Or how to express

what someone else said before!

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DIRECT SPEECH:

It transcribes literally what somebody said before

We don’t need to change the sentence

My father said: ‘You need to eat better!’

REPORTED SPEECH:

It reformulates what somebody said before into one’s own sentence

We need to change the sentence

My father said (THAT) I needed to eat better!

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Changes on TENSES

Simple present Go Simple past Went

Simple past Went Past perfect Had gone

Past perfect (doesn’t change) Had gone

Present continuous

Is goingPast continuous

Was going

Past continuousWas going Past perfect

continuousHad been going

Past perfect continuous (doesn’t change)

Had been going

Will Will go Would Would go

WouldWould go

Would have …Would have

gone

Shall Shall go Should Should go

Can Can go Could Could go

May May go Might Might go

Must / have to Have to go Had to Had to go

Could, might, had to, should, would, ought to (don’t change)

Could, might, had to, should, would, ought to goIES Hermógenes Rodríguez

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CHANGES ON PRONOUNSI He, she / him, her

My His, herWe They / themYou I, he, she, we, they / me, himYour My, his, her, our, their

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It rephrases the sentence according to the following structure:

Subject + 'said' + (that) + subordinate sentence He said: ‘I’m really tired!’………… He said (that) he was really tired Subject + 'told' + object pronoun + (that) +

subordinate sentence He told me: ‘I’m really tired!’ ………… He told me (that) he was really tired

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• “I have something to show you” I said to her• I said to her (THAT) I had something to show her• “Nothing grows in my garden”, she said.• She said (THAT) nothing grew in her garden• “I’m leaving tomorrow”, he informed his mother.• He informed his mother (THAT) he was leaving

the next / following day • "The film had already started when they

arrived," I said. • I said (that) the film had already started when

they arrived• "No way! I won't phone Mary," he said He said (that) he wouldn’t phone Mary

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"You must be prepared for the worst," the doctor said

The doctor said (that) I had to be prepared for the worst

"We're meeting John next weekend," she said to me She said to me (that) they were meeting John the

following weekend "You must tell the truth," they said to us The said to us (that) we had to tell the truth "They saw the vase was broken once they opened

the parcel," I said I said (that) they saw the vase was broken once

they had opened the parcel "I'm doing my homework now," the boy said The boy said (that) he was doing his homework then

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