Reported Speech

Hi pupils!
When we want to communicate or report what another person has said, there are two ways: using direct speech or indirect (or reported) speech.

Direct Speech
When we tell exactly what someone else has said, we use direct speech. In this type of discourse, the person's words are placed in quotes and must be word for word. Examples:

She said,"I'm travelling to America."
"Do you have a pen I could borrow?" he asked.
The teacher shouted: "Please, be quiet!"

Reported Speech

Reported speech, unlike direct speech, does not use quotes and need not be word for word. In general, when using reported speech, the tense changes. Below is an explanation of the changes they undergo.

Tense shift is done whenever the reporting verb is in the past. This is called backshift. If it is in the present however no tense changes are undergone in the reported speech sentence, but other changes may occur, especially in some particles (adverbs, pronouns and determiners). Look at these examples:
D.S. Mary says, "I want to go now." --> R.S. Mary says that she wants to go now.   
D.S. Mary said, "I want to go now." --> R.S. Mary said that she wanted to go then.

In the first example, the reporting verb (says) is in the present simple tense, so, no tense change is undergone, but there is a change in the referent of the subject pronoun (now I becomes she). Yet, in the second example, the reporting verb (said) in the past simple tense applies backshift. There are changes in the verb tense, in the subject pronoun and in the time adverb too. 

Backshift in verb tense refers to a step back in time, that is to say, a present simple in direct speech becomes a past simple in reported speech. Thus, present continuous will be past continuous, past simple and present perfect both become past perfect,  Will becomes would, can turns to could, shall to should, may to might, must to had to and so on. We do not change a past perfect or a past modal (could, should, might, had to...) when turning from direct to indirect speech.

Some particles and adverbials are also affected by backshift:  
now - then
here - there 
I - he / she
We - they
my - his / her
our - their

yesterday - the previous day / the day before
last night - the previous night / the night before
tomorrow - the next day / the following day / the day after  
next week - the next week / the following week / the week after


Depending on the type of sentence, reported speech is done in one way or another. Remember that we can find, among others, statements, questions and commands.  

a) Statements: Reported statements are headed by a that-clause. We use that (we can willingly omit it) to introduce the reported clause.    
D.S. She said, "I'm travelling to America." --> R.S. She said that she was travelling to America. 
D.S. Anna said to me, "I won't go out with you." --> R.S. Anna told me she wouldn't go out with me. 



b) Questions:  Interrogative sentences can be introduced by if or whether (for yes/no questions) or by a question word (for wh-questions). The connectors here cannot be omitted, unlike that in statements. Examples:
D.S. She asked, "Do you speak English?" --> R.S. She asked if I spoke English. 
D.S. They asked: "Are you coming or not?" --> R.S. They wanted to know whether I was coming. 
D.S. "How old are you?" asked the man. -->  R.S. The man asked how old I was.


Notice that the word order in the reported interrogative sentence does not undergo subject-auxiliary inversion, applicable only to direct questions.

c) Commands: Imperatives and orders are transformed into reported speech by means of a to-infinitive clause with an indirect object. Typical reporting verbs for commands are tell, order, ask, advise, warn, etc.

D.S. John said: "Open your books, please." --> R.S. John asked the students to open their books.
D.S. Dad said: "Don't be late home tonight!" --> R.S. Dad told me not to be late home that night.


¡Hola alumnos! 
Cuando queremos comunicar o informar de lo que otra persona ha dicho, existen dos maneras de hacerlo: utilizando el estilo directo y el estilo indirecto.



Estilo Directo 
Cuando queremos informar exactamente lo que otra persona ha dicho, usamos el estilo directo.  Con este estilo, lo que la persona ha dicho se coloca entre comillas, y deberá ser palabra por palabra. Ejemplos:
She said,"I'm travelling to America."
"Do you have a pen I could borrow?" he asked.
The teacher shouted: "Please, be quiet!"

Estilo Indirecto
El estilo indirecto, a diferencia del directo, no usa comillas y no tiene que ser palabra por palabra. En general, cuando usamos el estilo indirecto, el tiempo del verbo va a cambiar. A continuación voy a explicar los cambios que sufren los tiempos verbales.


El cambio de tiempo verbal se realiza siempre y cuando el verbo que introduce el estilo directo esté en pasado. A esto se le llama backshift. No obstante, si dicho verbo está en presente, no se van a realizar cambios en los tiempos verbales, aunque si suelen ocurrir otros cambios, sobre todo en algunas partículas (adverbios, pronombres y determinantes). Observa estos ejemplos:
D.S. Mary says, "I want to go now." --> R.S. Mary says that she wants to go now.   
D.S. Mary said, "I want to go now." --> R.S. Mary said that she wanted to go then.

En el primer ejemplo, el verbo introductorio (says) está en presente así que no se aplican los cambios, pero cambia el referente del pronombre sujeto (ahora "I" pasa a ser "she"). En cambio, en el segundo ejemplo, el verbo introductorio (said) en pasado provoca el backshift. Hay pues cambios en el tiempo verbal, en el pronombre sujeto y en el adverbio de tiempo.


El backshift que afecta al verbo se refiere a un paso atrás en el tiempo, o sea, un presente simple en estilo directo pasa a ser un pasado simple en estilo indirecto. Así pues, el presente continuo se convierte en pasado continuo, el pasado simple y el presente perfecto pasan a pasado perfecto, 'will' es 'would',  'can' es 'could', 'shall' es 'should', 'may' es 'might', 'must' es 'had to', etc. Cuando pasamos de estilo directo a indirecto no cambiamos el pasado perfecto ni los modales de perfecto.


Algunas partículas y complementos circunstanciales también se ven afectados por el backshift:
now - then
here - there 
I - he / she
We - they
my - his / her
our - their
yesterday - the previous day / the day before
last night - the previous night / the night before
tomorrow - the next day / the following day / the day after  
next week - the next week / the following week / the week after

Dependiendo del tipo de oración, el estilo indirecto se hace de una forma u otra. Recuerda que podemos encontrar, entre otros, enunciativas, interrogativas y exhortativas.

a) Enunciativas: van encabezadas por una oración con 'that'. Usamos 'that' (que se puede omitir al gusto del consumidor) para introducir la frase indirecta.
D.S. She said, "I'm travelling to America." --> R.S. She said that she was travelling to America. 
D.S. Anna said to me, "I won't go out with you." --> R.S. Anna told me she wouldn't go out with me.

b) Interrogativas: Las interrogativas pueden introducirse con 'if' o 'whether' (para las preguntas totales, del tipo si/no) o con un pronombre interrogativo (si son preguntas parciales, con pronombres o adverbios interrogativos). En este tipo de oraciones los conectores nunca se omiten, a diferencia de lo que ocurría con las enunciativas y 'that'. Ejemplos:
D.S. She asked, "Do you speak English?" --> R.S. She asked if I spoke English. 
D.S. They asked: "Are you coming or not?" --> R.S. They wanted to know whether I was coming. 
D.S. "How old are you?" asked the man. -->  R.S. The man asked how old I was.

Observa que el orden de las palabras en la oración interrogativa de estilo indirecto no conlleva inversión de sujeto y verbo, aplicable solamente a las preguntas directas.

c) Exhortativas:  Las imperativas y órdenes se transforman a estilo indirecto a través de una oración de infinitivo con 'to' precedido por un complemento indirecto. Los verbos introductorios típicos de las exhortativas son: tell, order, ask, advise, warn, etc.

D.S. John said: "Open your books, please." --> R.S. John asked the students to open their books.
D.S. Dad said: "Don't be late home tonight!" --> R.S. Dad told me not to be late home that night.

For practice: Exercise1, Exercise2, Exercise3, Exercise4.