Reported Speech

English Grammar in Use
Grammar Reference
Raymond Murphy Contents
Present perfect (I have done) 2 Present perfect (I have done) and past simple (I did) 2 I will and I’m going to 3 Past continuous (I was doing) 4 Past continuous (I was doing) and past simple (I did) 4 Past perfect (I had done) 5 Reported speech (He said that …) 6 If I do, If I did and If I had done 7 Must and can’t 8 May andmight 8 Passive (is done / was done) 9 Passive verbs with two objects 9 Verb + -ing / to 10 Preposition (in/for/about etc.) + -ing 10 Spelling rules 11 List of irregular verbs 12

For further practice: English Grammar in Use Supplementary Exercises Louise Hashemi with Raymond Murphy

Cambridge University Press © 2004 Not for sale separately

Present perfect (I have done)
Tom is looking forhis key. He can’t find it. He has lost his key. He has lost his key = He lost it recently, and he still doesn’t have it. Have/has lost is the present perfect simple: I/we/they/you have (= I’ve etc.) he/she/it has (= he’s etc.) finished lost done been etc.

The present perfect simple is have/has + past participle. The past participle often ends in -ed (finished/decided etc.), but many importantverbs are irregular (lost/done/written etc.). For a list of irregular verbs, see page 12.

Present perfect (I have done) and past simple (I did)
Now Tom has found his key. He has it now. Has he lost his key? Did he lose his key? No, he has found it. Yes, he did.

He lost his key (past simple) but now he has found it. (present perfect)

The present perfect (something has happened) is a presenttense. It always tells us about the situation now. ‘Tom has lost his key’ = he doesn’t have his key now (see Unit 7). The past simple (something happened) tells us only about the past. If somebody says ‘Tom lost his key’, this doesn’t tell us whether he has the key now or not. It tells us only that he lost his key at some time in the past. Do not use the present perfect if the situation now isdifferent. Compare: They’ve gone away. They’ll be back on Friday. (they are away now) They went away, but I think they’re back at home now. (not They’ve gone)

2

I will and I’m going to
Sue is talking to Helen:
Let’s have a party. That’s a great idea. We’ll invite lots of people.

will (’ll): We use will when we decide to do something at the time of speaking. The speaker has not decidedbefore. The party is a new idea. decision now I’ll …

SUE

HELEN

past

now

future

Later that day, Helen meets Dave:
Sue and I have decided to have a party. We’re going to invite lots of people.

(be) going to: We use (be) going to when we have already decided to do something. Helen had already decided to invite lots of people before she spoke to Dave. decision before I’m going to …HELEN

DAVE

past

now

future

Compare: ‘Gary phoned while you were out.’ ‘OK. I’ll call him back.’ ‘Gary phoned while you were out.’ ‘Yes, I know. I’m going to call him back.’ ‘Ann is in hospital.’ ‘Oh really? I didn’t know. I’ll go and visit her.’ ‘Ann is in hospital.’ ‘Yes, I know. I’m going to visit her this evening.’ When we say that ‘something is going to happen’, the situationnow makes this clear. The man is walking towards the wall now, so we can see that he is going to walk into it.

going to

situation now

future happening

3

Past continuous (I was doing)
Yesterday Karen and Jim played tennis. They began at 10 o’clock and finished at 11.30. So, at 10.30 they were playing tennis. They were playing = they were in the middle of playing. They had notfinished playing. Was/were -ing is the past continuous: I/he/she/it was we/you/they were playing doing working etc.

I was doing something = I was in the middle of doing something at a certain time. The action or situation had already started before this time, but had not finished: I started doing past This time last year I was living in Brazil. What were you doing at 10 o’clock last night? I...