2. REPORTED SPEECH
' I know quite a lot of people Present Simple Past He said that
here.' Simple he ...............................
Robert said. quite a lot of people there
'John is feeling much better ' Present Past He said that
Paul said. Continuous Continuous John ...........................much
better
' I enjoyed my holiday in the Simple Past Past Perfect He said that
States' he ............................... his
David said. holiday in the States
'Jackie wasn´t feeling very well Past Past Perfect He said that
' Continuous Continuous Jackie .........................
The teacher said. very well
' They've seen the Eiffel Tower Present Past Perfect He said that
' Perfect they ............................
John said. the Eiffel Tower
' I have been waiting for ages ' Present Past Perfect He said that
My father said. Perfect Continuous he ............................
Continuous for ages
' Nobody had warned them Past Perfect Past Perfect He said that
about the storm ' The politician nobody .................... about the
said. storm
' She had been reading all day Past Perfect Past Perfect She said that
' Continuous she ........................ all day
Brenda said. Continuous
3. REPORTED SPEECH
' I will be here with you.' Future Conditional Robert promised that
Robert promised me. Simple Present he ...............................
there with me
'John is going to study French ' Be going to Was/Were Paul said that
Paul said. going to John ...........................
to study French
' We can start the lesson' Can Could David said that
David said. we ............................... start
the lesson
' They may come home ' May Might My husband said that
My husband said. they .........................
come home
' You must be quiet in class ' Must Had to The teacher said that
The teacher said. we ............................
be quiet in class
4. REPORTING STATEMENTS
Useful introductory verbs.
ADD COMPLAIN to .. about POINT OUT
ADMIT + ing DENY + ing PROMISE
ANSWER EXPLAIN PROTEST against /about
ARGUE GRUMBLE about REMARK
ASSURE OBJECT to + ing REMIND someone of…
BOAST about OBSERVE REPLY
SAY & TELL
5. REPORTING STATEMENTS
•agree, refuse, offer, promise, threaten + infinitive
Ann: Would you wait half an hour’
Tom: All right
Chris: Would you lend me another €50?
David: No, I won´t lend you any more money
•accuse of, admit, apologize for, deny, insist on + gerund
You took me the money!
I stole/ didn´t steal it!
I am sorry I’m late
Let me pay, please, let me
6. REPORTING QUESTIONS YES / NO QUESTIONS
•There is no inversion (subject/verb)
•If or whether after the reporting verb
“Are you working these days?” he said.
He inquired if/whether I was working those days
“Did you speak to John last night?” she asked
She wanted to know if I had spoken to J, the night before.
7. REPORTING QUESTIONS WH- QUESTIONS
•When Who or What are subjects of the sentence we don’t
change the word order
“Who told you this story?” He asked me who had told that
story
“What happens?” He wanted to know what happened.
•The word order is a positive one, without inversion
(subject/verb)
“Where did you go last summer?”.
He asked me where I had gone the previous summer.
•Some verbs we can use as reporting verbs: ask, enquire,
wonder,
would like to know, want to know
8. REPORTING COMMANDS
•The imperative changes into infinitive
He said to us: “Stay here” He told us to stay here
•The reporting verb must indicate “order”
He said: “Be quiet” He told me to be quiet
•Apart from Tell other verbs can be used: ask, beg,
invite, warn, order, command, instruct,...
“Say that again”, he said to me He asked me to
say that again
9. REPORTING REQUESTS
•The verbs used are: beg, ask, demand & request and they
are situated before the requested person.
•The word “please” is omitted
•When let is used in direct speech it must appear in the
reported too but omitting the modal verb.
•When let is not used the modal is not omitted.
“John, don’t open the window, please” I said
I asked /requested/begged John not to open the window.
“Can you let me use your phone, please?” I asked my
neighbour
I asked my neighbour to let me use her phone
“Can I use your phone?” I asked my neighbour
I asked my neighbour if I could use her phone.
10. REPORTING SUGGESTIONS
•We normally use suggest + gerund to report them
•Also suggest that + subordinate sentence
•The suggestions : Let’s, why don’t we, shall we, why not…
are omitted
“Let’s go to the theatre” she said.
“Why don’t we go to the theatre?”
“Shall we go to the theatre?”
She suggested going to the theatre
She suggested that we could go to the theatre
“Let’s not argue again,” he said.
He suggested not arguing again
He suggested that they should not argue again.
