{"id":2525,"date":"2020-07-06T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2020-07-06T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/local.events.com\/reported-speech-rules-in-english\/"},"modified":"2021-04-07T16:53:30","modified_gmt":"2021-04-07T23:53:30","slug":"reported-speech-rules-in-english","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/magoosh.com\/english-speaking\/reported-speech-rules-in-english\/","title":{"rendered":"Reported Speech Rules in English"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"blog-content\">\n<div>\n<div class=\"wsite-image wsite-image-border-none\" style=\"padding-top: 10px;padding-bottom: 10px;margin-left: 0;margin-right: 0;text-align: center\">\n<div style=\"font-size: 90%\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div id=\"295921935312686530\" class=\"wcustomhtml\" style=\"width: 100%\" align=\"left\">\n<p>Talking about what someone else has already said, also known as reported speech, involves a few special grammar rules in English.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div><!--BLOG_SUMMARY_END--><\/div>\n<div>\n<div id=\"101818510636458113\" class=\"wcustomhtml\" style=\"width: 100%\" align=\"left\">\n<p>How you form reported speech will largely depend on <em>what<\/em> was said and <em>when<\/em> it was said. Unfortunately, you can\u2019t always repeat back what you hear verbatim (using exactly the same words)!<\/p>\n<p>So, how should you report speech in English? What are the grammar rules that dictate these indirect speech patterns? Finally, what are some examples of reported speech? We will answer all of these questions and more, but first, let\u2019s take a look at exactly what is meant by \u201creported speech.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Prefer to watch this lesson on video? Here\u2019s our <strong>full length tutorial on Reported Speech Rules in English:<\/strong><\/p>\n<h3>Reported Speech Rules in English:<\/h3>\n<p><iframe src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/jQmF4-RvmlA\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<h2>What is reported speech?<\/h2>\n<p>Reported speech simply refers to statements that recount what someone else has already said or asked. For example, let\u2019s say that you and your two friends went to the movies. As you\u2019re leaving the movie theater, the following conversation takes place:<\/p>\n<p>Friend #1: <em>That movie was really scary!<\/em><\/p>\n<p>You: <em>I know, right?<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Friend #2: <em>What did he say?<\/em><\/p>\n<p>You: <strong><em>He said that the movie was really scary.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The last sentence is what is known as \u201creported speech,\u201d because you reported something that someone else said. In most cases, a statement of reported speech uses verbs like \u201csay\u201d or \u201ctell,\u201d though you can also use verbs like \u201cstate,\u201d \u201cproclaim,\u201d or \u201cannounce,\u201d depending on the context of the original statement.<\/p>\n<p>In any case, this is just one example of reported speech in the simple past tense. Different rules apply based on the verb tense and the content of the statement. First, let\u2019s look at how reported speech statements work in the simple present tense:<\/p>\n<h2>Reporting Statements in the Simple Present Tense<\/h2>\n<p>If you report a statement using the simple present tense (say, tell, etc), then you can also leave the original statement in the present tense. Here are a few examples:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><em>I like basketball<\/em> -&gt; <em>They say that they like basketball.<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>He wants to visit Paris<\/em> -&gt; <em>He tells me that he wants to visit Paris.<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>I watch TV every day<\/em> -&gt; <em>She says she watches TV every day.<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>As you can see, both the reporting verb and the reported verb remain in the simple present tense. It is also important to note that, regardless of the tense, the word \u201cthat\u201d is completely optional in reported speech. The meaning stays the same with or without it.<\/p>\n<h2>Reporting Statements in Other Tenses<\/h2>\n<p>Generally, when the reporting verb is in the simple past tense, we change the reported verb as well. For example:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Statement: <em>I feel sad.<\/em><\/li>\n<li>Reported Speech: <em>He said he felt sad.<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Since reported speech is reported after the fact, the reporting verb is usually in the simple past tense. This means that you will usually need to change the tense of the second clause. For example:<\/p>\n<table>\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td><strong>Tense<\/strong><\/td>\n<td><strong>Statement<\/strong><\/td>\n<td><strong>Reported Speech<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td><strong>Simple Present<\/strong><\/td>\n<td><em>I like oranges.<\/em><\/td>\n<td><em>He said that he liked oranges.<\/em><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td><strong>Present Continuous<\/strong><\/td>\n<td><em>I am swimming.<\/em><\/td>\n<td><em>She said that she was swimming.<\/em><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td><strong>Present Perfect<\/strong><\/td>\n<td><em>I have seen the movie.<\/em><\/td>\n<td><em>He said that he had seen the movie.<\/em><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td><strong>Simple Past<\/strong><\/td>\n<td><em>I forgot to bring my lunch.<\/em><\/td>\n<td><em>She said that she forgot her lunch<\/em> OR <em>she said that she had forgotten her lunch.<\/em><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td><strong>Past Continuous<\/strong><\/td>\n<td><em>I was looking for the train station.<\/em><\/td>\n<td><em>He said that she had been looking for the train station.<\/em><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td><strong>Past Perfect<\/strong><\/td>\n<td><em>I had finished the letter before they arrived.<\/em><\/td>\n<td><em>She said that she had finished the letter before they arrived.<\/em><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td><strong>Simple Future<\/strong><\/td>\n<td><em>I will move to New York.<\/em><\/td>\n<td><em>He said that he would move to New York.<\/em><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td><strong>Future Continuous<\/strong><\/td>\n<td><em>I will be hanging out with someone.<\/em><\/td>\n<td><em>She said that she would be hanging out with someone.<\/em><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td><strong>Future Perfect<\/strong><\/td>\n<td><em>I will have forgotten about it by tomorrow.<\/em><\/td>\n<td><em>He said that he would have forgotten about it by tomorrow.<\/em><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td><strong>Present Perfect Continuous<\/strong><\/td>\n<td><em>I have been waiting in line.<\/em><\/td>\n<td><em>She said that she had been waiting in line.<\/em><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td><strong>Past Perfect Continuous<\/strong><\/td>\n<td><em>I had been exercising more often.<\/em><\/td>\n<td><em>He said that he had been exercising more often.<\/em><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td><strong>Future Perfect Continuous<\/strong><\/td>\n<td><em>By next month, I will have been a nurse for 10 years.<\/em><\/td>\n<td><em>She said that by next month, she will have been a nurse for 10 years.<\/em><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<h3>How to Change Tenses in Reported Speech<\/h3>\n<p>As you can see, the rules governing how to report speech can vary based on the tense of the original statement. Generally, you can\u2019t go wrong if you follow these guidelines (from the original statement to reported speech):<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Simple Present -&gt; Simple Past<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Present Continuous -&gt; Past Continuous<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Present Perfect -&gt; Past Perfect<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Simple Past -&gt; Simple Past OR Past Perfect<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Past Continuous -&gt; Past Perfect Continuous<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Simple Future -&gt; \u201cwill\u201d becomes \u201cwould\u201d<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Future Continuous -&gt; \u201cwill\u201d becomes \u201cwould\u201d<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Future Perfect -&gt; \u201cwill\u201d becomes \u201cwould\u201d<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Present Perfect Continuous -&gt; Past Perfect Continuous<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Past Perfect Continuous -&gt; Past Perfect Continuous<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Future Perfect Continuous -&gt; Future Perfect Continuous<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>That said, there are some exceptions in the present tense. For example, if the original statement is comprised of general information that is unchanging, you don\u2019t need to report it in the past tense. Here are a few examples:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Simple Present<\/strong>: <em>Water freezes at 0 degrees Celsius.<\/em> -&gt; <em>He said that water freezes at zero degrees Celcius.<\/em><\/li>\n<li><strong>Present Continuous<\/strong>: <em>The planet is rotating around the sun.<\/em> -&gt; <em>She said that the planet is rotating around the sun.<\/em><\/li>\n<li><strong>Present Perfect<\/strong>: <em>Human beings have always liked dogs.<\/em> -&gt; <em>He said that human beings have always liked dogs.<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Reporting Questions<\/h2>\n<p>Reporting statements is relatively straightforward, as it usually just requires the second clause to change tense (sometimes not even that). However, reporting questions is more complex. First of all, when you report a question, you cannot just repeat the original question. Instead, you must turn it into a statement. Here&#8217;s an example question:<\/p>\n<p><em>Do you have a lighter?<\/em><\/p>\n<p>If you want to report this question later, you&#8217;ll need to change it, like so:<\/p>\n<p><em>They asked me if I had a lighter.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Thankfully, once you learn the guidelines for reporting statements, you can apply many of the same rules to reporting questions. All of the tense changes are the same:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Simple Present<\/strong>: <em>Do you like to read?<\/em> -&gt; <em>He asked if I liked to read.<\/em>\n<ul>\n<li>Note: For \u201cYes\/No\u201d questions, we change \u201cdo\u201d or \u201cdoes\u201d to \u201cif.\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Present Continuous<\/strong>: <em>Are you running errands today?<\/em> -&gt; <em>She asked if I was running errands today.<\/em><\/li>\n<li><strong>Present Perfect<\/strong>: Have you spoken to her? -&gt; He asked if I had spoken to her.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Simple Past<\/strong>: <em>Did you believe the story?<\/em> -&gt; <em>She asked if I believed the story.<\/em><\/li>\n<li><strong>Past Continuous<\/strong>: <em>How were you behaving?<\/em> -&gt; <em>He asked me how I was behaving.<\/em><\/li>\n<li><strong>Simple Future<\/strong>: <em>Will you go shopping later?<\/em> -&gt; <em>She asked me if I would go shopping later.<\/em><\/li>\n<li><strong>Future Continuous<\/strong>: <em>Will you be cooking tonight?<\/em> -&gt; <em>He asked me if I would be cooking tonight.<\/em><\/li>\n<li><strong>Future Perfect<\/strong>: <em>Will you have received your diploma by then?<\/em> -&gt; <em>She asked if I would have received my diploma by then.<\/em><\/li>\n<li><strong>Present Perfect Continuous<\/strong> &#8211; <em>Have you been doing your homework?<\/em> -&gt; <em>He asked me if I had been doing my homework.<\/em><\/li>\n<li><strong>Past Perfect Continuous<\/strong> &#8211; <em>How long had you been sleeping?<\/em> -&gt; <em>She asked me how long I had been sleeping.<\/em><\/li>\n<li><strong>Future Perfect Continuous<\/strong> &#8211; <em>Will you have been travelling?<\/em> -&gt; <em>He asked if I would have been travelling.<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3>Requests and Demands<\/h3>\n<p>To keep things simple, requests are treated the same as questions when reported to someone else. For example:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><em>Please sit down<\/em>. -&gt; <em>He asked me to sit down.<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>Could you open the door for me?<\/em> -&gt; <em>She asked if I could open the door for her?<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>Would you mind holding my bag?<\/em> -&gt; <em>He asked if I would mind holding his bag.<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>However, if someone demands something, we generally report the speech using \u201ctold\u201d instead of \u201casked\u201d or \u201csaid.\u201d Here are some commands in reported speech:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Be quiet! -&gt; She told me to be quiet.<\/li>\n<li>Don\u2019t touch that! -&gt; He told me not to touch that.<\/li>\n<li>Brush your teeth. -&gt; She told me to brush my teeth.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Finally, when reporting speech, you must always consider the time in which the original statement was made. If a time is mentioned within the statement, you will also have to consider how that time relates to the current moment.<\/p>\n<p><em>You have a doctor\u2019s appointment on Tuesday.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>For example, let&#8217;s say that the statement above was reported to you a few days prior, but you reported it to someone else on Monday (the day before the appointment). You could say either of the following:<\/p>\n<p><em>She told me that I have a doctor\u2019s appointment on Tuesday<\/em>, or<\/p>\n<p><em>She told me that I have a doctor\u2019s appointment tomorrow.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Here are a few more time conversions to help you with reported speech:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><em>Call your father right now.<\/em> -&gt; <em>She told me to call my father <strong>right then.<\/strong><\/em><\/li>\n<li>I saw you at the movies last night. -&gt; He said he saw me at the movies <strong>the night before<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li><em>Were you at school last week?<\/em> -&gt; <em>She asked if I had been at school <strong>the week prior<\/strong>.<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>Can I talk to you tomorrow?<\/em> -&gt; <em>He asked if he could talk to me <strong>the next day<\/strong>.<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Reported Speech Exercises<\/h2>\n<p>Now that you have a better understanding of reported speech in English, it\u2019s time to practice! Fortunately, there are a number of ways to practice reported speech in daily conversation. So, here are a few free online resources to help you get the hang of it:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/elt.oup.com\/student\/solutions\/int\/grammar\/grammar_06_012e?cc=global&amp;selLanguage=en\">Reported Speech Statements<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.myenglishpages.com\/site_php_files\/grammar-exercise-reported-speech.php\">Reported Speech Questions<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.examenglish.com\/grammar\/B1_reported_speech.htm\">B1 Grammar Reported Speech Quiz<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.tinyteflteacher.co.uk\/learn-english\/b2-first-exam\/b2-first-exam-practice\/reported-speech\">B2 Grammar Reported Speech Quiz<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Lastly, if you\u2019d like to learn more about reported speech or find a highly qualified English tutor online to help guide you, visit <a href=\"http:\/\/speaking.magoosh.com\">Magoosh Speaking<\/a> today!<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Talking about what someone else has already said, also known as reported speech, involves a few special grammar rules in English.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":423,"featured_media":3410,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2525","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-english-grammar"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v21.7 (Yoast SEO v21.7) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Reported Speech Rules in English<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Talking about what someone else has already said, also known as reported speech, involves a few special grammar rules in English.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" 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