47. Reported Speech 1 ENGLISH GRAMMAR IN USE FOR INTERMEDIATE

ENGLISH GRAMMAR IN USE FOR INTERMEDIATE

47. Reported Speech 1 (He said that …… )

A	Study this example situation: You want to tell somebody what Paul said. There are two ways of doing this: You can repeat Paul's words (direct speech): Paul said 'I'm feeling ill.' Or you can use reported speech: Paul said that he was feeling ill. Compare:
B	When we use reported speech, the main verb of the sentence is usually past (Paul said that ... /I told her that ... etc.). The rest of the sentence is usually past too: ·         Paul said that he was feeling ill. ·         I told Lisa that I didn't have any money. You can leave out that. So you can say: ·         Paul said that he was feeling ill. or Paul said he was feeling ill. In general, the present form in direct speech changes to the past form in reported speech: Compare direct speech and reported speech: You met Anna. Here are some of the things she said in direct speech:   Later you tell somebody what Anna said. You use reported speech: ·      Anna said that her parents were fine. ·      She said that she was going to learn to drive. ·      She said that she wanted to buy a car. ·      She said that John had a new job. ·      She said that she couldn't come to the party on Friday. ·      She said she didn't have much free time. ·      She said that she was going away for a few days and would phone me when she got back.
C	The past simple (did/saw/knew etc.) can usually stay the same in reported speech, or you can change it to the past perfect (had done /had seen /had known etc.): direct reported Paul said 'I woke up feeling ill, so I didn't go to work.' Paul said (that) he woke up feeling ill, so he didn't go to work. Or Paul said (that) he had woken up feeling ill, so he hadn't gone to work.

EXERCISES

47.1

Yesterday you met a friend of yours, Steve. You hadn't seen him for a long time. Here are some of the things Steve said to you: 1 _____ Steve said that he was living in London. ________________ 2 He said that __________________________________________________________ 3 He __________________________________________________________ 4 __________________________________________________________ 5 __________________________________________________________ 6 __________________________________________________________ 7 __________________________________________________________ 8 __________________________________________________________ 9 __________________________________________________________ 10 __________________________________________________________ 11 __________________________________________________________ 12 __________________________________________________________

47.2

Somebody says something to you which is not what you expected. Use your own ideas to complete your answers. 1 A: It's quite a long way from the hotel to the station. B: Is it? The man on the reception desk said ____It was only five minutes’ walk ________ 2 A: Sue is coming to the party tonight. B: Is she? I saw her a few days ago and she said she _____________________________. 3 A: Sarah gets on fine with Paul. B: Does she? Last week you said _____________ each other. 4 A: Joe knows lots of people. B: That's not what he told me. He said __________________  anyone. 5 A: Jane will be here next week. B: Oh, really? When I spoke to her, she said ________________ away. 6 A: I'm going out tonight. B: Are you? I thought you said _____________________  home. 7 A: John speaks French quite well. B: Does he? He told me _________________ any other languages. 8 A: I haven't seen Ben recently. B: That's strange. He told me ________________ last weekend.

ANSWER KEY

47.1 2 He said (that) his father wasn't very well. 3 He said (that) Rachel and Mark were getting married next month. 4 He said (that) his sister had had a baby. 5 He said (that) he didn't know what Joe was doing. 6 He said (that) he'd seen /he had seen Helen at a party in June and she'd seemed /she had seemed fine. or He said (that) he saw Helen ... and she seemed ... 7 He said (that) he hadn't seen Amy recently. 8 He said (that) he wasn't enjoying his job very much. 9 He said (that) I could come and stay at his place if I was ever in London. 10 He said (that) his car had been stolen a few days ago. or .. . his car was stolen a few days ago. 11 He said (that) he wanted to go on holiday, but (he) couldn't afford it. 12 He said (that) he'd tell I he would tell Chris he'd seen I he had seen me. or ... he saw me 47.2 Example answers: 2 she wasn't coming /she was going somewhere else /she couldn't come 3 they didn't like each other /they didn't get on with each other /they couldn't stand each other 4 he didn't know anyone 5 she would be away /she was going away 6 you were staying at home 7 he couldn't speak /he didn't speak any other languages 8 he'd seen you /he saw you last weekend