Reported Speech

Reported Speech

Do you know how to report what somebody else said?

​Look at these examples to see how we can tell someone what another person said.

Direct speech: 'I love the Toy Story films,' she said.

Reported speech: She said she loved the Toy Story films.

Direct speech: 'I worked as a waiter before becoming a chef,' he said. Reported speech: He said he'd worked as a waiter before becoming a chef.

Direct speech: 'I'll phone you tomorrow,' he said.

Reported speech: He said he'd phone me the next day.

​Backshifting in Verbs (I)

Backshifting in verbs (II)

​Typical reporting verbs for statements: say and tell

He said that...

He said...

He told me that...

He told me...

​ Said 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.”XXX

​No backshift

**If what the speaker has said is still true or relevant, it's not always necessary to change the tense.

Tom said that he likes school. (Tom still likes school now.)

'I'm working in Italy for the next six months.'

He told me he's working in Italy for the next six months. Maybe I should visit him!

'I've broken my arm!'

She said she's broken her arm, so she won't be at work this week.

**It also isn’t necessary to change the tense if say/tell is used in the present tense. 

Some people say schooldays are the best days of your life.

​In reported statements, change the pronouns, e.g. I ➞ he, we ➞ they, me ➞ her, you ➞ me, etc. ‘I saw you yesterday.’ ➞ He said he’d seen me yesterday.