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Unit 2: Reported speech in 90 seconds! Move the tense back

Select a unit

• 1 Go beyond intermediate with our new video course
• 2 Reported speech in 90 seconds!
• 3 If or whether?
• 4 5 ways to use 'would'
• 5 Let and allow
• 6 Passive voice
• 8 Mixed conditionals
• 9 The zero article - in 90 seconds
• 10 The indefinite article - in 90 seconds
• 11 The. That's right - the! Learn all about it in 90 seconds
• 12 The continuous passive
• 13 Future perfect
• 14 Need + verb-ing
• 15 Have something done
• 17 Word stress
• 18 Different ways of saying 'if'
• 19 Passive reporting structures
• 20 The subjunctive
• 21 When and if
• 22 Inversion
• 23 Phrasal verbs
• 24 The future
• 25 Modals in the past
• 26 Narrative tenses
• 27 Phrasal verb myths
• 28 Conditionals review
• 29 Used to - review
• 30 Linking words of contrast
• Vocabulary reference
• Grammar reference

Grammar Reference

Reported speech, meaning and use.

If someone says something that you want to tell another person, you can report it using  direct speech  or reported speech .

In direct speech we use speech (or quotation) marks to show the exact words the person said.

" I’m hungry. "

" I love chicken sandwiches. "

We can also use a reporting verb to show who was speaking.

He  says:  "I’m hungry."

She  tells  me: "I love chicken sandwiches."

Say  and  tell  are both reporting verbs. We use  tell  when we say who we are speaking to.

CORRECT:   She  tells me  she loves chicken sandwiches.  (The speaker is talking to ‘me’.)

CORRECT:   She  says  she loves chicken sandwiches.  (We don’t know who the speaker is talking to.)

WRONG:   She  says me  she loves chicken sandwiches.  (We don’t use ‘me’ with the reporting verb ‘say’.)

CORRECT:   She said TO me she loves chicken.

If the reporting verb is in the present tense, then the reported statement stays in the present tense:

Direct speech

" He ’s  hungry " , he  says .

She  tells  me, "I  love  chicken sandwiches."

Reported speech

He  says  he  is  hungry.

She  tells  me she  loves  chicken sandwiches.

If the reporting verb is in the past tense, we usually change the present form to a past form in reported speech.

" He ’s  hungry " , he  said .

She  told  me, "I  love  chicken sandwiches."

He  said  he  was  hungry.

She  told  me she  loved  chicken sandwiches.

We change the pronoun when the speaker or listener changes.

A boy tells his mother:  "I ’m  hungry. ”

Later, the boy’s mother tells the father:  He said  he  was hungry.

We can use  that,  but we can also miss it out and the meaning is the same.

He said  that  he was hungry. > He said he was hungry.

She told me  that  she loved chicken sandwiches. > She told me she loved chicken sandwiches.

In reported speech, we usually move the direct speech verb one step back in the past.

1)   Present simple -> past simple

"I  know  you." -> She said she  knew  him.

2)   Present continuous -> past continuous

"I  am having  coffee" -> He said he  was having  coffee.

3)   Present perfect -> past perfect

"I  have finished  my homework" -> He said he  had finished  his homework.

4)   Present perfect continuous -> past perfect continuous

"I  have been studying  Chinese" -> She said she  had been studying  Chinese.

5)   Is going to - > was going to

"I  am going to  go home" -> She said she  was going to  go home.

6)   Future simple - > would

"I  will go  to the bank later" -> He said he  would go  to the bank later.

1) A reported statement in the  past simple  often stays the same:

"I  drove  to work" -> She said she  drove  to work.

2) And you can't go further back in time than the  past perfect , so it stays the same too:

"I  had driven  to work" -> She said she  had driven  to work.

3)  Modal verbs : some change in reported speech:

“I  can/can't  speak Turkish” -> She said she  could/couldn't  speak Turkish.

“I  must/mustn't  wash my hair” -> She said she  had to/didn't have to  wash her hair.

4) Some modal verbs don't change:

“I  could  take the bus” -> He said he  could  take the bus.

“I  should  go to bed” -> She said she  should  go to bed.

“I  might  watch TV”   -> He said he  might  watch TV.

5) We don’t change the verb in reported speech if the situation hasn’t changed, for example if it’s a fact or is generally true:

"I  love  you" -> She told me she  loves  me.

6) But we can use the past tense to show you're not certain the other person loves her/him – for example, the other person wasn’t telling the truth

"I love you" -> She said she  loved  me.

A  direct question  is:

Where are you from?

A  reported question  is:

He asked where I was from.

To form a reported question, you need to follow these steps:

1) Use a reporting verb:

He  asked  where I was from.

2) Repeat the question word:

He asked  where  I was from.

3) Change the pronouns:

He asked where  I  was from.

4) Move the tense back:

He asked where I  was  from.

5) Use statement word order:

He asked where  I was from .

Note: Yes/no questions

For  yes/no questions , we use  if  or  whether .

Example: Is it two o'clock?

• She asked if it was two o'clock
• She asked whether it was two o'clock

Form summary

"I  love  you." > He said he  loved  her.

"I ’ve been working  hard." > She told me that she ’d been working  hard.

"I’ ll see  you later." > He said he  would see  me later.

"I  didn’t have  time to go shopping." > He said he  hadn’t had  time to go shopping. “I  can’t talk  to you." > She told me that she  couldn’t talk  to me.

"I  wouldn’t want  to live in the country." > He said he  wouldn’t want  to live in the country.

"Where  can  I buy a hamburger?" > She asked  where  she  could  buy a hamburger.

"Who  must  I see at the bank?" > He asked  who  he  had to  see at the bank.

" Are  you  going  to Leila’s party?" > She asked  if  I  was going  to Leila’s party.

Short answers

“Yes, I am. / No, I’m not.”>  I said I was. / I said I wasn’t.

Take note: facts and general truths  We don’t change the verb in reported speech if the situation hasn’t changed, for example if it’s a fact or is generally true. Compare:

She  told  me she  loves  me.  (The speaker uses the present tense to show (s)he believes the other person still loves her/him now.)

She  told  me she  loved  me.  (The speaker uses the past tense to show (s)he isn’t certain the other person loves her/him – for example, the other person wasn’t telling the truth.)

Take note: the past perfect

The past perfect doesn’t change in reported speech because there isn’t a verb form further 'back in time'.

"I  had never eaten  sushi before I went to Japan." > 'She told me that she  had never eaten sushi  before she went to Japan.

Take note: reporting verbs

We can use different verbs to report our thoughts, opinions or intentions.

"I know which way to go." -> He  thought  he knew which way to go.

"I stole the books." -> He  admitted  that he had stolen the books.

"Why doesn’t she like me?" -> He  wondered  why she didn’t like him.

Spoken English

Some contracted forms in reported speech can be difficult to hear, for example the past perfect and conditional. He asked who ’d eaten  the cake. I told him he ’d have  to take the train.  In the first example, the words ‘who’and ‘had’ become  who’d . In the second example, ‘he’and ‘would’ become  he’d . In both examples, two different words are shortened to just a  /d/  sound. So, listen carefully for past tense contractions – make sure you get them right.

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British Council Teaching English Africa

Reported speech – say and tell.

Author: British Council | Published on 1 November 2022

Stage 1: Present examples

Write these sentences on the board with the words underlined as shown. Ask. “What do you notice about the underlined words in the sentences?”

a) She said they would be late.

b) She told me they would be late.

c) She said to me she was cold.

d) She told me she was cold.

e) “I’m cold,” she said.

To help learners, ask:

•  “What’s the difference between sentence a & b?
•  “What’s the difference between sentence c & d?

Stage 2: Take feedback

Ask learners to share their feedback on what they noticed in the examples. Some key points you might want to share with them include:

• With ‘said’ we don’t need to say who is being spoken to, but with tell we do. (Sentences a & b)
• If you want to say who is being spoken to with ‘said’ you need ‘to’ (Sentence c) 
• We usually use ‘said’ not ‘told’ to introduce direct speech .

Stage 3: Use the grammar

A. say or tell.

Write up some sentences with a choice between ‘say’ and ‘tell’ and say: Choose the correct word to complete each sentence. 

• They said / told us they were coming soon.
• Abdoulaye said / told he loves Ethiopian food.
• What did she say / tell ?
• What did she say / tell you?
• “I’ll be there by 3 o’clock.” he said / told .

b. Matching

Write up some half sentences on the board and say: “Match the correct ending to the correct sentence start.”

1. He saida) me he was sorry.

2. He told b) he was sorry.

3. She saida) to me that she had finished her homework.

4. She toldb) me that she had finished her homework.

5. She saida) him she was tired.

6. She toldb) “I’m tired.”

7. He saida) her he liked her.

8. He toldb) to her that he liked her.

c. An interview

Choose a learner to come and sit at the front of the class. Say: Ask <learner’s name> some questions about their hobby. The other learners interview the learner sitting at the front for a few minutes.

Put the learners in groups and say: “Now try and remember what <learner’s name> said and write up a short report about the interview.”

In large classes, you can do this in groups rather than as a whole class activity.

Direct speech : a sentence in which the exact words spoken are reproduced in speech marks

• Reported speech

• Cambridge Dictionary +Plus

Reported speech

Reported speech is how we represent the speech of other people or what we ourselves say. There are two main types of reported speech: direct speech and indirect speech.

Direct speech repeats the exact words the person used, or how we remember their words:

Barbara said, “I didn’t realise it was midnight.”

In indirect speech, the original speaker’s words are changed.

Barbara said she hadn’t realised it was midnight .

In this example, I becomes she and the verb tense reflects the fact that time has passed since the words were spoken: didn’t realise becomes hadn’t realised .

Indirect speech focuses more on the content of what someone said rather than their exact words:

“I’m sorry,” said Mark. (direct)

Mark apologised . (indirect: report of a speech act)

In a similar way, we can report what people wrote or thought:

‘I will love you forever,’ he wrote, and then posted the note through Alice’s door. (direct report of what someone wrote)

He wrote that he would love her forever , and then posted the note through Alice’s door. (indirect report of what someone wrote)

I need a new direction in life , she thought. (direct report of someone’s thoughts)

She thought that she needed a new direction in life . (indirect report of someone’s thoughts)

Reported speech: direct speech

Reported speech: indirect speech

Reported speech: reporting and reported clauses

Speech reports consist of two parts: the reporting clause and the reported clause. The reporting clause includes a verb such as say, tell, ask, reply, shout , usually in the past simple, and the reported clause includes what the original speaker said.

Reported speech: punctuation

Direct speech.

In direct speech we usually put a comma between the reporting clause and the reported clause. The words of the original speaker are enclosed in inverted commas, either single (‘…’) or double (“…”). If the reported clause comes first, we put the comma inside the inverted commas:

“ I couldn’t sleep last night, ” he said.

Rita said, ‘ I don’t need you any more. ’

If the direct speech is a question or exclamation, we use a question mark or exclamation mark, not a comma:

‘Is there a reason for this ? ’ she asked.

“I hate you ! ” he shouted.

We sometimes use a colon (:) between the reporting clause and the reported clause when the reporting clause is first:

The officer replied: ‘It is not possible to see the General. He’s busy.’

Punctuation

Indirect speech

In indirect speech it is more common for the reporting clause to come first. When the reporting clause is first, we don’t put a comma between the reporting clause and the reported clause. When the reporting clause comes after the reported clause, we use a comma to separate the two parts:

She told me they had left her without any money.

Not: She told me, they had left her without any money .

Nobody had gone in or out during the previous hour, he informed us.

We don’t use question marks or exclamation marks in indirect reports of questions and exclamations:

He asked me why I was so upset.

Not: He asked me why I was so upset?

Reported speech: reporting verbs

Say and tell.

We can use say and tell to report statements in direct speech, but say is more common. We don’t always mention the person being spoken to with say , but if we do mention them, we use a prepositional phrase with to ( to me, to Lorna ):

‘I’ll give you a ring tomorrow,’ she said .

‘Try to stay calm,’ she said to us in a low voice.

Not: ‘Try to stay calm,’ she said us in a low voice .

With tell , we always mention the person being spoken to; we use an indirect object (underlined):

‘Enjoy yourselves,’ he told them .

Not: ‘Enjoy yourselves,’ he told .

In indirect speech, say and tell are both common as reporting verbs. We don’t use an indirect object with say , but we always use an indirect object (underlined) with tell :

He said he was moving to New Zealand.

Not: He said me he was moving to New Zealand .

He told me he was moving to New Zealand.

Not: He told he was moving to New Zealand .

We use say , but not tell , to report questions:

‘Are you going now?’ she said .

Not: ‘Are you going now?’ she told me .

We use say , not tell , to report greetings, congratulations and other wishes:

‘Happy birthday!’ she said .

Not: Happy birthday!’ she told me .

Everyone said good luck to me as I went into the interview.

Not: Everyone told me good luck …

Say or tell ?

Other reporting verbs

The reporting verbs in this list are more common in indirect reports, in both speaking and writing:

Simon admitted that he had forgotten to email Andrea.

Louis always maintains that there is royal blood in his family.

The builder pointed out that the roof was in very poor condition.

Most of the verbs in the list are used in direct speech reports in written texts such as novels and newspaper reports. In ordinary conversation, we don’t use them in direct speech. The reporting clause usually comes second, but can sometimes come first:

‘Who is that person?’ she asked .

‘It was my fault,’ he confessed .

‘There is no cause for alarm,’ the Minister insisted .

Verb patterns: verb + that -clause

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• Teaching secondary
• Intermediate B1

The crime scene

This activity practises describing people and events and asking questions.

This is an activity that I've used with students of all levels. It's also good for getting students to really listen to each other and to take notes or just for some fun.

Preparation

• The activity is based around a short video clip of a crime. Any crime scene will do. The video doesn't even have to be in English as you can do it with the sound off.
• You should split the class into two groups and tell one half that they are going to be the police and they are going to interview the witness to a crime. Their task is to work together with the other police and prepare questions that they will ask the witness.
• Tell the other half of the class that they are going to witness a crime. You'll need to have the classroom set up so that only the 'witnesses' can see the screen. If you trust your students enough you could actually send 'the police' out of the class or to another classroom, to work on their questions while the witnesses watch the crime.
• When the crime scene video clip has been played, put the students into pairs so that each of the police officers is with a witness. The police should then interview the witnesses and get as much information as possible about the crime.
• Make sure that the police take notes as they listen. If you have artistic students you could also get them to work together on a picture of the criminal or a diagram of the crime-scene reconstruction.
• To add an element of motivation you could also give a prize to the most accurate notes.

If you have a video that is in English you can play it with the sound on and, for higher levels, even extend the focus to reported speech, e.g.  He told everyone to put their hands up.

Technology-free crime scene

• If you aren't able to play a video clip, you can do a 'low-tech' version of this activity by cutting pictures out of a magazine. Be sure to cut out enough for half the class to each have a picture and have a few extras to spare.
• Put the students into pairs, one police officer and one witness, and have the witness from each pair come to the front of the class.
• Give each one a picture of a person to look at. Tell them that the person in the picture is a criminal. They shouldn't let anyone else see the picture.
• Once they've had a couple of minutes to look at the picture, take all the pictures back and then send the witnesses back to their seats.
• Their partner, the police officer, then has to ask questions and make notes so that they build up some idea of what the person in the picture looks like.
• Once they have their description, put all the pictures on the floor at the front of the class and get the police officers to come to the front of the class and see if they can find the picture that the witness described.
• You should make sure that the witnesses remain silent until all the police officers have 'arrested' the picture of their choice.
• You can then try this again reversing the roles this time. This gives the students a chance to learn from any mistakes they may have made the first time round.

You can make the activity more difficult by selecting pictures of people who look similar, or easier by having a greater range of people.

This activity can also be a very useful lead in to discussions or vocabulary work on crime or description.

An example of a video used?

Great idea folks,

I'm currently working on detective stories with my students and would absolutely love to try what you've proposed... but I cannot seem to find a matching crime scene for my students to play the game. Can you give me an example? Thanks, Dam.

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Video ideas

You can use any crime scene video - there are lots of examples if you do a search on YouTube for example. You just need to be careful that you choose something suitable for your learners. I did a search for "shoplifting" and there were lots of examples. Learners can watch a clip and then try to describe the person they saw. There is also the low-tech version to use, for which you just need images of people from magazines etc.

Hope that helps and that you and your learners enjoy the lesson!

Cath TeachingEnglish team

lesson plan

Lesson plan, variation - add wink murder or murder in the dark to the start, gender bias, police 'officers', variations of the activity.

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Reported speech - 1

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LESSON PLAN FOR ENGLISH TEACHERS

Reported speech.

Level: Intermediate (B1-B2)

Type of English: General English

Tags: reported speech Grammar practice

Publication date: 08/17/2021

This worksheet teaches reported speech . The rules for changing the tense of the verb from direct speech are presented and practised. The worksheet is suitable for both classroom practice and self-study. 

Thank you for this lesson. I recently taught my students reported speech, but very briefly. It's a manner of speech that we actually use quite often, from everyday conversations to business communication. I may teach a full lesson about this topic and use this worksheet as a guideline. Thank you again!

I'd like to thank you for the lesson. It is really useful when you teach reported speech in statements. Tenses do not change in reported speech in my mother tongue, so it's important to see what you report and what changes you make when transform direct speech into reported one, and the presentation appeared practical and helpful. I'd probably add an example with the verb in one of the present tenses in the main sentence in direct speech to see how the verb behaves in the reported statements. That's what I did when we were doing the presentation part. My students especially liked a task about Daniella and Martin. That was something from real life and fun.

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This worksheet teaches  reported speech . The rules for changing the tense of the verb from  direct speech  are presented and practiced. The worksheet is suitable for both classroom practice and self-study.

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Worksheets in English Grammar Reference course plan

Type of English: General English Level: Intermediate (B1-B2)

Type of English: General English Level: Upper-intermediate (B2-C1)

Type of English: General English Level: Intermediate

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