Reported statements

Reported statements

Reported statements are one form of reported speech.

Reported statement

We usually introduce reported statements with "reporting verbs" such as "say" or "tell":

He said (that)... He told me (that)...

reported statements

When we report a statement, we can say "He said that..." or simply "He said...". Both are possible. "He said that..." is more formal.

pronouns may need to change to reflect a different perspective tense sometimes has to go back one tense (eg, present becomes past) - this is called backshift

direct statementHe said,"I am sick."

He said (that)he was sick.

Typical reporting verbs for statements: say, tell, mention, inform

He said that...

He said...

He told me that...

He told me...

He mentioned that...

He informed me that...

reported statements

We use a 'reporting verb' like 'say' or 'tell'. If this verb is in the present tense, it's easy. We just put 'she says' and then the sentence:

Direct speech: I like ice cream. Reported speech: She says (that) she likes ice cream.

We don't need to change the tense, though probably we do need to change the 'person' from 'I' to 'she', for example. We also may need to change words like 'my' and 'your'.

(As I'm sure you know, often, we can choose if we want to use 'that' or not in English. I've put it in brackets () to show that it's optional. It's exactly the same if you use 'that' or if you don't use 'that'.)

But, if the reporting verb is in the past tense, then usually we change the tenses in the reported speech:

Direct speech: I like ice cream. Reported speech: She said (that) she liked ice cream.

say or told

In reported statements, we can use either 'say' or 'tell'. The meaning is the same, but the grammar is different. For example:

Direct speech:

John: "I'll be late".

Reported speech:

John said (that) he would be late.

OR

John told me (that) he was going to be late.

With 'tell' we NEED the object (e.g. 'me', 'you', 'her').

With 'say' we CAN'T use the object (e.g. 'me', 'them', 'us').

So we CAN'T say:

“John said me that he would be late.” “John told that he would be late.”

say or tell

Here are some correct examples:

Julie said (that) she'd come to the party. I said (that) I was going to bed early. He told me (that) he loved living in London. They told John (that) they would arrive at six.

(We can also use 'tell' in reported orders. In this case, 'tell' is followed by a direct object and 'to + infinitive': 'She told me to sit down'.

Time and Place in Reported Speech

When we report something, we may need to make changes to:

time (now, tomorrow) place (here, this room)

here

today

this morning

yesterday

tomorrow

next week

next month

⇒ that day

⇒ there

⇒ the following week

⇒ the day before

⇒ the following month

⇒ the next day

⇒ that morning