REPORTED SPEECH PRACTICE

When we report someone’s words we can do it in two ways. We can use direct speech with quotation marks (“I work in a bank”), or we can use reported speech (He said he worked in a bank.)

In reported speech the tenses, word-order and pronouns may be different from those in the original sentence.

Direct Speech	Reported Speech
Present Simple	Past Simple
Play "He's American," she said.	Play She said he was American.
Play "I'm happy to see you," Mary said.	Play Mary said that she was happy to see me.
Play He asked, "Are you busy tonight?"	Play He asked me if I was busy that night.
Present Continuous	Past Continuous
Play Dan is living in San Francisco," she said.	Play She said Dan was living in San Francisco.
Play He said, "I'm making dinner."	Play He told me that he was making dinner.
Play "Why are you working so hard?" they asked.	Play They asked me why I was working so hard.
Past Simple	Past Perfect Simple
Play "We went to the movies last night," he said.	Play He told me they had gone to the movies the night before.
Play "Greg said, "I didn't go to work yesterday."	Play Greg said that he hadn't gone to work the day before.
Play "Did you buy a new car?" she asked.	Play She asked me if I had bought a new car.
Past Continuous	Past Perfect Continuous
Play "I was working late last night," Vicki said.	Play Vicki told me she'd been working late the night before.
Play They said, "we weren't waiting long."	Play They said that they hadn't been waitinglong.
Play " He asked, "were you sleeping when I called?"	Play He asked if I'd been sleeping when he called.
Present Perfect Simple	Past Perfect Simple
Play "Heather said, "I've already eaten."	Play Heather told me that she'd already eaten.
Play "We haven't been to China," they said.	Play They said they hadn't been to China.
Play "Have you worked here before?" I asked.	Play I asked her whether she'd worked therebefore.
Present Perfect Continuous	Past Perfect Continuous
Play  "I've been studying English for two years,"he said.	Play He said he'd been studying English for two years.
Play " Steve said, "we've been dating for over a year now."	Play Steve told me that they'd been dating for over a year.
Play "Have you been waiting long?" they asked.	Play They asked whether I'd been waiting long.
Past Perfect Simple	Past Perfect Simple (*NO CHANGE)
Play "I'd been to Chicago before for work," he said.	Play He said that he'd been to Chicago before for work.
Past Perfect Continuous	Past Perfect Continuous (*NO CHANGE)
Play She said, "I'd been dancing for years before the accident."	Play She said she'd been dancing for years before the accident.

Nota: Cuando hablamos de algo que no ha cambiado (que sigue siendo cierto) o de algo en el futuro, no es necesario cambiar el tiempo verbal.

• Ejemplos:
• Play
  "I'm 30 years old," she said. → She said she is 30 years old.
• Play
  Dave said, "Kelly is sick." → Dave said Kelly is sick.
• Play
  "We are going to Tokyo next week," they said. → They said they are going to Tokyo next week.
• Play
  "I'll cut my hair tomorrow," Nina said. → Nina said she is cutting her hair tomorrow.

Modal Verbs (Los verbos modales)

El tiempo verbal cambia en el estilo indirecto también con algunos de los verbos modales.

Nota: Con "would", "could", "should", "might" y "ought to", el tiempo no cambia.

Direct Speech	Indirect Speech
Will	Would
Play  "I'll go to the movies tomorrow," John said.	Play John said he would go to the moviesthe next day.
Play  "Will you help me move?" she asked.	Play She asked me if I would help her move.
Can	Could
Play  Debra said, "Allen can work tomorrow."	Play Debra said Allen could work the next day.
Play  "Can you open the window, please?", he asked.	Play He asked me if I could open the window.
Must	Had to
Play  "You must wear your seatbelt," mom said.	Play My mom said I had to wear my seatbelt.
Play  She said, "You must work tomorrow."	Play She said I had to work the next day.
Shall	Should
Play  "Shall we go to the beach today?" Tom asked.	Play Tom asked if we should go to the beach that day.
Play  "What shall we do tonight?" she asked.	Play She asked me what we should dothat night.
May	Might/Could
Play  Jane said, "I may not be in class tomorrow."	Play Jane said she might not be in classthe next day.
Play  the boy asked. "May I use the bathroom, please?" the boy asked.	Play The boy asked if he could use the bathroom.

Nota: A continuación tienes una tabla donde puedes observar los cambios que sufren las expresiones de tiempo cuando usamos el estilo indirecto.

Direct Speech	Indirect Speech
today	that day
tonight	that night
this week/month/year	that week/month/year
tomorrow	the next day
next week/month/year	the following week/month/year
yesterday	the day before/the previous day
last week/month/year	the day/month/year before o the previous day/month/year
now	then/at that moment
Otros cambios
here	there

Requests and commands are formed using the "to-infinitive" in statements and "not + to-infinitive" in negative statements. If we report somebody's commands, we use the verb told. If it's a request, the word used in the main clause is usually asked.

• He asked me to close the window.

Commands

• Go to bed!
• He told me to go to bed.

• Don't go to bed!
• He told me not to go to bed.

Requests

• Could you buy some eggs?
• She asked me to buy some eggs

• Don't buy any eggs please.
• She asked me not to buy any eggs.

FOLLOW THE LINKS TO PRACTISE:

Statements

Questions

More questions

Commands

Mixed