would Would
Am/is/are going to Was/Were going to
Past Simple Past Perfect
Present Perfect Past Perfect
Can Could
May Might
Must Had to
* This year, we are only focusing on the change from present simple to past simple

5. CHANGES TO DEMONSTRATIVES, ADVERBS AND ADVERBIAL
EXPRESSIONS
DIRECT SPEECH INDIRECT SPEECH
This/These That/Those
Now Then
Here There
Today That day
Yesterday The previous day
DIRECT SPEECH INDIRECT SPEECH
Next The following
Last The previous
A week ago A week before
Tomorrow The following day

6. EXAMPLES
TENSE DIRECT SPEECH INDIRECT SPEECH
PRESENT SIMPLE I eat ice-cream today She said (that) she ate ice-cream
that day
PRESENT CONTINUOUS I am living in London She said (that) she was living in
London
WILL I’ll see you later She said (that) she would see me
later
PAST SIMPLE I bought a car She said (that) she had bought a
car
PRESENT PERFECT I haven’t seen Julie She said (that) she hadn’t seen
Julie
PAST PERFECT I had taken English lessons
before.
She said (that) she had taken
English lessons before.
MUST I must study at the weekend She said (that) she had to study
at the weekend.
CAN I can speak perfect English She said (that) she could speak
perfect English

7. LET’S PRACTISE IT
• GO TO PAGE 111 OF YOUR STUDENT’S BOOK

8. REPORTED COMMANDS
TO TELL + OBJECT (NOT) TO + INFINITIVE
• Commands are orders. We usually use the verb ”tell” for indirect reported
commands, “to tell+ object (him/her) (not) to + infinitive.
Let’s take this example from David Bowie’s Space Oddity:
Ground control said to Major Tom, “Take your protein pills”. (Direct)
Ground control told Major Tom to take his protein pills. (Indirect- order)

9. REPORTED OFFERS
TO OFFER+ (NOT) TO+ INFINITIVE
• When we want to mention that somebody volunteered for something, we usually use this
structure, quite similar to the previous one.
Rachel, “I will help you with your project, Susie” (Direct)
Rachel offered to help Susie with her project” (Indirect)

10. REPORTED SUGGESTIONS
TO SUGGEST +THAT+ SUBJECT + VERB (INFINITIVE)
When we want to report a suggestion that somebody made, we use the verb suggest in
the past followed by that+ subject+ verb (infinitive)
Teacher, “Pepe, leave the class if you don’t feel ok”
The teacher suggested that Pepe leave the class if he didn’t feel ok

11. LET’S PRACTISE IT
• GO TO PAGE 113 OF YOUR STUDENT’S BOOK

12. BIBLIOGRAPHY
• Isard, N & Vivas, D (2016) All you need is English. Barcelona: Planeta
• Youtube (https://www.youtube.com/?hl=es&gl=ES)