Rule: Reported speech

Reported Speech

It is used to report other people's words. Reported Speech can be direct and indirect.

Direct Speech:

"I don't think I have ever been here before. I didn't visit this place last year," said Laura.

Indirect Speech:

Laura said that she didn't think she had ever been there before. She hadn't visited that place the previous year.

When reporting somebody's words in indirect speech, we need to change:

• tenses;
• pronouns;
• time;
• place.

Tense and modal verbs changes

Direct Speech	Indirect Speech
Present Simple	Past Simple
Present Continuous	Past Continuous
Present Perfect	Past Perfect
Present Perfect Continuous	Past Perfect Continuous
am/is/are going to	was/were going to
will	would
Past Simple	Past Perfect
Past Continuous	Past Perfect Continuous
can	could
may	might
must/have to	had to

The tense is not changed:

Direct Speech	Indirect Speech
Past Perfect	Past Perfect
Past Perfect Continuous	Past Perfect Continuous

Determiner changes

Direct Speech	Indirect Speech
this	that
these	those

Time and place changes

Direct Speech	Indirect Speech
now	then
yesterday	the day before
last week	the week before
ago	before
next week	the following week
tomorrow	the following day
tonight	that night
here	there

Rule: Reported questions ## Reported questions

They are used for reporting other people's questions.

Direct Speech:

"What is your mother tongue, Peter?" asked Jane.

Indirect Speech:

Jane asked Peter what his mother tongue was.

When reporting somebody's questions in indirect speech (in the past), we need to change:

• tenses;
• pronouns;
• time;
• place.

Tense and modal verbs changes:

Direct Speech	Indirect Speech
Present Simple	Past Simple
Present Continuous	Past Continuous
Present Perfect	Past Perfect
Present Perfect Continuous	Past Perfect Continuous
am/is/are going to	was/were going to
will	would
Past Simple	Past Perfect
Past Continuous	Past Perfect Continuous
can	could
may	might
must/have to	had to

The tense is not changed:

Direct Speech	Indirect Speech
Past Perfect	Past Perfect
Past Perfect Continuous	Past Perfect Continuous

Determiner changes:

Direct Speech	Indirect Speech
this	that
these	those

Time and place changes:

Direct Speech	Indirect Speech
now	then
yesterday	the day before
last week	the week before
ago	before
next week	the following week
tomorrow	the following day
tonight	that night
here	there

Word order:

In general questions (yes/no questions) we use if and a direct word order(a subject and a verb).

Direct Speech:

"Do you know anything about language barriers?" asked James.

Indirect Speech:

James asked if I knew anything about language barriers.

In special questions we use a question word and a direct word order(a subject and a verb).

Direct Speech:

"Where is your sister, Rick?" asked Kelly.

Indirect Speech:

Kelly asked Rick where his sister was.
Rule: Reporting verbs

Reporting verbs

verb + that

to claim	Jane claimed that it wasn't easy to create a bond between them.
to say	Kyle said that he was right.
to state	Tom stated that he had already done that.
to deny	Jessica denied that she had been in that place the day before.
to suggest	Jane suggested that they (should) leave right now.

verb + verb with the ending -ing

to suggest	Rick suggested going there together.
to deny	Linda denied hearing any strange noise.

verb + a person + full infinitive (to go)

to ask	Jane asked Sarah to tell her the truth about the accident.
to tell	Bill told Diana to close the window.
to order	Ingrid ordered her to come back immediately.
to command	Gary commanded them to speak louder.

Rule: Compound nouns ## Compound nouns

Compound nouns consist of more than 1 word.

They are formed with the help of different parts of speech.

Possible patterns:

• noun+noun:body language, x-ray, bathroom.
• adjective+noun:personal space, greenhouse, small talk.
• verb+noun:runway, showroom, drive inn.

There are three ways how we write compounds:

• as one word:headphones, babysitter, website.
• with a hyphen:well-being, self-control, e-mail.
• as two words:eye contact, credit card, alarm clock.

A good learner's dictionary will tell you how to write this or that compound noun.

The plural form of countable compound nouns is made by adding -s to the last component of the noun: greenhouses, credit cards, e-mails.

We usually stress the first component of the noun: WEBsite, ALARM clock, X-ray.

However, some compound nouns have the stress on the last component: well-BEING, self-CONTROL, Prime MINister.

1. Choose the correct options

2. Tom said that the parcel [delivered|will be delivered|would be delivered] by their service
   [tomorrow|the following day|the day tomorrow].

3. Harry said that he [had arrived|was arrived|arrives] at the station at 7 o'clock sharp
   [yesterday|last day|the day before].

4. The teacher [asked|commanded|stated] that the students [had made|have made|make] great progress recently.

5. Sarah claimed she [has done|had done|did] all her tasks by the end of the working day
   [last week|the previous week|next week].

6. Steven asked us [what we were doing|what were we doing|what are we doing] so late
   [there|these|here].

7. Mr Thompson asked us [would we be|if we will be|if we would be] busy
   [the following week|next week|the last week].

8. James [asked|suggested|commanded] what language
   [was I learning|am I learning|I was learning] with a tutor [now|than|then].

9. Roger asked us [had we met|did we meet|if we had met] 5 years
   [ago|before|later] for the first time.

10. Mr Green [denied|said|commanded] them to run faster.

11. Kyle [ordered|suggested|claimed] visiting their friend all together.

12. Complete the gaps with the words given. Make changes in spelling or/and number where necessary

house* being

• phone
• language
• wife
• contact
• control
• card

1. These plants can only be grown in a [ ] due to their growing conditions.
2. Mrs Smith was a
   [ ] who was bringing up three children.
3. Linda says that bad news can seriously affect her emotional
   [ ].
4. Mr. Brown prefers to pay in cash, not by
   [ ].
5. They always use wireless
   [ ] when listening to music.
6. One needs to learn
   [ ] gestures in order to understand it.
7. Kate says it always takes almost all her
   [ ] not to lose her temper when she talks to Mr Green.
8. Jessica is so shy that it is not always easy to make
   [ ] with her.