English Grammar - Reported speech / Indirect speech

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reported speech

word order

Direct speech
"I play football"
"I am playing football"
"I have played football"
"I played football"
"I was playing football"
"I had played football"
"I had been playing football"
"I will play football"
"I can play football"

Reported speech
He said (that) he played football
He said (that) he was playing football
He said (that) he had played football
He said (that) he had played football
He said (that) he had been playing football
He said (that) he had played football
He said (that) he had been playing football
He said (that) he would play football
He said (that) he could play football

In reported speech, we usually report what was said at a different time, and so we change the tense to reflect the time which we are reporting:
DIRECT SPEECH: "I'm not playing football."
REPORTED LATER: He said that he wasn't playing football.

Sometimes we need to change the pronoun.
DIRECT SPEECH: Jim: "I don't like living here." (Jim is referring to himself)
REPORTED SPEECH: Jim said (that) he didn't like living here. (the pronoun he refers to Jim)

We may also need to change other words about place and time.
DIRECT SPEECH: "I like this car."
REPORTED SPEECH: He said (that) he liked the car.

DIRECT SPEECH: "I went to Tokyo last week."
REPORTED SPEECH: She said (that) she'd been to Tokyo the week before.

functions & examples

We use reported speech to tell someone what another person said.

Jim says to you...
"I don't feel well."
"I can't drive."
"My parents have gone on holiday."
"I'm going out now so you will have to wait until I get back."

You tell your friend what Jim said...
Jim said (that) he didn't feel well.
He said (that) he couldn't drive.
He said (that) his parents had gone on holiday.
He said (that) he was going out now so I would have to wait until he got back.

important points

If we report something which is still true, it is not necessary to change the verb.
DIRECT SPEECH: "My car is bigger than yours."
REPORTED SPEECH: He said his car is / was bugger than mine.

When we are reporting past tenses, and we see the events from the same viewpoint as the original speaker, it is not necessary to change the tense.
DIRECT SPEECH: "The earthquake happened at half past seven."
REPORTED SPEECH: The radio said that the earthquake happened at half past seven.

Modal verbs could, might, would, should, ought, had better usually do not change in reported speech.
DIRECT SPEECH: "I should go to the dentist."
REPORTED SPEECH: He said that he should go to the dentist.

See also Reported questions | Say and tell

teaching reported speech

"I give the students comic strips from the funny pages, and they have to summarize the direct speech. There are always lots of questions, and that makes especially good practice."
Debbie

"I ask students to tell three secrets to a partner. Then this partner goes and tells these secrets to other people in the class (gossip). In this way, students practice reporting but in a fun way."
Gabi

"I ask students to think of a fun sentence, they're all in a line and the one at the end whispers his/her sentence to the one beside them, this student reports the sentence to the following student, and so on. The last student says the sentence aloud and we see if they did it correctly... it is like the "telefono descompuesto" in Spanish."
Andy

"Job evaluation for an underachiever:

Boss: In our interview, you said that you could speak Japanese well, but our clients have expressed frustration communicating with you.

You also said that you were proficient with xyz software, but you haven't yet been able to complete a program...etc."
Mark

"I put students in groups of three. Two in the group are a couple quarreling, but who will not speak to each other. The middle man/woman receives information from one and uses reported speech to relay the message(s)."
Stacy

"I showed some slides about a fire at a petrol station and the group had to make up a conversation between two witnesses to the fire. We then wrote it as a newspaper report."
Denise

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