Reported Speech: Important Grammar Rules

and Examples
Reported speech is simply when we tell somebody what someone else said. You can do this in your
writing, or in speech. Reported speech is very different from direct speech, which is when you show
what somebody said in the exact way that they said it. In reported speech though, you do not need to
quote somebody directly.

For example:

 Direct speech: I’ve lost my umbrella.

 Reported speech: He said (that) he had lost his umbrella.

Reported Speech Rules

Verb Tense Changes in Reported Speech

Present

If the reporting verb is in the present tense, then very little needs to be done to the direct speech
sentence to change it. Here’s an example.

 Direct speech: I like dogs.

 Reported speech: She says she likes dogs.

Here nothing really needed to be changed except the pronoun, because you are now talking about
somebody else, so ‘I’ becomes ‘She’ or ‘He’. The tense is still the same because ‘says’ is the present
tense version of the reporting verb. But what happens if the sentence needs to be changed to past
tense?

Past

Sometimes it is necessary to change the reporting verb into the past tense if what was said is no
longer relevant, or was said sometime in the past. Here are the changes that would need to be
made.

 Direct speech: I like dogs.

 Reported speech: She said she liked dogs.

As well as changing the pronouns here, we’ve had to change the tense of both the reporting verb
and the verb. So, ‘says’ becomes ‘said’ and ‘like’ becomes ‘liked’.
When the reporting verb is in the past tense, verb tense forms usually need to change. The tenses
generally move backward in this way:

 Present Simple Tense into Past Simple Tense

 Present Continuous Tense into Past Continuous Tense
 Present Perfect Tense into Past Perfect Tense
 Past Simple Tense into Past Perfect Tense
 Past Continuous Tense into Past Perfect Continuous Tense
 Past Perfect Tense (the tense remains unchanged)

Future

If somebody is talking about what will happen in the future then, again, you will need to change
the tense of the reporting verb.

 Direct speech: I shall leave in a moment.

 Reported speech: She said that she would leave in a moment.

Notice how ‘shall’ and “will” become ‘would’ here in order for it to make sense.

 Will into Would

 Will be into Would be
 Will have into Would have
 Will have been into Would have been

Modal Verbs and Reported Speech

We’ve already covered modal verbs in another article, but it’s interesting to see how they are
changed in reported speech.

 Can into Could

 Could (The verb remains unchanged)
 Have to into Had to
 Must into Must/Had to
 May into Might
 Might (The verb remains unchanged)
 Should (The verb remains unchanged)

Let’s take a look at some examples.

 Direct speech: Will I see you later?

 Reported speech: He asked if he would see me later.

Changes in Time and Place in Reported Speech

Time and place references often have to change in Indirect Speech

  Now –> Then
 Today –> That day
 Here –> There
 This –> That
 Tomorrow –> The following day/ The next day/ The day after
 Next week –> The following week/ The next week/ The week after
 Yesterday –> The previous day/ The day before
 Last week –> The previous week/ The week before
 Ago –> Previously/ Before
 Tonight –> That night

No Change in Verb Tenses in Reported Speech

There is no change in verb tenses in Indirect Speech when:

 The introductory verb is in the Present, Present Perfect or Future.

 If the reported sentence deals with a fact or general truth.
 The verb of the sentence is in the unreal past (the second or the third conditional).
 The subjunctive stays unchanged in the subordinate clause.
 Had better, could, would, used to, should, might, ought to and mustn’t remain
unchanged.
 If the speaker reports something immediately or soon after it was said.

Direct speech Reported speech - Indirect speech

I ⇒ he/she
We ⇒ they
my ⇒ his/her
your ⇒ my
Change of pronouns
our ⇒ their
me ⇒ him/her
us ⇒ them

here ⇒ there
today ⇒ that day
this morning ⇒ that morning
yesterday ⇒ the day before
Change of place and
tomorrow ⇒ the next day
time words
next week ⇒ the following
next month week
⇒ the following
month
Process/steps of changing Interrogative sentences (reported speech) into indirect
speech:

1. Remove the quotation marks and the comma from the reported speech.
2. Put the question word (WH family word) at the beginning of the reported speech when
the question can’t be answered in YES or NO. If the question can be answered in
YES/NO, replace the helping verb (auxiliary) with IF or WHETHER.
3. Put the subject of the reported speech after it.
4. Put the verb after the subject.
5. Replace the question mark with a period/full stop.
6. The reporting verb SAY in the direct speech is changed into ASK/INQUIRE.

NOTE: Interrogative sentences that can be answered in YES/NO start with auxiliary verbs
(is/am/are/do/does/has/have/will/shall/can/could/may/might/should/would…). And interrogative
sentences that can’t be answered in simple YES/NO start with WH family words
(what/why/where/when/how/who/whom).

Examples:-

 Direct speech: I asked her, “Will you go out with me?”

Indirect speech: I asked her if/whether she would go out with me.

 Direct speech: The guy on the street said to me, ” Do you know whom you are messing
with?”
Indirect speech: The guy on the street asked me if I knew whom I was messing with.

 Direct speech: On the very first date, she asked me, “Have you kissed a girl?”
Indirect speech: On the very first date, she asked me if I had kissed a girl.

 Direct speech: The other night, Jon asked me, “Are you taking drugs?”
Indirect speech: The other night, Jon asked me if I was taking drugs.

 Direct speech: She said, “Can you kiss me right now?”

Indirect speech: She asked if I could kiss her right then.

Direct speech structure:

WH family word + auxiliary verb + subject + main verb + object/modifier (optional)?

Indirect speech structure:

WH family word + subject + main verb + object/modifier.

 Direct speech: The police asked, “What were you doing when the incident happened?”
Indirect speech: The police asked what you had been doing when the incident had
happened.
  Direct speech: He said, “What can I do for you?”
Indirect speech: He asked what he could for me.

 Direct speech: Ron asked my father, “What do you do?”

Indirect speech: Ron asked my father what he did.

 Direct speech: She said to us, “What do you think of yourselves?”

Indirect speech: She asked us what we thought of ourselves.

 Direct speech: My brother asked, “Who is that girl?”

Indirect speech: My brother asked who that girl was.

Reporting orders and requests

 When we want to report an order or request, we can use a verb like 'tell' with a to-clause:
He told me to go away. The pattern is verb + indirect object + to-clause. The indirect
object is the person spoken to. Other verbs used to report orders and requests in this way
are: command, order, warn, ask, advise, invite, beg, teach, & forbid.
 Examples
Direct speech Indirect speech

The doctor said to me, "Stop smoking!". The doctor told me to stop smoking.

"Get out of the car!" said the policeman. The policeman ordered him to get out of the car.

"Could you please be quiet," she said. She asked me to be quiet.

The man with the gun said to us, "Don't move!" The man with the gun warned us not to move.

Requests for objects

Requests for objects are reported using the pattern "asked for" + object.

Examples

Direct speech Indirect speech

"Can I have an apple?", she asked. She asked for an apple.
"Can I have the newspaper, please?" He asked for the newspaper.
"May I have a glass of water?" he said. He asked for a glass of water.
"Sugar, please." She asked for the sugar.
"Could I have three kilos of onions?" He asked for three kilos of onions.
Mixed Exercise 1

Reported Speech - Exercise 7

Put the sentences into reported speech.
1. She told him, "Shut the door!"
She told him .
2. He said, "I am going home now."
He said (that) .
3. Sam asked her, "Have you got 20 pounds?"
Sam asked her .
4. He wanted to know, "Which picture is the most famous one?"
He wanted to know .
5. She said, "I was biking yesterday."
She said (that) .
6. He was told, "Fill in the form!"
He was told .
7. She said, "I am doing my homework.
She said (that) .
8. They asked me, "Did Paul lose the match?"
They asked me .
9. He told her, "Don't call me before 7 o'clock!
He told her .
10. Mother said to me, "I will buy that book for you."
Mother said to me (that) .
11. Cathy asked me, "Is the movie interesting or boring?"
Cathy asked me .
12. She said to him, "I have invited you to my party."
She said to him (that) .
13. They wanted to know, "When is your birthday?"
They wanted to know .
14. Susan said, "I like classical music."
Susan said (that) .
15. She asked me, "Where did you meet her?"
She asked me