2TTO - Unit 7 - Reported speech

• Engels
• Middelbare school
• vwo
• Leerjaar 2

Reported speech

2TTO

A question for one of you:

"... what is your favourite sport?"
This is direct speech.

Now, ... report to us what he/she just said.

This answer is reported speech.

So, what is reported speech?

Reported speech is when we tell someone what another person said.

To do this, we can use: 

→ direct speech: 'I work in a bank,' said Daniel

 or 

→ indirect speech: Daniel said that he worked in a bank.

What is reported speech?

The most common reporting verbs: say + tell

• Jack said that he had been on a date with Jill.
• Jack *told me that he had been on a date with Jill.

- Just like say: add, admit, agree, announce

- * These all need a personal object (me/you/her/him/us/you/them): remind claim, complain, warn explain, promise

 

Tenses in reported speech

When using reported speech, we change the tense. It usually “jumps” one tense back (further into the past). 

Tim, "She works in an office."

Tim said _____________.

Emma, "I'm sitting on the chair."

Emma announced __________.

Reported speech - questions

Reported questions are not real questions so they do not need question marks.

- ‘Do you like rap music?’ ↠ She asked me if I liked rap music.

X She asked me if I liked rap music?

• When there is no question word (who, what, how, why, etc.), we use if or whether.

‘Can you do it?’ ↠ They asked me if I could do it.

‘Can you speak English?’ Marion asked the boy.

Marion asked ________________________.

‘Are you going to buy a car?’ Tom asked Willem.

Tom asked _________________________.