We use reported speech to give information about what people say or think.
Saying exactly what someone has said is called direct speech, what a person says appears within quotation marks. For example: She said, "I am going to the cinema tomorrow."
Saying exactly what someone has said is called direct speech, what a person says appears within quotation marks. For example: She said, "I am going to the cinema tomorrow."
Indirect speech (or reported speech), doesn't use quotation marks and the tense usually changes. This is because when we use reported speech, we are usually talking about a time in the past and the verbs, therefore, have to be in the past too.
For example:
For example:
| Direct speech | Indirect speech |
|---|---|
| "I'm going to the cinema", he said. | He said he was going to the cinema. |
| Direct speech | Indirect speech | |
|---|---|---|
Present simpleShe said, "It's cold." | › | Past simple She said it was cold. |
| Present continuous She said, "I'm teaching English online." | › | Past continuous She said she was teaching English online. |
| Present perfect simple She said, "I've been on the web since 1999." | › | Past perfect simple She said she had been on the web since 1999. |
| Present perfect continuous She said, "I've been teaching English for seven years." | › | Past perfect continuous She said she had been teaching English for seven years. |
| Past simple She said, "I taught online yesterday." | › | Past perfect She said she had taught online yesterday. |
| Past continuous She said, "I was teaching earlier." | › | Past perfect continuous She said she had been teaching earlier. |
| Past perfect She said, "The lesson had already started when he arrived." | › | Past perfect NO CHANGE - She said the lesson had already started when he arrived. |
| Past perfect continuous She said, "I'd already been teaching for five minutes." | › | Past perfect continuous NO CHANGE - She said she'd already been teaching for five minutes. |
Modal verb forms also sometimes change
| Direct speech | Indirect speech | |
|---|---|---|
| will She said, "I'll teach English online tomorrow." | › | would She said she would teach English online tomorrow. |
can
She said, "I can teach English online." | › | could She said she could teach English online. |
| must She said, "I must have a computer to teach English online." | › | had to She said she had to have a computer to teach English online. |
| shall She said, "What shall we learn today?" | › | should She asked what we should learn today. |
| may She said, "May I open a new browser?" | › | might She asked if she might open a new browser. |
Note - There is no change to; could, would, should, might and ought to.
