The REPORTED SPEECH is used to express what others have said. It is also useful when you are writing an essay. In this case, it involves paraphrasing and summarizing what different authors have said.
There are certain rules to follow.
First of all, to make sentences in reported speech you need verbs like SAY, TELL or ASK. But there are many other verbs we can use apart from said, told and asked.
These include:
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Now remember when reporting speech, a few changes occur:
FIRST Choose an appropriate reporting verb, depending on the type of discourse.
N.B. The verb is usually conjugated in the Simple Past. She said (that) she came early.
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.
This will change into that.
These will change into those.
Here will change into there.
Now/just will change into then.
Today will change into that day.
Yesterday will change into the previous day or the day before.
Last night will change into the previous night or the night before.
Tomorrow will change into the next day.
Ago will change into before.
The next day/week/year will change into the following day/week/year.
REMEMBER TO change the punctuation, depending on the type of discourse.
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As a rule when you report something someone has said you go back a tense:
(the tense on the left changes to the tense on the right)
So look carefully at the following chart and memorize it: