Reported speech

Reported speech

By Cristina Soler

You want to tell somebody what Paul said. There are two ways of doing this:

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You can repeat Paul's words (direct speech):

Paul said 'I'm feeling ill.'​

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Or you can use reported speech:

Paul said that he was feeling ill.​

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​Study this situation:

​I'm feeling ill.

​Paul

​Note the change in the verb tense!

Yesterday you met a friend of yours, Steve. You hadn't seen him for a long time. Here are some of the things Steve said to you:

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​Some time after that, you tell your friend Anne what Steve said.

1. I'm living in London.

2. My father isn't very well.

3. Rachel and Mark are getting married next month.

4. My sister has had a baby.

5. I don't know what Joe is doing.

6. I saw Helen at a party in June and she seemed fine.

​ 7. I haven't seen Amy recently.

8. I'm not enjoying my job very much.

9. You can come and stay at my place if you're ever in London.

10. My car was stolen a few days ago.

11. I want to go on holiday, but I can't afford it.

12. I'll tell Chris I saw you.​

Do not type the full stop after the sentences.

You will find more introductory verbs for reported speech in the link on the next slide.

He told me that...

He said that...

Say and tell

He said (to me) that...

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Questions

Whenever a question starts with an interrogative pronoun, this pronoun is repeated in the new sentence and is followed by the subject and then the verb.

​"How old are you?"

He asked me how old I was.​

Questions

When a question starts with a verb, we form the reported speech by adding if followed by the subject and the verb.

​"Are you OK?"

She asked me if I was OK.​

Negative

Affirmative

Orders and instructions