BE ONE bee... and A: Grammar Tip #5: Reported Speech

REPORTED SPEECH consists in telling somebody else what you or a person said before.

When reporting speech, a few changes occur:

First....	Choose an appropriate reporting (= introductory) verb - depending on the type of discourse N.B.: The verb is usually conjugated in the simple past
Then	Change the tenses to their past form, unless what is said is still true
Don't forget to	Change personal pronouns, possessive adjectives or pronouns - depending on the speaker(s)
and to	Change time and place adverbs.
Remember to	Change the punctuation - depending on the type of discourse

REPORTING / INTRODUCTORY VERBS

DIRECT SPEECH	REPORTED SPEECH
TYPE OF DISCOURSE	INTRODUCTORY VERB	LINK WORD	WORD-ORDER
assertion	to add / to admit / to announce / to declare / to deny / to explain / to insist / to mention / to promise / to propose / to remind / to say / to suggest / to tell somene......	That / O	No Changes same word-order as direct speech
yes/no question= question starting with an auxiliary	to ask someone / oneself / to doubt / to wonder..		S + (Aux.) + Vb.
WH-question question starting with WH-	to ask / to inquire / to wonder..	WH-	S + (Aux.) + Vb.
answer	to answer / to reply / to explain	that / O	No Changes same word-order as direct speech
advice	to advise someone	To	+ Vb
order	to tell / to forbid / to order	(not) To	+ Vb

TENSES

Tense in "Direct speech"	Tense to use in reported speech
SIMPLE PRESENT	SIMPLE PAST
Cindy asked: "Do you like watching TV?" Giles said: "I don't mind watching TV, but there are things I like better	Cindy asked Giles if he liked watching tV Giles answered he didn't mind watching TV, but there were things he liked better.
PRESENT BE-ING	PAST BE-ING
Frank declared: " I am thinking about moving"	Frank declared he was thinking about moving
PAST BE-ING	PAST PERFECT BE-ING
He told them: "I wasn't expecting your visit"	He told them he hadn't been expecting their visit
PRESENT PERFECT	PAST PERFECT
She said: " I have just seen an old friend of mine"	She said she had just seen an old friend of hers.
PRESENT PERFECT BE-ING	PAST PERFECT BE-ING
He asked: "Paul, how long have you been studying English?"	He asked Paul how long he had been studying English
PAST PERFECT	PAST PERFECT
They said: "If we had arrived two minutes later, there would have been no cake left"	They said that if they had arrived two minutes later, there would have been no cake left.
PAST PERFECT BE-ING	PAST PERFECT BE-ING
He declared: " You had been telling me you wanted to see her"	He declared they had been telling him they wanted to see her.
FUTURE (WILL)	CONDITIONAL (WOULD)
I asked: " Where will you spend your holiday ?"	I asked where they would spend their holiday.
WILL + BE-ING	WOULD + BE-ING
Anna declared:" I will be announcing my engagement next month"	Anna declared she would be announcing her engagement the following month
WOULD	WOULD
Tony said: "I would like something to eat. I wouldn't mind a drink either."	Tony said he would like something to drink and wouldn't mind a drink either.

ADVERBS OF TIME AND PLACE, DEMONSTRATIVE PRONOUNS

Direct speech	Reported Speechrt
NOW	THEN
LAST (year, month, week...)	THE (year, month , week...) BEFORE THE PREVIOUS (year, month, week...)
YESTERDAY	THE DAY BEFORE THE PREVIOUS DAY
TOMORROW	THE NEXT DAY THE FOLLOWING DAY
NEXT (week, month, year...)	THE (week, month, year...) AFTER THE FOLLOWING (week, month, year...)
THIS	THAT
THAT	THAT
THESE	THOSE
THOSE	THOSE
HERE	THERE
THERE	THERE

PRACTICE
Chat with My Bot , then report the conversation you had with him.

Reported Speech Exercise at Auto-English (autoenglish)
"Convert the phrases ... into reported speech."
Indirect Questions Exercise at Auto-English (autoenglish)
"What's this?"
"Do you know what this is?"

Reported Speech for Questions at Auto-English (autoenglish)
"Are you happy, Carla?" asked Bob.
Bob asked Carla if/whether she was/were happy.

Reported Speech for Orders at Auto-English (autoenglish)
"Don't turn on the light," she said to him.
She told him not to turn on the light.

Reporting Verbs Exercise at Auto-English (autoenglish)
" Fill the gaps using the verbs in the box. Use each verb once only.
advise hope promise suggest
beg insist remind threaten
deny invite refuse warn"

Different Ways to Say Something (bogglesworldesl.com)
"There are a lot of ways that add extra information to refine how we report speech."
ex : He yelled / She bragged / She whispered...