Reporting what another person said is called "indirect speech" or “reported speech”. It is good to learn how to do reported speech because it is more proper, professional, and clearer than using direct speech. You can see a comparison of the two types of speech below:
I talked to my client today and she said “I am impressed with your service” (direct speech)
I talked to my client today and she said that she was impressed with my service (reported speech)
If you notice in the example above, reported speech involves changing the exact words that the person said into a statement that uses a different tense than the original statement. This is called backshifting, which means changing the tense to a close equivalent but one step back into the past, so "I am impressed" became "she was impressed".
Here are some common changes that happen when using reported speech:
Present Simple becomes Past Simple
Present Continuous becomes Past Continuous
Present Perfect Simple becomes Past Perfect Simple
Will becomes Would
Can becomes Could
How to Change Direct Speech Into Indirect (Reported) Speech
The table below shows you how to change each tense from direct speech into reported speech.
Tense / Form | Direct Speech | Reported Speech (He said that....) |
Present Simple | “I do it” | he did it |
Present Continuous | “I am doing it” | he was doing it |
Present Perfect Simple | “I have done it” | he had done it |
Past Simple | “I did it” | he had done it |
Past Continuous | “I was doing it” | he had been doing it |
Present Perfect Continuous | “I have been doing it” | he had been doing it |
Future (will) | “I will do it” | he would do it |
Future (be going to) | “I am going to do it” | he was going to do it |
Ability | “I can do it” | he could do it |
Other Modals (stay the same) | "I would/should/might do it" | he would/should/might do it |
Changing Time
Words like "today"', "tomorrow", "yesterday", and "right now" need to change in reported speech because if someone said "We are having the meeting today" three days ago, it is not "today" anymore. Therefore, we have to change "today" into "that day": "He said that they were having the meeting that day"
Today: "I'm working today" | That day: He said that he was working that day |
Tomorrow: "I'll do it tomorrow" | The next day: He said that he'll do it the next day |
Yesterday: I called you yesterday | The day before: He said that he had called me the day before |
Right now: I'm busy right now | At the moment: He said that he was busy at the time |
In the examples below, you can see how someone's direct speech can be reported using this indirect speech method:
Direct Speech
"I have a bad headache today so I'm staying home and resting all day. I'm going to return to the office tomorrow. I finished the report yesterday and it is saved on my computer so I will send it to the client tomorrow."
Indirect/Reported Speech
He said that he had a bad headache that day so he was staying home and resting all day. He told me that he was going to return to the office the next day and that he had finished the report the day before and it was saved on his computer so he would send it to the client the next day."
Practice
Change the following direct speech into reported speech using the correct tense in the reported speech part by backshifting:
“There is a problem” = She said that…
“The information needs to be updated” = She said that…
“Our strategy is working well” = She said that…
“The results have been good” = She said that…
“I found a job a few days ago” = She said that…
“The company was growing” = She said that…
“The customers will buy it” = She said that…
“I’m going to call you back later” = She said that…
“I can attend the meeting tomorrow” = She said that…
"I should try it" = She said that...
Answers
“There is a problem” = She said that there was a problem
“The information needs to be updated” = She said that the information needed to be updated
“Our strategy is working well” = She said that = their strategy was working well
“The results have been good” = She said that the results had been good
“I found a job a few days ago” = She said that she had found a job a few days before
“The company was growing” = She said that the company had been growing
“The customers will buy it” = She said that the customers would buy it
“I’m going to call you back later” = She said that she was going to call me back later
“I can attend the meeting tomorrow” = She said that she could attend the meeting the next day
“I should try it” = She said that she should try it
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