Indirect Speech

Indirect/reported speech Refers to the means of expressing what a person has said by reproducing either the exact words, or the essence. The words of the speaker are introduced by a reporting verb like: say, tell, ask, answer, declare, exclaim, etc…… When direct speech is converted into indirect speech, changes take place. They concern the tense, the pronouns, the adverbial modifies of place and time – all these, when the reported speech is introduced by a verb in the past tense. VERB TRANSFORMATIONS: DIRECT SPEECH

REPORTED SPEECH

Present simple “I am 20 years old”, she said. Present continuous “I’m making a cake” now Past simple “I talked to him yesterday”. Present perfect simple “I have already done my homework!” Present perfect continuous “I have been reading all day”. Past continuous “What were you doing there?” Future “I will do it, I promise.”

Past simple She said she was 20 years old. Past continuous She informed him she was making a cake then. Past perfect She answered that she had talked to him the day before. Past perfect She exclaimed she had already done her homework. Past perfect continuous She complained she had been reading all day. Past perfect continuous She asked (me) what I had been doing there. Future in the past She promised she would do it.

OTHER TRANSFORMATIONS

I – he/she me – him/her my – his/her mine – his/hers

you – I/we you – me/us your – my/our yours – mine/ours

we – they us – they our – their ours – theirs

this - these these - those

ADVERBS/adverbials of time/place today –yesterday yesterday – the day before/previous day the day before yesterday – two days before ago – before now – then tomorrow – the following/next day the day after tomorrow – two days later next week/month/year – the following week/month/year last week/month/year – the previous week/month/year here – there this week/month – that week/month in this place – in that place today – (on) that day