Reported Speech B2 Lesson

Reported Speech B2 Lesson

We change tenses in reported speech.

• present simple to past simple

• present continuous to past continuous

• present perfect to past perfect

• past simple to past perfect

We change modal verbs

• can to could

• may to might

• must to had to

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We do NOT change

• could

• would

• should

• might

• ought to

• used to

We do NOT change

• must when it's negative (mustn't)

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Must when it expresses a deduction

• She must be coming.

• He said that she must be coming.

If the reporting verb is in present tense

• no changes are necessary

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Questions in Reported Speech

• We change the word order to a normal sentence word order

• we make the same tense changes as in reported speech

• we use the same question word

• we use a full stop