She said, “I met them yesterday.” She said she had met them the

day before.

She said, “We can’t settle anything She said they could not settle now.” anything at that moment (then).

If the speaker speaks in the same place and at the same time as the speaker whose words are reported, the demonstrative pro­nouns and adverbs are not changed.

“An hour ago he said he would come here to-night.”

I told him I wouldn’t give him an answer till to-morrow. (Wilde)

4. If the verb in the principal clause is in the past tense, the tenses are changed according to the rule of the sequence of tenses.

DIRECT SPEECH INDIRECT SPEECH

The Present Indefinite is replaced by the Past Indefinite.

She said, “We pften write letters.” She said they often wrote letters.

The Present Continuous is replaced by the Past Continuous. She said, “We are writing a letter.” She said they were writing a letter.

The Present Perfect is replaced by the Past Perfect.

She said, “We have just written She said they had just written a a letter.” letter.

The Present Perfect Continuous is replaced by the Past Perfect Continuous“.

She said, “We have been writing She said they had been writing

for an hour.” for an hour.

The Past Indefinite is replaced by the Past Perfect.

She said, “We wrote a letter last She said they had written a letter night.” on the previous night.

The Past Continuous generally remains unchanged, or is replaced by the Past Perfect Continuous.

She said, “I was writing at 5 She said she was (had been) o’clock.” writing at 5 o’clock.

The Ptst Perfect remains unchanged.

She said, “We had written the She said they had written the letter by 5 o’clock.” letter by 5 o’clock.

The Past Perfect Continuous remains unchanged.

She said, “We had been writing She said they had been writing

for an hour by 5 o’clock.” for an hour by 5 o’clock.

The Future Indefinite is replaced by the Future Indefinite in the Past.

>*

She said, “We’ll write a letter She said they would write a letter to-morrow.” the next day.

The Future Continuous is replaced by the Future Continuous in the Past.

She said, “We’ll be writing at She said they would be writing

5. O’clock.” at 5 o’clock.

The Future Perfect is replaced by the Future Perfect in the Past.

She said, “We’ll have written the She said they would have written letter by 5 o’clock.” the letter by 5 o’clock.

The Future Perfect Continuous is replaced by the Future Per­fect Continuous in the Past.

She said, “We’ll have been writing She said they would have been for 2 hours by 5 o’clock.” writing for 2 hours by 5 o’clock.

If the Past Indefinite in direct speech denotes an action taking place at a definite moment, it remains unchanged in indirect speech.

She said, “I had left home before She said she had left home before the telegram came.” the telegram came.

The Past Indefinite after since generally remains unchanged.

She said, “I have been writing She said she had been writing since I came.” - since she came.

’5. When sentences containing the Subjunctive Mood are con­verted into indirect speech the form of the verb usually remains unchanged.