This presentation was created by Gordon

1. Page 1
Reported speech
Statements, questions,
commands and requests

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Notice the differences in these two
sentences:
• Ken: “I had a terrible row with
Pauline a few days ago and she has
kicked me out.”
• Mike told Isobel that Mike had
had a terrible row with Pauline a
few days before and she had
kicked him out.

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Direct Speech
We say the exact words someone said.
• Sarah told me “I prefer second-hand shops
here!”
• Samuel asked Tim “Where is your dad today?”
We use “”, !, ?, capital letter, a
reporting verb (say, tell...)

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Reported Speech
We don't use “ ”, !, ?, capital letter...
We introduce the sentence with a reporting verb
(SAY, TELL...)
We can omit THAT (more informal)
Verb Tense goes ONE STEP back in time
Person, time and place references may change
• Sarah told me (that) she prefered second-
hand shops there.
• Samuel asked Tim where his dad was that day.

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• We use reported speech when
we are telling someone what
another person said or thought,
but do not use their exact
words.
When we report a statement, we
use reported verbs such as say,
agree, announce,tell, explain,
inform, state, remark, complain,
remind, decide, suggest, think,
etc. often followed by THAT.

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Statements
There are NO changes if the reporting verb is in
the present or future or is something
permanent:
• She says she is not going out today.
• Mark will tell you he can't help you now.
• Sheila says the prices here are really cheap.
SAY and TELL are the most used verbs but be
careful:
• He said / said + TO + someone that....
• He told + someone that...

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Changes in reported speech

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Tense change
• Present Simple Past Simple
• Present Continuous Past Continuous
• Present Perfect Past Perfect
• Past Simple Past Perfect
• Future Conditional
• can could
• must had to

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Questions
• In reported WH- questions, we use
the wh- word + the subject + the verb.
• In reported Yes/No questions, we use
if/whether + the subject + the verb.
• We do not use the interrogative
form of the verb: do/does/did
• As it is an indirect question, no
question marks are used.
• We use reporting verbs: ask, wonder, enquire,
want to know, etc.

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Commands and requests
• Ken: “Don’t spread it around, Mike.”
• Ken asked Mike NOT TO spread it around.
• Mike advised Ken:”Make it up with Pauline!”
• Mike advised Ken TO make it up with Pauline.

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Commands and requests
• When we report requests,
orders, advice or warnings we
use verbs such as advice, ask,
beg, tell, order, instruct, etc,
followed by an infinitive.
• NB: In negative
requests/commands use NOT
before TO.

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Conditionals
• When we report Conditionals
type I, they change to
Conditionals type II:
– “If you phone after 7.00, we
won't be home”, we told him
– We told him that if he
phoned after 7.00, we
wouldn't be home.
• Conditionals Type II and III do
not change

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Suggestions
• When we report a suggestion we use
the verb suggest followed by
gerund or a THAT clause:
– “”Let's go to the bowling alley”,
Mark suggested
1) Mark suggested going to the …
2) Mark suggested that we (should)
go to the...

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Thanks for your attention!