Unit 9. Material World

Reported speech

-We use reported speech to say what someone previously  has said.

Sometimes people get confused with the difference between  direct speech and reported speech, so let"s look at the difference;

-Direct speech;    Keila said = I am happy

-Reported speech;   Keila said ( that) she was happy.


- In reported speech we need to use the past tense of the verb. I mean, the tense changes.

Some examples;

Simple present.                        Simple past.

. Darlenis is happy                   . He said that  Darlenis was happy
. Antonio is sick                       . She said that Antonio was sick
. Keila is busy                          . He said she was busy

As you can see, in the examples above the verb to be changes to the past.


Present Continuous                            Past continuous

. Atilano is going to go to Haiti         . She said that Atilano was going to go to Haiti
. I am going to be president                . He said that he was going to be president
. We are going to be great teachers    . They said that they were going to be great teachers


- To be more specific i will explain you how verb tenses change in reported speech.

Simple present                            =         Simple past
Present continuous                     =         Past continuous
Simple past                                 =         Past perfect
Present perfect                            =         Past perfect
Past  Perfect                               =          Past perfect
Present perfect continuous          =        Past perfect continuous

The same happens with the modals


May            =            Might
Will            =            Would
Can             =            Could
Must           =            Had to


In addition, we can also use reported speech to make questions and repeat conversations as the teacher taught us in class.