Direct indirect speech

Direct indirect speech

• 1.
  We often haveto give information about what people say or think. In order to do this you can use direct or quoted speech, or indirect or reported speech.
• 2.
    saying exactly whatsomeone has said. what a person says appears within quotation marks ("...") and should be word for word. Example: She said, "Today's lesson is on presentations." or "Today's lesson is on presentations," she said.
• 3.
    refers to asentence reporting what someone has said. the tense usually changes. This is because when we use reported speech, we are usually talking about a time in the past (because obviously the person who spoke originally spoke in the past). The verbs therefore usually have to be in the past too. For example: Direct Speech Indirect Speech "I'm going to the cinema", he said. He said (that) he was going to the cinema.
• 4.
  As a rulewhen you report something someone has said you go back a tense: (the tense on the left changes to the tense on the right):
• 5.
  When changing fromdirect speech to indirect speech, it is often necessary to change the pronouns to match the subject of the sentence.   For example: She said, "I want to bring my children." → She said she wanted to bring her children. Jack said, "My wife went with me to the show." → Jack said his wife had gone with him to the show.
• 6.
  It is alsoimportant to change time words (signifiers) when referring to present, past or future time to match the moment of speaking.   For example: She said, "I want to bring my children tomorrow." → She said she wanted to bring her children the next day. Jack said, "My wife went with me to the show yesterday." → Jack said his wife had gone with him to the show the day before.
• 7.
  When reporting questions,it is especially important to pay attention to sentence order. When reporting yes/ no questions connect the reported question using 'if'. When reporting questions using question words (why, where, when, etc.) use the question word.    For example: She asked, "Do you want to come with me?" → She asked me if I wanted to come with her. Dave asked, "Where did you go last weekend?" → Dave asked me where I had gone the previous weekend. He asked, "Why are you studying English?" → She asked me why I was studying English.