Reported Speech - Part 1

I. Tense shifting in Reported Speech - Reported Speech with statements:

In most cases, we need to shift the tense when converting Direct Speech into Reported Speech.

Below are the most common ways of shifting tenses:

Present Simple >> Past Simple
Present Continuous >> Past Continuous
Present Perfect >> Past Perfect
Past Simple >> Past Perfect
Past Continuous >> Past Perfect Continuous
Past Perfect >> Past Perfect
Will >> Would
Can >> Could
Shall >> Would/Should
Must >> Had to
Mustn’t >> Didn't have to
May >> Might
Now >> Then
Today >> That day
Tonight >> That day
Tomorrow >> The following day, The day after, The next day
Yesterday >> The previous day, The day before
In two days >> Two days later
The day before yesterday >> Two days earlier
Last night >> The previous night, The night before
This week >> That week
Last month >> The previous month
Next year >> The following year
Ago >> Before, Earlier
In 2 hours >> 2 hours later
This/These >> That/Those

Example: “I can arrange to meet her tomorrow” – My boss said.

My boss said (that) he could arrange to meet her the next day.

“We are going to Spain next week.” – She said.

She said (that) they were going to Spain the following week.

NOTE: We don’t have to change the tense when:

+ The reporting verb is in the present:

Example: “We are going to Italy.” – Mary says.

Mary says (that) they are going to italy.

+ We are reporting a fact:

Example: “Water boils at degrees Celsius.” – Said the teacher.

The teacher said (that) water boils at 100 degrees Celsius.

+ There is a time clause in the past: when, before, after, by the time, while, …:

Example: “I saw Jeff when I was in New York.” – The man reported.

The man reported (that) he had seen Jeff when he was in New York.

+ The direct speech uses would, should, could, might, ought to, had better, would rather, used to, would like, ...

Example: “I believed her but nothing could be done.” – He said.

He said (that) he had believed her but nothing could be done.

+ We report Conditional type 2, 3 or mixed, Wish, If only, As if, As though:

Example: “If I travel to Singapore next month, I will buy you some clothes.” – She said.

She said (that) if she travelled to Singapore the following month, she would buy me

some clothes.

“If we were a bit earlier, we would catch up with him.” – they said.

They said (that) if they were a bit earlier, they would catch up with him.

II. Reported speech with questions:

+ Wh- questions:

To report a Wh- question, we change the verb phrase from question form back to a normal statement, then shift tenses as normal.

Example: “What do you want for Christmas?” – She asked me.

She asked me what I wanted for Christmas.

+ Yes/No questions:

To report a Yes/No question, we do the same as Wh- questions, but add if or whether before the (S + V).

Example: “Would you like to stay for some tea?” – Mary asked.

Mary asked if/whether I would like to stay for some tea.

If there are two or more options in the question, we have to use whether.

Example: “Do you want me to wash the dishes or clean the table?” – The servant asked

Mrs.Houston.

The servant asked Mrs.Houston whether she wanted him to wash the dishes or clean the table.

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Related posts:

Reported Speech - Part 2