Name: Torres Velez Alejandro
Group: 5IV14
Date: October 8th 2015
I. REPORTED SPEECH
Reported Statements
When do we use reported speech? Sometimes someone says a sentence, for example "I'm going to the cinema tonight". Later, maybe we want to tell someone else what the first person said.
How it works:
We use a 'reporting verb' like 'say' or 'tell'. If this verb is in the present tense, it's easy. We just put 'she says' and then the sentence.
We don't need to change the tense, though probably we do need to change the 'person' from 'I' to 'she', for example. We also may need to change words like 'my' and 'your'.
But, if the reporting verb is in the past tense, then usually we change the tenses in the reported speech:
- Direct speech: “I like ice cream”.
- Reported speech: She said (that) she liked ice cream.
| Tense | Direct Speech | Reported Speech |
|---|
| present simple | “I like ice cream” | She said (that) she liked ice cream. |
| present continuous | “I am living in London” | She said (that) she was living in London. |
| past simple | “I bought a car” | She said (that) she had bought a car OR She said (that) she bought a car. |
| past continuous | “I was walking along the street” | She said (that) she had been walking along the street. |
| present perfect | “I haven't seen Julie” | She said (that) she hadn't seen Julie. |
| past perfect* | “I had taken English lessons before” | She said (that) she had taken English lessons before. |
| will | “I'll see you later” | She said (that) she would see me later. |
| would* | “I would help, but..” | She said (that) she would help but... |
| can | “I can speak perfect English” | She said (that) she could speak perfect English. |
| could* | “I could swim when I was four” | She said (that) she could swim when she was four. |
| shall | “I shall come later” | She said (that) she would come later. |
| should* | “I should call my mother” | She said (that) she should call her mother |
| might* | "I might be late" | She said (that) she might be late |
| must | "I must study at the weekend" | She said (that) she must study at the weekend OR She said she had to study at the weekend |
* doesn't change.
Occasionally, we don't need to change the present tense into the past if the information in direct speech is still true (but this is only for things which are general facts, and even then usually we like to change the tense):
- Direct speech: “The sky is blue”.
- Reported speech: She said (that) the sky is/was blue.
Reported Questions
In fact, it's not so different from reported statements. The tense changes are the same, and we keep the question word. The very important thing though is that, once we tell the question to someone else, it isn't a question any more. So we need to change the grammar to a normal positive sentence:
- Direct speech: "Where do you live?"
- Reported speech: She asked me where I lived.
The direct question is in the present simple tense. We make a present simple question with 'do' or 'does' so I need to take that away. Then we need to change the verb to the past simple.
The direct question is the present simple of 'be'. We make the question form of the present simple of be by inverting (changing the position of)the subject and verb. So, we need to change them back before putting the verb into the past simple.
Here are some more examples:
| Direct Question | Reported Question |
|---|
| “Where is the Post Office, please?” | She asked me where the Post Office was. |
| “What are you doing?” | She asked me what I was doing. |
| “Who was that fantastic man?” | She asked me who that fantastic man had been. |
But, what if you need to report a 'yes / no' question? We don't have any question words to help us. Instead, we use 'if':
- Direct speech: "Do you like chocolate?"
- Reported speech: She asked me if I liked chocolate.
Here are a few more examples:
| Direct Question | Reported Question |
| “Do you love me?” | He asked me if I loved him. |
| “Have you ever been to Mexico?” | She asked me if I had ever been to Mexico. |
| “Are you living here?” | She asked me if I was living here. |
Reported Requests
What if someone asks you to do something (in a polite way)? For example:
- Direct speech: "Close the window, please"
- Or: "Could you close the window please?"
- Or: "Would you mind closing the window please?"
All of these requests mean the same thing, so we don't need to report every word when we tell another person about it. We simply use 'ask me + to + infinitive':
- Reported speech: She asked me to close the window.
Here are a few more examples:
| Direct Request | Reported Request |
| “Please help me”. | She asked me to help her. |
| “Please don't smoke”. | She asked me not to smoke. |
| “Could you bring my book tonight?” | She asked me to bring her book that night. |
| “Could you pass the milk, please?” | She asked me to pass the milk. |
| “Would you mind coming early tomorrow?” | She asked me to come early the next day. |
To report a negative request, use 'not':
- Direct speech: "Please don't be late."
- Reported speech: She asked us not to be late.
Reported Orders
And finally, how about if someone doesn't ask so politely? We can call this an 'order' in English, when someone tells you very directly to do something. For example:
- Direct speech: "Sit down!"
In fact, we make this into reported speech in the same way as a request. We just use 'tell' instead of 'ask':
- Reported speech: She told me to sit down.
| Direct Order | Reported Order |
| “Go to bed!” | He told the child to go to bed. |
| “Don't worry!” | He told her not to worry. |
| “Be on time!” | He told me to be on time. |
| “Don't smoke!” | He told us not to smoke. |
Time Expressions with Reported Speech
Sometimes when we change direct speech into reported speech we have to change time expressions too. We don't always have to do this, however. It depends on when we heard the direct speech and when we say the reported speech.
For example:
It's Monday. Julie says "I'm leaving today".
If I tell someone on Monday, I say "Julie said she was leaving today".
If I tell someone on Tuesday, I say "Julie said she was leaving yesterday".
If I tell someone on Wednesday, I say "Julie said she was leaving on Monday".
If I tell someone a month later, I say "Julie said she was leaving that day".
Here's a table of some possible conversions:
| now | then / at that time |
| today | yesterday / that day / Tuesday / the 27th of June |
| yesterday | the day before yesterday / the day before / Wednesday / the 5th of December |
| last night | the night before, Thursday night |
| last week | the week before / the previous week |
| tomorrow | today / the next day / the following day / Friday |
II. INDEFINITE PRONOUNS
We use indefinite pronouns to refer to people or things without saying exactly who or what they are. We use pronouns ending in -body or -one for people, and pronouns ending in -thing for things:
Everybody enjoyed the concert.
I opened the door but there was no one at home.
It was a very clear day. We could see everything.
We use a singular verb after an indefinite pronoun:
Everybody loves Sally.
Everything was ready for the party.
When we refer back to an indefinite pronoun we normally use a plural pronoun:
Everybody enjoyed the concert. They stood up and clapped.
I will tell somebody that dinner is ready. They have been waiting a long time.
We can add -'s to an indefinite pronoun to make a possessive.
They were staying in somebody’s house.
Is this anybody’s coat?
We use indefinite pronouns with no- as the subject in negative clauses (not pronouns with any.)
Anybody didn’t come >> Nobody came.
We do not use another negative in a clause with nobody, no one or nothing:
Nobody came.
Nothing happened.
We use else after indefinite pronouns to refer to people or things in addition to the ones we already mentioned.
All the family came, but no one else.
If Michael can’t come we’ll ask somebody else.
So that's eggs, peas and chips. Do you want anything else?
