Reported Speech

Direct and Indirect Speech

Direct Speech | Indirect Speech
Tense Change | Time Change | Pronoun Change
Reporting Verbs | Use of 'That'

We often have to give information about what people say or think. In order to do this you can use direct or quoted speech, or indirect or reported speech.

Direct Speech / Quoted Speech

Saying exactly what someone has said is called direct speech (sometimes called quoted speech)

Here what a person says appears within quotation marks ("...") and should be word for word.

For example:

She said, "Today's lesson is on presentations."

or

"Today's lesson is on presentations", she said.

Indirect Speech / Reported Speech

Indirect speech (sometimes called reported speech), doesn't use quotation marks to enclose what the person said and it doesn't have to be word for word.

When reporting speech the tense usually changes. This is because when we use reported speech, we are usually talking about a time in the past (because obviously the person who spoke originally spoke in the past). The verbs therefore usually have to be in the past too.

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 rule when 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's cold."

› 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.
Present perfect 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 teaching English 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 she had taught online yesterday.
Past continuous
She said, "I was teaching earlier." › Past perfect continuous
She said she had been teaching earlier.
Past perfect
She said, "The lesson had already started when he arrived." › Past perfect
NO CHANGE - She said the lesson had already started when he arrived.
Past perfect continuous
She said, "I'd already been teaching for five minutes." › Past perfect continuous
NO CHANGE - She said she'd already been teaching for five minutes.
Modal verb forms also sometimes change:

Direct speech Indirect speech
will
She said, "I'll teach English online tomorrow." › would
She said she would teach English online tomorrow.
can
She said, "I can teach English online."

› could
She said she could teach English online.
must
She said, "I must have a computer to teach English online." › had to
She said she had to have a computer to teach English online.
shall
She said, "What shall we learn today?" › should
She asked what we should learn today.
may
She said, "May I open a new browser?" › might
She asked if she might open a new browser.
!Note - There is no change to; could, would, should, might and ought to.

Direct speech Indirect speech
"I might go to the cinema", he said. He said he might go to the cinema.
You can use the present tense in reported speech if you want to say that something is still true i.e. my name has always been and will always be Lynne so:-

Direct speech Indirect speech
"My name is Lynne", she said.
She said her name was Lynne.

or

She said her name is Lynne.

You can also use the present tense if you are talking about a future event.

Direct speech (exact quote) Indirect speech (not exact)
"Next week's lesson is on reported speech", she said.
She said next week's lesson will be on reported speech.

Time change

If the reported sentence contains an expression of time, you must change it to fit in with the time of reporting.

For example we need to change words like here and yesterday if they have different meanings at the time and place of reporting.

Now + 24 hours - Indirect speech
"Today's lesson is on presentations."
She said yesterday's lesson was on presentations.

or

She said yesterday's lesson would be on presentations.

Expressions of time if reported on a different day
this (evening) › that (evening)
today › yesterday ...
these (days) › those (days)
now › then
(a week) ago › (a week) before
last weekend › the weekend before last / the previous weekend
here › there
next (week) › the following (week)
tomorrow › the next/following day
In addition if you report something that someone said in a different place to where you heard it you must change the place (here) to the place (there).

For example:-

At work At home
"How long have you worked here?" She asked me how long I'd worked there.
Pronoun change

In reported speech, the pronoun often changes.

For example:

Me You
"I teach English online."

Direct Speech

She said, "I teach English online."

"I teach English online", she said.

Reported Speech

She said she teaches English online.

or

She said she taught English online.

Reporting Verbs

Said, told and asked are the most common verbs used in indirect speech.

We use asked to report questions:-

For example: I asked Lynne what time the lesson started.

We use told with an object.

For example: Lynne told me she felt tired.

!Note - Here me is the object.

We usually use said without an object.

For example: Lynne said she was going to teach online.

If said is used with an object we must include to ;

For example: Lynne said to me that she'd never been to China.

!Note - We usually use told.

For example: Lynne told me (that) she'd never been to China.

There are many other verbs we can use apart from said, told and asked.

These include:-

accused, admitted, advised, alleged, agreed, apologised, begged, boasted, complained, denied, explained, implied, invited, offered, ordered, promised, replied, suggested and thought.
Using them properly can make what you say much more interesting and informative.

For example:

He asked me to come to the party:-

He invited me to the party.
He begged me to come to the party.
He ordered me to come to the party.
He advised me to come to the party.
He suggested I should come to the party.
Use of 'That' in reported speech

In reported speech, the word that is often used.

For example: He told me that he lived in Greenwich.

However, that is optional.

For example: He told me he lived in Greenwich.

!Note - That is never used in questions, instead we often use if.

For example: He asked me if I would come to the party.

The sneaky comma

I'm British, so I only tend to place the comma inside quotation marks when it's part of the sentence being quoted.

"I didn't notice that the comma was inside the quotation marks," Lynne said, "but Hekner did."

That said, I read so much American literature, that even I tuck them away sometimes.

Really, no one has set in stone what the rules of the English language are. It's a diverse language, and the rules that exist have arisen through usage, and they can change in exactly the same way, so maybe it doesn't matter, but it's best to be consistent. (Thanks Hekner.)

Source : http://www.learnenglish.de/grammar/reportedspeech.html

Who Can Stop Roma ?

Roma can make it 10 victories from 10 against Chievo on Thursday - a Serie A record start - and, with this in mind, Goal takes a look at the top domestic winning runs in Europe

COMMENT

By Craig Turnbull

On the surface, Michael Bradley's winner for Roma eight minutes from time against Udinese last weekend may not seem that important, or indeed that impressive, but delve deeper and it begins to tell a tale about the Giallorossi's blistering start to the campaign.

Down to 10 men following Maicon's dismissal and away in Udine, which had become a fortress for the Zebrette, Bradley's composed finish continued the capital-based club's unblemished record.

TOP 10 DOMESTIC WINNING STREAKS

Club        Wins Year

Benfica 29 1971-73

D Zagreb 28 2006-07

Celtic 25 2003-04

PSV          22 1987-88

Hafnarfjordur 18 2004-05

Inter         17 2006-07

Steaua   17 1988

Dinamo 17 1988

Valur 16 1978

Barcelona 16 2010-11 Nine wins from nine games, 23 goals scored and only one conceded are stats that Roma supporters could barely have envisaged following the sale of a host of star players such as Pablo Osvaldo, Erik Lamela and Marquinhos; with the club also still recovering from an underwhelming sixth-placed finish in Serie A and Coppa Italia disappointment against rivals Lazio in May.

Rudi Garcia was appointed coach following Aurelio Andreazzoli's temporary stint in charge. Garcia's reputation may not have had fans eagerly anticipating what lay ahead, but in only a few months he has transformed the club's fortunes, instilling a spirit and confidence within the side.

It is perhaps no surprise, too, that Roma's resurgence is in sync with their captain and all-time leading goalscorer Francesco Totti. The 37-year-old has rolled back the years with impressive displays, so much so that there have been calls for him to be reinstated in the Italy team. Former Arsenal attacker Gervinho has answered his critics rekindling the type of performances for Roma that lured Arsene Wenger into initially signing him for the Gunners. The defence has also been strengthened by Mehdi Benatia's inclusion, while Kevin Strootman has fitted in seamlessly from PSV alongside Daniele De Rossi in midfield.

Only Juventus under Fabio Capello in 2005-06 can claim to equal a start as impressive as this, and on Thursday Roma can hold the record on their own by beating bottom side Chievo. 

And, while Garcia's men will not be looking too far ahead of themselves, a run of fixtures against the Flying Donkeys, Torino, Sassuolo, Cagliari and Atalanta could well put the Serie A record of 17 consecutive games won, which is held by Inter, under threat.

However, some records across Europe's domestic leagues remain quite secure. For instance, Benfica's 29-game winning sequence back in the '70s - led by the supremely talented Eusebio - has not been beaten in over 40 years, though, Croatian side Dinamo Zagreb, blessed with talent such as Eduardo and Luka Modric, came extremely close to dethroning the Eagles in 2007, with their coach Branko Ivankovic claiming they would beat the Portuguese record right before they suffered a 4-3 defeat to Varteks.

Elsewhere, Celtic hold the British record for consecutive victories, sweeping all before them under Martin O'Neill's tenure back in 2003-04. The Hoops posted 25 straight wins in the Scottish Premier League and fired in a record 105 goals, with Henrik Larsson signing off with 30 of them before he joined Barcelona.

The Catalans themselves hold the Spanish milestone with a 16-game winning sequence back in 2011. Lionel Messi fired a hat-trick in a 3-0 victory over Atletico Madrid that ended Real Madrid's 15-game winning record, led by the legendary Alfredo Di Stefano, set back in 1960-61.

In England, Arsenal won 14 straight games in the Premiership (now Premier League) in 2002, while in Germany, last year's treble winners Bayern Munich recorded 15 straight wins in 2005 which were split over 2004-05 and 2005-06 campaign. 

Seventeen consecutive wins, 14 of them in the 1988-89 season, and 130 goals were not enough for Dinamo Bucharest to clinch the Romanian title as rivals Steaua Bucharest, who also recorded a winning sequence of 17 games over two campaigns, edged them out by three points. 

It may be premature to start talking about Roma's chances of emulating records such as these, but the Giallorossi have already proved themselves against difficult opposition including comfortable victories over Inter and Napoli, and a kind run of fixtures could well see them putting more pressure on the Nerazzurri's record.

Source : http://www.goal.com/en/news/1717/editorial/2013/10/31/4371668/who-can-stop-roma-the-longest-winning-streaks-in-history