Direct and reported speech

When a declarative sentence is changed from direct into indirect speech, it becomes an object clause introduced by the conjunction that which is often omitted.

Indirect speech does not reproduce the exact words of the speaker, but only reports them.

1. When direct speech is replaced by indirect speech, the forms of personal, possessive and reflexive pronouns are changed or not according to sense.

She says, “They will work in their city”	She says that they will work in their city.
She says, “I’ll work in my town”.	She says that she’ll work in her town.

The most frequent verbs of saying are the verbs:

• to say and to tell for reported statements:

He says, “I know it”. He says he knows it.

• to ask for reported questions:

“How is your brother?” She asks how my brother is.

• to tell and to ask for reported orders and requests:

“Could you carry some bags, Mike?” I asked Mike to carry some bags.

“Get out of my room”. She told the man to get out of her room.

Say and tell

to say is used when the person to whom the direct speech is addressed is not mentioned in the sentence with indirect speech. If the person addressed is indicated to tell is used.

say + something

tell + someone + something

say to someone = tell someone

He says (that) he can speak French.

He tells Sarah (that) he can speak French.

He says to me, “I know French”. He tells me he knows French.

2. If the reporting verb denotes a past action, tenses of the verb of the direct speech are changed according to the rules of the sequence of tenses.

1. Present Simple  Past Simple

He said, “I don’t know anything about her.” He said he didn’t know anything about her.

2. Present Continuous  Past Continuous

“I am working,” she said. She said she was working.

3. Present Perfect  Past Perfect

“I have translated the text,” he said. He said he had translated the text.

4. Present Perfect Continuous  Past Perfect Continuous

“I have been working since 8 o’clock,” she said. She said she had been working since 8 o’clock.

5. Past Simple  Past Perfect

“I saw her there,” he said. He said he had seen her there.

6. Past Continuous  Past Perfect Continuous

She said, “I was reading”. She said she had been reading.

Note: (“Sequence of Tenses”, r.5 (Note))

“I saw her in May”, he said. He said he saw her in May.

“We were listening to the radio She said they were listening to the radio at 7.

at 7 o’clock”, she said.

7. Future  Future-in-the-Past

He said, “I’ll go there”.	He said he would go there.
She said, “I’ll have read the book by Monday.”	She said she would have read the book by Monday.
He said, “I’ll be working this summer.”	He said he would be working that summer.

3. When the direct speech is replaced by indirect speech demonstrative pronouns and certain adverbs are changed.

We replace the adverbs and demonstrative pronouns denoting nearness by those denoting remoteness.

So the following changes take place:

this  that

these  those

here  there

now  then, at that time

today  that day

tonight  that night

tomorrow  the following day, (the) next day

yesterday  the day before, the previous day

ago  before

last week (month, year)  the previous week (month, year)

“But I am really busy today”, said Hans.	Hans said that he was really very busy that day.
“I’ll go there tomorrow”, he said.	He said he would go there the next day.
He said, “I live in this house.”	He said that he lived in that house.

Reported Questions

In reported (indirect) questions there is no inversion; they have the word order of a declarative sentence (e.g. they were doing, my brother was…), i.e. the word order in the object clause is direct.

1. Indirect general questions are introduced by the conjunctions if or whether. The predicate of the principal clause is the verb to ask or one of its synonyms.

Speaker’s words	Reported questions
General questions	He asked (me)… He wanted to know … He wondered…
“Are you watching TV?” “Do you play chess?” “Have you done your homework?” “Did you skate a lot last winter?” “Will you see your friend tomorrow?”	if whether	I was watching TV. I played chess. I had done my homework. I had skated a lot the winter before. I should see my friend the next day.

2. Indirect special questions are introduced by the interrogative pronouns and adverbs which turn into conjunctive pronouns and adverbs. The word order in the object clause becomes direct. The predicate of the principal clause is the verb to ask or one of its synonyms.

Speaker’s words	Reported questions
Special questions	He asked (me) … He wanted to know … He wondered …
“Where do you live?” “What is Nick doing?” “Where have you been?” “When did you come home yesterday?” “When will your sister return home?”	where I lived. what Nick was doing. where I had been. when I had come home the day before. when my sister would return home.