V4 - Reported Speech

• Engels
• Middelbare school
• havo
• Leerjaar 4

Unit 11: Reported Speech

REPORTED SPEECH (p. 168)

Direct speech: the literal, exact words someone says: 

“I am very angry with you”. (always in hyphens)

Reported speech: when you tell someone (you report) what someone else has said:

George said that he was very angry with you.

What changes?

In order to turn direct speech into reported speech, we need to change some things.

- pronouns (he/she/I/you/we/they)

- verb tense (1 step back in time, as it were)

- time structures

- this/there to that/those

Pronouns

Because we refer to the person speaking, when they use 'I', you cannot use it as well. It must change to 'he'/'she' for example:

Maaike: "I did not read the book"

She said that she had not read the book

Verb tenses

We take a step back on the timeline

to change the verb tense from its 

Direct Speech form to its Reported 

Speech form:

Maaike: "He eats an icecream."

She said that he ate an icecream.

Have a look at the schematic

Time structures

Because we don't know when

something Reported has been said

originally, we need to change the 

time structures as well. Have a look 

at the schematic:

This/these                That/those

Because you are reporting, this/these changes to that/those. This happens because the person reporting is now 'distanced' from the original speaker. So we use that/those.

Maaike: "Have you read this article?"

She asked if I had read that article.

General truths 

When something can be considered a general truth, we do not change the verb tense when using Reported Speech

Teacher: "You add an -s to the verb when the subject is a he."

The teacher said that you add an -s to the verb when the subject is a he.

A grammar rule is an example of a general truth  (=steady rule)

Reporting verbs:

There are different reporting verbs, which can take various forms. Have a look in your Objective Advanced book on page 168 for a complete overview of these verbs and how they are used in Reported Speech. 

The most common ones are: say, ask, suggest & tell. Each reporting verb can be used and conveys a different form of communication/emotion.

Examples

She promised to do that (infinitive)

She warned me not to do that. (object +infinitive + negation)

She warned him about doing that. (object + gerund)

She insisted on doing that. (gerund)

She told him to do that. (object + infinitive)

etc.

--> page 168

Explanation extra

You will now see two videos on the topic of Reported Speech.

There are English and a Dutch versions. After watching these videos, do the grammar exercises that follow.

(answers are on the following slide)

Turn into reported speech

01. John: “She is having a dentist’s appointment tomorrow”. 

02. Mr X: “ You should finish the job this week”. 

03. Emma: “I have never been so embarrassed”. 

04. Tom: “When were we supposed to call our boss?” 

05. Mum: “ My children were at home” 

06. I: “ I cannot do my homework”. 

07. Teacher: “ You must open your books and copy these sentences”. 

08.  Guy: “ I loved going to America”    

Answers

01. John said that she was having a dentist’s appointment the following day. 

02. Mr X said that I/we should have finished/ should finish the job that week. 

03. Emma said that she had never been so embarrassed. 

04. Tom asked when they had been supposed to call their boss. 

05. Mum said that her children had been at home. 

06. I said that I couldn’t do my homework. 

07. The teacher said that we had to open our books and copy those sentences. 

08. Guy said that he had loved going to America.  

Change into reporting speech using the given reporting verb

01. Tom: “Gerry cheats at tests.” (agree)

02. Jerry: “you must replace A by B” (advise)

03.  Joe: “ I do not know anything” (deny) 

04. Mary: “I will help you” (promise) 

05. Christa: “You could work harder” (suggest) 

06.  We: “ stop cheating at tests” (warn) 

07.  The reporter: “Mr Johnston has been arrested for murder” (insist)

08.  Mum: “The rain just won't let up, I want to go outside." (complain)

Answers

01. Tom agreed that Gerry cheated at tests.

02. Jerry advised that I had to replace A by B. 

03. Joe denied knowing anything / Joe denied that he knew anything 

04.  Mary promised to help me / Mary promised (me) that she would help me. 

05. Christa suggested working harder / Christa suggested that we could work harder 

06.  We warned you that you must stop cheating at tests.  / We warned you to stop cheating at tests. 

07.  The reporter insisted that Mr Johnson had been arrested for murder.

08.  Mum complained that the rain just wouldn't let up and she wanted to go outside.

Unit 11: grammar exercises

Now do exercises 1-3 + Corpus Spot on page 72 of your OA workbook. 

Check the answers and ask questions when you have them.