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SINTESIS DE CUARTO PERIODO GRADO NOVENO

Reported Speech

When do we use reported speech? Sometimes someone says a sentence, for example "I'm going to the
cinema tonight". Later, maybe we want to tell someone else what the first person said.
Here's how it works:
We use a 'reporting verb' like 'say' or 'tell'. If this verb is in the present tense, it's easy. We just put 'she says'
and then the sentence:

Direct speech: I like ice cream.

Reported speech: She says (that) she likes ice cream.

We don't need to change the tense, though probably we do need to change the 'person' from 'I' to 'she', for
example. We also may need to change words like 'my' and 'your'.

(As I'm sure you know, often, we can choose if we want to use 'that' or not in English. I've put it in brackets () to
show that it's optional. It's exactly the same if you use 'that' or if you don't use 'that'.)

But, if the reporting verb is in the past tense, then usually we change the tenses in the reported speech:

Direct speech: I like ice cream.

Reported speech: She said (that) she liked ice cream.

Tense Direct Speech Reported Speech

present simple I like ice cream She said (that) she liked ice cream.
present
I am living in London She said (that) she was living in London.
continuous
She said (that) she had bought a car OR She said (that) she
past simple I bought a car
bought a car.
I was walking along the
past continuous She said (that) she had been walking along the street.
street
present perfect I haven't seen Julie She said (that) she hadn't seen Julie.
I had taken English
past perfect* She said (that) she had taken English lessons before.
lessons before
will I'll see you later She said (that) she would see me later.
would* I would help, but.. She said (that) she would help but...
I can speak perfect
can She said (that) she could speak perfect English.
English
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I could swim when I was
could* She said (that) she could swim when she was four.
four
shall I shall come later She said (that) she would come later.
should* I should call my mother She said (that) she should call her mother
might* I might be late She said (that) she might be late
I must study at the She said (that) she must study at the weekend OR She said she
must
weekend had to study at the weekend

* doesn't change.
Occasionally, we don't need to change the present tense into the past if the information in direct speech is still
true (but this is only for things which are general facts, and even then usually we like to change the tense):

Direct speech: The sky is blue.

Reported speech: She said (that) the sky is/was blue.

Reported Questions

So now you have no problem with making reported speech from positive and negative sentences. But how
about questions?

Direct speech: Where do you live?

How can we make the reported speech here?

In fact, it's not so different from reported statements. The tense changes are the same, and we keep the
question word. The very important thing though is that, once we tell the question to someone else, it isn't a
question any more. So we need to change the grammar to a normal positive sentence. A bit confusing? Maybe
this example will help:

Direct speech: Where do you live?

Reported speech: She asked me where I lived.

Do you see how I made it? The direct question is in the present simple tense. We make a present simple
question with 'do' or 'does' so I need to take that away. Then I need to change the verb to the past simple.

Another example:

Direct speech: Where is Julie?

Reported speech: She asked me where Julie was.

The direct question is the present simple of 'be'. We make the question form of the present simple of be by
inverting (changing the position of)the subject and verb. So, we need to change them back before putting the
verb into the past simple.
Here are some more examples:
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Direct Question Reported Question
Where is the Post Office, please? She asked me where the Post Office was.
What are you doing? She asked me what I was doing.
Who was that fantastic man? She asked me who that fantastic man had been.

So much for 'wh' questions. But, what if you need to report a 'yes / no' question? We don't have any question
words to help us. Instead, we use 'if':

Direct speech: Do you like chocolate?

Reported speech: She asked me if I liked chocolate.

No problem? Here are a few more examples:

Direct Question Reported Question

Do you love me? He asked me if I loved him.
Have you ever been to Mexico? She asked me if I had ever been to Mexico.
Are you living here? She asked me if I was living here.

Reported Requests

There's more! What if someone asks you to do something (in a polite way)? For example:

Direct speech: Close the window, please

Or: Could you close the window please?
Or: Would you mind closing the window please?

All of these requests mean the same thing, so we don't need to report every word when we tell another person
about it. We simply use 'ask me + to + infinitive':

Reported speech: She asked me to close the window.

Here are a few more examples:

Direct Request Reported Request

Please help me. She asked me to help her.
Please don't smoke. She asked me not to smoke.
Could you bring my book tonight? She asked me to bring her book that night.
Could you pass the milk, please? She asked me to pass the milk.
Would you mind coming early tomorrow? She asked me to come early the next day.

To report a negative request, use 'not':

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Direct speech: Please don't be late.
Reported speech: She asked us not to be late.

Reported Orders
And finally, how about if someone doesn't ask so politely? We can call this an 'order' in English, when
someone tells you very directly to do something. For example:

Direct speech: Sit down!

In fact, we make this into reported speech in the same way as a request. We just use 'tell' instead of 'ask':

Reported speech: She told me to sit down.

Direct Order Reported Order

Go to bed! He told the child to go to bed.
Don't worry! He told her not to worry.
Be on time! He told me to be on time.
Don't smoke! He told us not to smoke.
Time Expressions with Reported Speech
sometimes when we change direct speech into reported speech we have to change time expressions too. We
don't always have to do this, however. It depends on when we heard the direct speech and when we say the
reported speech.
For example:
It's Monday. Julie says "I'm leaving today".
If I tell someone on Monday, I say "Julie said she was leaving today".
If I tell someone on Tuesday, I say "Julie said she was leaving yesterday".
If I tell someone on Wednesday, I say "Julie said she was leaving on Monday".
If I tell someone a month later, I say "Julie said she was leaving that day".
So, there's no easy conversion. You really have to think about when the direct speech was said.
Here's a table of some possible conversions:

now then / at that time

today yesterday / that day / Tuesday / the 27th of June
yesterday the day before yesterday / the day before / Wednesday / the 5th of December
last night the night before, Thursday night
last week the week before / the previous week
tomorrow today / the next day / the following day / Friday
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Tag Questions

You speak English, don't you?

A tag question is a special construction in English. It is a statement followed by a mini-question. We use tag
questions to ask for confirmation. They mean something like: "Is that right?" or "Do you agree?" They are very
common in English.

The basic structure of a tag question is:

Notice that the tag repeats the auxiliary verb (or main verb when be) from the statement and changes it to
negative or positive.

Positive Statement Tag Questions

Look at these examples with positive statements. You will see that most of the time, the auxiliary verb from
the positive statement is repeated in the tag and changed to negative.
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Notice:

the use of do in the two coffee questions. Remember that in Present Simple, do is optional in positive
statements (You like coffee/You do like coffee). But the do must appear in the tag. The same applies to
Past Simple did.
in last two questions, no auxiliary for main verb be in Present Simple and Past Simple. The tag repeats
the main verb.

Negative Statement Tag Questions

Look at these examples with negative statements. Notice that the negative verb in the original statement is
changed to positive in the tag.

Notice:

won't is the contracted form of will not

the tag repeats the auxiliary verb, not the main verb. Except, of course, for the verb be in Present
Simple and Past Simple.
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Answering Tag Questions

How do we answer a tag question? Often, we just say Yes or No. Sometimes we may repeat the tag and
reverse it (They don't live here, do they? Yes, they do). Be very careful about answering tag questions. In
some languages, an opposite system of answering is used, and non-native English speakers sometimes
answer in the wrong way. This can lead to a lot of confusion!

Answer a tag question according to the truth of the situation. Your answer reflects the real facts, not
(necessarily) the question.

For example, everyone knows that snow is white. Look at these questions, and the correct answers:

In some languages, people answer a question like "Snow isn't black, is it?" with "Yes" (meaning "Yes, I agree
with you"). This is the wrong answer in English!

Here are some more examples, with correct answers:

The moon goes round the earth, doesn't it? Yes, it does.
The earth is bigger than the moon, isn't it? Yes.
The earth is bigger than the sun, isn't it? No, it isn't!
Asian people don't like rice, do they? Yes, they do!
Elephants live in Europe, don't they? No, they don't!
Men don't have babies, do they? No.
The English alphabet doesn't have 40 letters, does it? No, it doesn't.

Tag Question Special Cases

Negative adverbs

The adverbs never, rarely, seldom, hardly, barely and scarcely have a negative sense. Even though they may
be in a positive statement, the feeling of the statement is negative. We treat statements with these words like
negative statements, so the question tag is normally positive. Look at these examples:

Intonation
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We can change the meaning of a tag question with the musical pitch of our voice. With rising intonation, it
sounds like a real question. But if our intonation falls, it sounds more like a statement that doesn't require a real
answer:

Imperatives

Sometimes we use question tags with imperatives (invitations, orders), but the sentence remains an imperative
and does not require a direct answer. We use won't for invitations. We use can, can't, will, would for orders.
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Same-way tag questions

Although the basic structure of tag questions is positive-negative or negative-positive, it is sometimes possible
to use a positive-positive or negative-negative structure. We use same-way tag questions to express interest,
surprise, anger etc, and not to make real questions.

Look at these positive-positive tag questions:

So you're having a baby, are you? That's wonderful!

She wants to marry him, does she? Some chance!
So you think that's funny, do you? Think again.

Negative-negative tag questions usually sound rather hostile:

So you don't like my looks, don't you? (British English)

Asking for information or help

Notice that we often use tag questions to ask for information or help, starting with a negative statement. This is
quite a friendly/polite way of making a request. For example, instead of saying "Where is the police station?"
(not very polite), or "Do you know where the police station is?" (slightly more polite), we could say: "You
wouldn't know where the police station is, would you?" Here are some more examples:

You don't know of any good jobs, do you?

You couldn't help me with my homework, could you?
You haven't got $10 to lend me, have you?

Some more special cases

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Mixed Examples of Tag Questions

Here is a list of examples of tag questions in different contexts. Notice that some are "normal" and others seem
to break all the rules:

But you don't really love her, do you?

This'll work, won't it?
Oh you think so, do you?
Well, I couldn't help it, could I?
But you'll tell me if she calls, won't you?
We'd never have known, would we?
Oh you do, do you?
The weather's bad, isn't it?
You won't be late, will you?
Nobody knows, do they?
You never come on time, do you?
You couldn't help me, could you?
You think you're clever, do you?
So you don't think I can do it, don't you? (British English)
Shut up, will you!
She can hardly love him after all that, can she?
Nothing will happen, will it?