Material unit 1
2. Reported speech
Reported speech
Listen to audio take a look at the grammar of reported speech.
Find out what to do with pronouns, tenses and word order when you report what someone else says
Reported speech: statements |
In reported speech, the verb moves back a tense, e.g. present simple > past simple, present continuous > past continuous, etc. ‘I like heavy metal music’ He said that he liked heavy metal music. ‘I’m studying French and Spanish.’ She said that she was studying French and Spanish. The past perfect tense and modal verbs should, could, might and ought to don’t change in reported speech. ‘You should ask him out.’ She said that I should ask him out. The two most common reporting verbs are say and tell. We use say + that + clause. He said that he was going out with Jane that night. We use tell + object pronoun + that + clause. He told me that he was going out with Jane that night. |