english grammar indirect speech

Group 1
Topic
Indirect speech
Members:
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Nguyễn Lê Minh Anh
Nguyễn Mai Anh
Trần Ngọc Ánh
Nguyễn Thị Mai Anh
Ngô Thị Vân Anh

Name

Part
II.1 Definition and Comparison

Nguyễn Lê Minh Anh
II.2 Reported Statement
Nguyễn Mai Anh
Ngô Thị Vân Anh

II.3 Reported Question
II.4 Reported Request and Order

Trần Ngọc Ánh
Nguyễn Thị Vân Anh

II.5 Other transformations and Place,
demonstratives and time expressions

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Mark


Outline
I.
II.

III.

Introduction:
The urgency of the subject indirect speech
Development:
II.1 Definition and Comparison
II.1.1 Definition
II.1.2 Comparison
II.2 Reported Statement
II.2.1 How to change direct statements into reported statements
II.2.2 Example and special cases
II.3 Reported Question
II.3.1 How to change “Wh” question
II.3.2 Example
II.3.3 How to change “ Yes/No” question
II.3.4 Example
II.4 Reported Request and Order

II.4.1 How to change direct requests into reported requests
II.4.2 Example
II.4.3 How to change direct orders into reported orders
II.4.4 Example
II.4.5 Other situation
II.5 Other transformations and Place, demonstratives and time expressions
II.5.1 Other transformations
II.5.2 Place, demonstratives and time expressions
Conclusion

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I.

Introduction:
Languages are natural forms of communication children quickly learn to
communicate using their native language, and soon master the main rules of
grammar or syntax without being taught.
Indeed, we cannot communicate efficiently if we do not master the essential
principles of grammar or syntax. If we imagine language as a big highway, the
words are the cars and trucks, but the grammar is the road signs and markings
that tell the cars and lorries where to go and how to drive. Without road signs, a
big highway would quickly descend into total confusion. Without any grammar,
we could manage to produce some sort of elementary communication, such as
"Me Tarzan, you Jane", but we would be unable to form any more complex ideas
into words. It follows, therefore, that mastering the essential rules of grammar is
a vital skill that needs to be acquired by all learners of any language - whether it
be their native language or a foreign language.
For that reason, today, group 1 wants to present you a very important part in

English known as Indirect speech or reported speech since indirect speech used
frequently from everyday communication to academic writing.

II.

Development:
II.1 Definition and Comparison:
II.1.1 Definition:
Indirect speech, also known as reported speech or indirect discourse, is a
means of expressing the content of statements, questions or other utterances,
without quoting them explicitly as is done in direct speech. So when do we use
reported speech? Sometimes someone says a sentence, for example "I'm going to
the cinema tonight". Later, maybe we want to tell someone else what the first
person said. Because of that reason, reported speech is used when you tell
somebody else what you or a person said before.
In grammar, indirect speech often makes use of certain syntactic structures such
as content clauses ("that" clauses, such as (that) he was coming), and sometimes
infinitive phrases. References to questions in indirect speech frequently take the
form of interrogative content clauses, also called indirect questions (such as
whether he was coming).
In indirect speech certain grammatical categories are changed relative to the
words of the original sentence.[1] For example, person may change as a result of a
change of speaker or listener (as I changes to he in the example above). In some
languages, including English, the tense of verbs is often changed – this is often
called sequence of tenses. Some languages have a change of mood: Latin
switches from indicative to the infinitive (for statements) or the subjunctive (for
questions).[2]

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When written, indirect speech is not normally enclosed in quotation marks or any
similar typographical devices for indicating that a direct quotation is being made.
However such devices are sometimes used to indicate that the indirect speech is a
faithful quotation of someone's words (with additional devices such as square
brackets and ellipses to indicate deviations or omissions from those words), as in
He informed us that "after dinner [he] would like to make an announcement".
II.1.2 Comparison:
Direct speech is when we report what someone says by repeating the exact
words. In writing, we use inverted commas:
David: I have to talk to you about something. (original statement)
"I have to talk to you about something," said David. (direct speech)
Indirect speech (also called reported speech) is when we give the same meaning
of what someone says without repeating the exact words. In this case, we do not
use inverted commas and certain changes may be necessary:
David: I have to talk to you about something. (original statement)
David said he had to talk to me about something. (indirect speech)
Direct speech

Reported speech

She says: "I like tuna fish."

She says that she likes tuna fish.

She said: "I'm visiting Paris next
weekend"

She said that she was visiting Paris the
following weekend.

II.2 Reported Statement:
II.2.1 How to change direct statements into 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/he 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 or he', 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'.

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But, if the reporting verb is in the past tense, then usually we change the tenses in
the reported speech, for example:
Direct speech: I like ice cream.
Reported speech: She said (that) she liked ice cream.
II.2.2 Example and special cases:
Some tenses and some modal verbs like could, should, would, might, needn't,
ought to, used to do not normally change.

Tense

Direct Speech

Reported Speech

present
simple

I like ice cream

She said (that) she liked ice
cream.

present
continuous

I am living in
London

She said (that) she was living in
London.

past simple

I bought a car

She said (that) she had bought a
car

past
continuous

I was walking along
the street

She said (that) she had been
walking along the street.

present
perfect

I haven't seen Julie

She said (that) she hadn't seen
Julie.

He said: "I would
buy Mercedes if I
were rich"

He said that he would buy
Mercedes if he had been rich"

past perfect*

I had taken English
lessons before

She said (that) she had taken
English lessons before.

will

I will see you later

She said (that) she would see me
later.

would*

I would help, but..

She said (that) she would help
but...

can

I can speak perfect
English

She said (that) she could speak
perfect English.

Conditional
(would+verb)

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could*

I could swim when I
was four

She said (that) she could swim
when she was four.

shall

I shall come later

She said (that) she would come
later.

should*

I should call my
mother

She said (that) she should call
her mother

might*

"I might be late"

She said (that) she might be late

must

"I must study at the
weekend"

She said (that) she must study at

the weekend OR She said she
had to study at the weekend

Occasionally, we don't need to change the present tense into the past if the
information in direct speech is still true (but this is only for things which are
general facts, and even then usually we like to change the tense):
Direct speech: The sky is blue.
Reported speech: She said (that) the sky is/was blue.
II.3 Reported Question:
II.3.1 How to change “Wh” question:
So now you have no problem with making reported speech from positive and
negative sentences. But how about questions?
Direct speech: "Where do you live?"
How can we make the reported speech here?
In fact, it's not so different from reported statements. The tense changes are the
same, and we keep the question word. The very important thing though is that,
once we tell the question to someone else, it isn't a question any more. So we
need to change the grammar to a normal positive sentence. A bit confusing?
Maybe this example will help:
Direct speech: "Where do you live?"
Reported speech: She asked me where I lived.
The direct question is in the present simple tense. We make a present simple
question with 'do' or 'does' so you need to take that away. Then you need to
change the verb to the past simple.
Another example:
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Direct speech: "where is Julie?"
Reported speech: She asked me where Julie was.

The direct question is the present simple of 'be'. We make the question form of
the present simple of be by inverting (changing the position of) the subject and
verb. So, we need to change them back before putting the verb into the past
simple.
II.3.2 Example:
Direct Question

Reported Question

Where is the Post Office, please?

She asked me where the Post Office was.

What are you doing?

She asked me what I was doing.

Who was that fantastic man?

She asked me who that fantastic man had
been.

Note: We may see people use a phrase like Could you tell me or Do you know to
ask information in polite way, for example:
“ Could you tell me where the bus stop is?”
This question has its root from the “wh” question “where is the bus stop”. To
report this kind of question, we use ask and change the tense:
“I ask her where the bus stop was”
II.3.3 How to change “ Yes/No” question:
what if you need to report a 'yes / no' question? We don't have any question

words to help us. Instead, we use 'if':
Direct speech: "Do you like chocolate?"
Reported speech: She asked me if I liked chocolate.
II.3.4 Example:
Direct Question

Reported Question

Do you love me?

He asked me if I loved him.

Have you ever been to Mexico?

She asked me if I had ever been to
Mexico.

Are you living here?

She asked me if I was living here.

II.4 Reported Request and Order:
II.4.1 How to change direct requests into reported requests:
What if someone asks you to do something (in a polite way)? For example:
•

Direct speech: "Close the window, please"
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•

Or: "Could you close the window please?"

•

Or: "Would you mind closing the window please?"

All of these requests mean the same thing, so we don't need to report every word
when we tell another person about it. We simply use 'ask somebody + to +
infinitive':
•

Reported speech: She asked me to close the window.

To report a negative request, use 'not':
•

Direct speech: "Please don't be late."

•

Reported speech: She asked us not to be late.

Direct Request
Please help me.
Please don't smoke.
Could you pass the milk, please?
II.4.2 Example:

II.4.3 How to change direct orders into reported orders:
And finally, how about if someone doesn't ask so politely? We can call this an
'order' in English, when someone tells you very directly to do something. For
example:
•

Direct speech: "Sit down!"

In fact, we make this into reported speech in the same way as a request. We just
use 'tell' instead of 'ask':
•

Reported speech: She told me to sit down.

II.4.4 Example:
Direct Order

Reported Order
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Go to bed
Don't worry!
Be on time!
Don't smoke!

•

He told the child to go to bed.
He told her not to worry.

He told me to be on time.
He told us not to smoke.

II.4.5: Other situation:
There are some other verbs that are also used to make order like:
• Warn, order, advise, encourage, remind, persuade. These word are
followed by an object + to + infinitive:
“I think you should marry her”
 He advised me to marry her.
Offer, refuse, promise are followed by to+ infinitive:
“We will make a discount”
 They promise to make a discount.
• Admit, deny, apologize for must be followed by the ing form:
“ I don’t break the vase”
 He denied breaking the vase.
You also need to bear in mind the difference between say and tell. We say
something and we tell somebody.
I said you couldn’t do it, but I was wrong.
I told you that you couldn’t do it, but I was wrong.
There is one more point is we can use to after say but we can’t use to between
tell and the object.
I said to her that I had seen her ex boyfriend the previous day.
II.5 Other transformations and Place, demonstratives and time expressions:
II.5.1 Other transformations:
Everything has its own exception, so does indirect speech. These are some
notices that you should remember in order to have good marks:
•

Expressions of advice with must, should and ought are usually reported
using advise / urge.

Example:
“You must read this book.“
He advised / urged me to read that book.

•

The expression let’s is usually reported using suggest. In this case, there
are two possibilities for reported speech: gerund or statement with should.
Example:
“Let’s go to the cinema.“
1. He suggested going to the cinema.
2. He suggested that we should go to the cinema.

•

Main clauses connected with and/but
If two complete main clauses are connected with ‚and or ‚but, put ‚that
after the conjunction.
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Example:
He said: “I saw her but she didn't see me.“ – He said that he had seen her
but that she hadn't seen him.“
If the subject is dropped in the second main clause (the conjunction is
followed by a verb), do not use ‚that‘.
Example:
She said: “I am a nurse and work in a hospital.“ – He said that she was a
nurse and worked in a hospital.”
II.5.2 Place, demonstratives and time expressions:

We change direct speech into reported speech we have to change place,
demonstratives and time expressions too. We don't always have to do this,
however. It depends on when we heard the direct speech and when we say the
reported speech.
For example:
It's Monday. Julie says "I'm leaving today".
If I tell someone on Monday, I say "Julie said she was leaving today".
If I tell someone on Tuesday, I say "Julie said she was leaving yesterday".
If I tell someone a month later, I say "Julie said she was leaving that day".
So, there's no easy conversion. You really have to think about when the direct
speech was said.
Here's a table of some possible conversions:
Time Expressions
today
now
yesterday
… days ago
last week
next year
tomorrow
Place
here
Demonstratives
this
these
III.

Conclusion:
In the end, there’s no one-size-fits-all approach to language learning but our group
believe that mastering in the grammar can lead to the confidence in daily

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communication. Above is some characteristics and the usage of direct speech. Hope
that it will improve your English grammar and male you feel that learning English is
just like a piece of cake.

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