English indirect speech: reported speech exercises
Posted: Tue Jan 21, 2025 6:43 am
Reported speech or indirect speech arises when reporting what someone has said in an indirect way. It is therefore necessary to transform a direct sentence into an indirect one. And for this, this post entitled “English indirect speech: reported speech exercises” will be very useful for you.
English indirect speech exercises: What did John say?
There are two different ways of talking about what others have said. Directly, in English netherlands phone number list direct speech , or indirectly, in reported speech . Do you know the differences?
Direct speech
When do we use this way of formulating our speech? When we try to report exactly and in the same words what someone has told us or communicated to us. Jane said: “I want you to visit me today” – Jane said: “I want you to visit me today”.
John said: “I work as a broker” – John said: “I work as a broker”.
Since it is a bit like repeating someone's words, we must use quotation marks in the written register so that it is clear that we are quoting someone.
As you can see in the examples, direct speech is usually used to talk about something that someone has said in the past. This use is more common, which does not mean that it cannot be used with other verb tenses.
Reported speech
To control reported speech we must have greater knowledge, since it involves correlating verb tenses in a new sentence. Continuing with the two examples above:
Jane said she wanted me to visit her that day – Jane said she wanted me to visit her that day.
As you can see, the sentence undergoes some alterations. There are some changes that are not purely mathematical and will depend on the context, but in the case of verb tenses, you have to follow these correlations:
English indirect speech exercises: What did John say?
There are two different ways of talking about what others have said. Directly, in English netherlands phone number list direct speech , or indirectly, in reported speech . Do you know the differences?
Direct speech
When do we use this way of formulating our speech? When we try to report exactly and in the same words what someone has told us or communicated to us. Jane said: “I want you to visit me today” – Jane said: “I want you to visit me today”.
John said: “I work as a broker” – John said: “I work as a broker”.
Since it is a bit like repeating someone's words, we must use quotation marks in the written register so that it is clear that we are quoting someone.
As you can see in the examples, direct speech is usually used to talk about something that someone has said in the past. This use is more common, which does not mean that it cannot be used with other verb tenses.
Reported speech
To control reported speech we must have greater knowledge, since it involves correlating verb tenses in a new sentence. Continuing with the two examples above:
Jane said she wanted me to visit her that day – Jane said she wanted me to visit her that day.
As you can see, the sentence undergoes some alterations. There are some changes that are not purely mathematical and will depend on the context, but in the case of verb tenses, you have to follow these correlations: