Marketing

Reported speech

Direct speech is the exact words someone said. We use quotations marks (“ “) in direct speech.
‘I want to help’, Mary said.

Reported speech is the exact meaning of what someone said, but not the exact words. We don’t use quotations marks in reported speech. We can either use the word that after the introductory verb or we can omit it.
Mary said (that) she wanted tohelp.

• When the introductory verb is in the present tense or when the sentence expresses something which is always true (generally truth), there are no changes in the verb tenses in reported speech.
Direct speech: ‘She says ‘I love animals’
Reported speech: She says (that) she loves animals.
Direct speech: ‘Rhinos live in eastern and Southern Africa,’ Said the teacher.Reported speech: The teacher said (that) rhinos live in Eastern and Southern Africa.

Reported statements
When we report statements (i.e. a positive or negative sentence), we use the verbs ‘say’ or ‘tell’ to introduce the statement. Pronouns (I, you, he, she, etc, mine, yours, etc) and possessive adjectives (my, your, his, etc) change according o the meaning.
Direct speech: Ed said,‘I live in Belfast’
Reported speech: Ed said (that) he lived in Belfast.

• When the introductory verb is in the past tense, the verb tenses change as follows:

| Direct speech | Reported speech |
| ||
|Present simple |Past simple |
|‘I want to go out’, He said |He said (that) he wanted to go out |
|| |
|Present continuous |Past continuous |
|‘She is playing in the garden’, he said. |He said (that) she was playing in the garden,|
| | |
|Present perfect |Past perfect |
|‘They have bought a new house’, he said. |Hesaid (that) they had bought a new house. |
| | |
|Past simple |Past perfect |
|‘He sent me flowers’, shesaid. |She said (that) he had sent her flowers. |
| | |
|Future simple |Conditionals (would)|
|‘I’ll order a new fridge’, he said. |He said (that) he would order a new fridge. |

Certain words and time expressions change as follows:

| Direct speech | Reported speech |
|...