A presentation on the changes in verb tenses, pronouns and adverbs that take place when writing in reported or indirect speech.

1. CHANGES IN REPORTED
SPEECH

2. Verb tenses
Direct speech Reported speech
Present simple Past simple
‘I like peaches’. He said he liked peaches.
Present continuous Past continuous
‘Is it raining?’ He asked if it was raining.
Past simple Past simple / Past Perfect
‘I didn’t recognize you’. She explained that she
hadn’t
recognized /didn’t
recognize me.
Past continuous Past continuous or past
perfect continuous
‘I was joking about the price.’ He said he was joking (Or:
had been joking) about the
price.

3. Verb tenses and modals
Direct speech Reported speech
•Past perfect Past perfect
‘I hadn’t seen her before that day.’ You said you hadn’t seen
her before that day.
• shall / will should / would
‘We’ll be late.’ I told him we’d be late.
• can, may could, might
‘I can swim.’ She thought she could swim.
• must must or had to
‘I must go.’ He said he must / had to go.

4. Pronouns:
• I/you he/she
•We/you they
•Me/you him/her
• Us/you them
•My/your his/her
• our/your their
•Mine/yours theirs
e.g ‘I am very happy today,’ said Susanna.
 Susanna said (that) she was very happy that day.

5. Adverbs of place and time:
• here there
• now then, at the time
• today that day
• yesterday the day before / the previous day
• tomorrow the next / following day
• this week that week
• last week the week before, the previous week
• an hour ago an hour before / earlier

6. Adverbs of place and time:
• here there
• now then, at the time
• today that day
• yesterday the day before / the previous day
• tomorrow the next / following day
• this week that week
• last week the week before, the previous week
• an hour ago an hour before / earlier