Discurso Citado e Indirecto

A menudo tenemos que dar información sobre lo que la gente diga o piense. Para hacer esto usted puede utilizar el discurso directo o citado, o el estilo indirecto o reportado.

El discurso directo/ discurso citado

Decir exactamente lo que alguien ha dicho que se llama el discurso directo (a veces llamado discurso citado)

Aquí lo que dice una persona aparece dentro de las comillas ("...")y debe ser palabra por palabra.
For example:
She said, "Today's lesson is on presentations."
or
"Today's lesson is on presentations," she said.
Discurso indirecto / discurso Reportado

Elestilo indirecto, no utiliza comillas para delimitar lo que dijo la persona y no tiene por qué ser palabra por palabra.

Al informar sobre el discurso del tiempo suele cambiar. Esto es porque cuando seutiliza el estilo indirecto, por lo general estamos hablando de una época en el pasado (porque, obviamente, la persona que hablaba originalmente habló en el pasado). Los verbos por lo tanto, por logeneral tiene que ser en el pasado también.
For example:
Direct speech | Indirect speech |
"I'm going to the cinema", he said. | He said he was going to the cinema. |
Tense change
As a rulewhen you report something someone has said you go back a tense: (the tense on the left changes to the tense on the right):
Direct speech |   | Indirect speech |
Present simple
She said, "It'scold." | › | Past simple
She said it was cold. |
Present continuous
She said, "I'm teaching English online." | › | Past continuous
She said she was teaching English online. |
Presentperfect simple
She said, "I've been on the web since 1999." | › | Past perfect simple
She said she had been on the web since 1999. |
Present perfect continuous
She said, "I've been teachingEnglish for seven years." | › | Past perfect continuous
She said she had been teaching English for seven years. |
Past simple
She said, "I taught online yesterday." | › | Past perfect
She said...