What is reported speech in English language ?
When we repeat something said by another person, we can quote his actual words:
She said: ” I like to walk”.
He asked: ” Can you give me some money, please ? ”
David said: ” Ground control to major Tom !”
This type of repetition is called direct speech.
But when we repeat in our own word what somebody has said, we make some alterations to the original words. This type of repetitions is called reported or indirect speech.
Owing to the change of person speaking and the time the action is referring to we have the following alterations:
| I | becomes | he/she |
| you | becomes | he, she or I |
| we | becomes | they |
| you(pl) | becomes | they or we |
| here | becomes | there |
| this / these | becomes | that / those |
| yesterday | becomes | the day before the previous day |
| tomorrow | becomes | the next day or the following day |
| next week | becomes | the next day or the following week |
| ago | becomes | before |
| thus | becomes | so |
According to the concord of tenses the following grammatical alterations take place:
| The present tense | becomes | The past tense |
| The present perfect tense | becomes | The past perfect tense |
| The past tense | becomes | The past perfect tense |
| The future tense | becomes | The future-in-the-past |
Examples
| is | becomes | was |
| are, do, does | becomes | were, did |
| is coming | becomes | was coming |
| are going | becomes | were going |
| can | becomes | could |
| may | becomes | might |
| ask | becomes | asked |
| have worked | becomes | had worked |
| has written | becomes | had written |
| shall | becomes | should |
| will | becomes | would |
