Reported Speech: A few points must be kept in mind when converting direct speech to indirect (reported) speech. For example, there might be changes in person, tense, pronouns, time indicators, modals, demonstratives etc.
(a) PERSON: Change first person pronouns (I/we/us/my/our etc.) to third person pronouns (he/she/it/they/them/their etc).
Direct speech: The boy said: “I want a toy”
Reported speech: The boy said that he wanted a toy.
Note: No changes are required if you are reporting your own speech (”I said that I wanted a toy”).
(b) TENSE:
— If the reporting verb is in the past tense (”said”, “asked”, “told” etc.)
The reported statement is also changed to past tense
Direct : “I need some help.”
Reported A: He said that he needed some help.
— If the reporting verb is in the simple present, present perfect, or future tense (”says”, “asks”, “tells”; “has said” ,”has asked”, “has told”; “will say”, “will ask”, “will tell” etc.)
The tense of the reported statement remains unchanged
Reported B: He says that he needs some help.
Reported C: He has said that he needs some help.
Reported D: He will say that he needs some help.
(c) DEMONSTRATIVES: this/these/here become that/those/there.
(d) MODALS: can becomes could, and will becomes would.
He said, “can you do this?” -> He asked me if I could do that.
(e) TIME INDICATORS: now, yesterday, tomorrow, last (year/month/week) becomes then, the previous day, the next day, and the previous (year/month/week) respectively.
He said, “I will go tomorrow.” - > He said that he would go the next day.
Important note: Sometimes, a statement is reported immediately after it is made, and so the same time indicator remains valid even at the time of reporting. In such cases, there is no need to change the time indicator. For example,
Aug 01, morning: Direct: “I will go tomorrow”
Aug 01, evening: Reported: He said that he would go tomorrow.
After Aug 02: Reported: He said that he would go the next day.
Examples:
Direct speech: He said, “Can you do this tomorrow?”
Reported speech: He asked me if I could do that the next day.
Category: Grammar glossary
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