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Reported Speech, Indirect Speech – English Grammar Exercises

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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."

"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.

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):

Modal verb forms also sometimes change:

!Note - There is no change to; could, would, should, might and ought to.

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:-

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

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.

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:-

Pronoun change

In reported speech, the pronoun often changes.

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:-

Using them properly can make what you say much more interesting and informative.

He asked me to 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.)

Exercise on Reported Speech

Questions - exercise 1.

Complete the sentences in reported speech. Note the change of pronouns and tenses.

• "Where is my umbrella?" she asked. → She asked
• "How are you?" Martin asked us. → Martin asked us
• He asked, "Do I have to do it?" → He asked
• "Where have you been?" the mother asked her daughter. → The mother asked her daughter
• "Which dress do you like best?" she asked her boyfriend. → She asked her boyfriend
• "What are they doing?" she asked. → She wanted to know
• "Are you going to the cinema?" he asked me. → He wanted to know
• The teacher asked, "Who speaks English?" → The teacher wanted to know
• "How do you know that?" she asked me. → She asked me
• "Has Caron talked to Kevin?" my friend asked me. → My friend asked me

Aussagesätze in der indirekten Rede

Wie im Deutschen musst du auch im Englischen beachten, wer etwas sagt. Da kommt es häufig vor, dass du in der indirekten Rede das Pronomen ändern musst.

Tipp: Übersetze den Satz erst ins Deutsche und überlege, welches Pronomen du im deutschen Satz in der indirekten Rede verwenden würdest.

Keine Änderung der Zeitform

Steht der Einleitungssatz im Simple Present (z. B. He says), bleibt die Zeitform der Aussage unverändert. Denk aber daran, dass du manchmal das Verb ändern musst (3. Person Einzahl).

Änderung der Zeitform (backshift)

Steht der Einleitungssatz im Simple Past (z. B. He said ), muss die Zeitform um eine Stufe zurückgesetzt werden (siehe Tabelle). Das nennt man im Englischen auch backshift .

Die Verben could, should, would, might, must, needn’t, ought to, used to ändern sich normalerweise nicht.

Änderung von Orts- und Zeitangaben

Bei Orts- und Zeitangaben musst du beachten, ob Ort und Zeit der wörtlichen Rede und der indirekten Rede übereinstimmen oder nicht. Hier ein Beispiel:

Es ist Freitag und du bist mit James in einem Restaurant. James erzählt dir, dass er Caroline heute in diesem Restaurant gesehen hat. (“I saw Caroline here today .”) Ein paar Minuten später kommt Helen zu euch ins Restaurant und du willst ihr berichten, was James dir erzählt hat. Ort (here) und Zeit (today) sind also gleich und du kannst sagen:

→ James said that he had seen Caroline here today.

Einen Tag später triffst du dich mit Mary noch einmal im gleichen Restaurant. Auch ihr willst du berichten, was James dir erzählt hat. Der Ort ist wieder der gleiche, aber das Geschehen liegt einen Tag zurück. Also würdest du sagen:

→ James said that he had seen Caroline here yesterday.

Noch ein paar Tage später ruft Tom dich zu Hause an. Auch ihm willst du berichten, was James dir erzählt hat. Jetzt bist du aber nicht mehr im Restaurant (sondern zu Hause) und das Geschehen liegt auch schon mehrere Tage zurück. Also würdest du sagen:

→ James said that he had seen Caroline at the restaurant on Friday.

→ I met James in a restaurant on Friday and he said that he had seen Caroline there that day.

Das heißt: Du musst immer überlegen, welche Angabe bei der indirekten Rede logisch ist. Das ist im Prinzip genauso wie im Deutschen.

In der folgenden Tabelle findest du einige häufig verwendete Umwandlungsmöglichkeiten.

Übungen zur Indirekte Rede

Indirect Questions

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