Reported Speech (RS) is used to describe what someone has said. In this case, we don’t say the exact same words. The original sentence that had been said will change its time or verb tense. This means that in the reported speech, we will have tochange the verb tense. It´s easy. We just have togo down one tense.For instance, if the quote (sentence) has been said in the present simple, we will change it to the past simple. This is merely because that quote has been said in the past.
Image 1
Original sentences
Peter: “I wantto live in Tokyo.”
Peter: “I’mtaking Japanese lessons at the moment”
Peter: “Iamgoing to apply for a job in Japan”
Reported Speech (RS)
Peter said he wanted to live in Tokyo.
He also said he wastaking Japanese lessons at the moment.
He added he wasgoing to apply for a job in Japan.
Let’s take a peek at the following chart:
Chart 1
II. KEY POINTS TO KEEP IN MIND:
Image 2In RS we don’t use quotations marks (“”).
When a statement/sentence is being reported, we often use words such as “say-said, explain-explained, tell-told, inform-informed, add-added”etc.
• Also, when using RS, some words such as verbs, pronouns, time and place expressions may change. This is because the speaker (whoever is reporting the original sentence) may be different.
III. Are there any Verb Tense Changes in Reported Speech?
Yes, absolutely. If the original statement or sentence is in any of the following verb tenses, we will have to change it when using RS. For this reason, we have to go over the following tenses.
Once again, let’s take a peek at the following chart:
Chart 2
Note: the word (that) is optional, the intended meaning won't be affected if you don’t use (that).
IV. CONSOLIDATION. NOW TRY THE FOLLOWING QUIZ.
Choose the correct option to complete the following sentences in Reported Speech correctly.
V. LANGUAGE USE PRACTICE
EXERCISE I. Choose a, b, c or d to complete the following sentences correctly.
VI. READING COMPREHENSION AND VOCABULARY BUILDING
WHAT IT TAKES
A: Interviewer_ Alice Winkler
M: Guest Speaker: Maya Angelou_Writer & Poet
________________________________________
(I) A: The cadence is unmistakable. It only takes a few words to know when you’re listening to the voice of Maya Angelou.
(II) M: I was known to be weird, but black Americans didn’t call me weird. People would see me in the road. My grandmother owned most of the land behind the town, most of the land the poor whites lived on, most of the land the blacks lived on, and the only black-owned store in the town. And so people had many reasons to be angry with Mama, since Mama was severe. So people disliked my grandmother. They’d see me in the street and say, "Mm-mm. It’s a shame Sister Henderson’s California granddaughter has gone mental." And then Mama used to tell me… "Mama knows, when you and the good Lord get ready, you’re going to be a preacher." I used to sit there and think, "Poor, Mama."
(III) A: Well, she didn’t exactly become a preacher, but her mother was right. Words became her divine instrument, her poems, her memoirs, and her performances a kind of benediction. Maya Angelou was a sage and officially a national treasure. President Obama gave her the 2010 Presidential Medal of Freedom. When he introduced her, he mentioned that his own sister was named after her, and he said Angelou had risen with unbending determination and spoken to the conscience of our nation.
(IV) PRESIDENT OBAMA:By holding onto her humanity, she has inspired countless others who have known injustice and misfortune in their own lives. I won't try to say it better than Maya Angelou herself, who wrote that: "History, despite its wrenching pain, cannot be unlived, and if faced with courage, need not be lived again. Lift up your eyes upon the day breaking for you. Give birth again to the dream."
(V) A: This is What It Takes, a podcast about passion, vision, and perseverance from the Academy of Achievement. On this episode, we mine the Academy’s vault of recordings to bring you Maya Angelou. She was a member of the Academy of Achievement, and she spoke at a vast number of Academy events during the 1990s. During those talks, she didn’t give much detail about the traumas of her early life or, for that matter, about her extraordinary years as a writer, a performer, and a civil rights activist. All that had been documented already very well in her seven memoirs, starting with “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings”. Instead, she talked about the lessons she’d learned from overcoming odds that were clearly stacked against her, lessons that might help others. These Academy of Achievement events were for students from around the country, and Ms. Angelou’s heart was never bigger than when she had the chance to inspire young people. We will start with Maya Angelou herself, here explaining why, as a child, she suddenly fell silent.
(VI) M: I spoke until I was seven-and-a-half. I had voice, but I simply refused to use it. So I was what was called a volunteer mute. After two or three years, I forgot why I stopped speaking. I just didn’t talk, and it was the love of poetry and a mentor who drew me out of myself. She told me I loved poetry. I wrote about it. I wrote it, bad poetry, admittedly — bad poetry in my early years. But I had a tablet, which I kept in my belt, and I wrote everything. Anytime anybody asked me anything, my answers were written, and this woman told me — Mrs. Flowers in Arkansas. She said, "If you really loved poetry, you would speak it." She was the one who had started me to reading it, and then she said, "Until you feel it comes across your teeth, over your tongue, through your lips, you will never love poetry, so I don’t want to hear you speak. I don’t want you to tell me. I will not read anything you write until you feel it." And I wept for six months, and I mewled around again and again, and she kept harassing me until, finally, I went under the house with a book of poetry, and I tried to speak, and I had voice. And as you see, from there on, I’ve almost not stopped talking.
(VII) A: Maya Angelou was not the name she was born with. Her given name was Marguerite Annie Johnson. Her brother nicknamed her Maya. Well, this was our beloved Maya Angelou_ truth-teller, writer, professor, poet, and performer. We could listen to her forever. Our next episode will also feature Ms. Angelou. She'll be paying tribute to her friend Martin Luther King Jr. and his legacy. I'm Alice Winkler, and this is What It Takes from the Academy of Achievement.
VII. PRACTICE I
PRACTICE I. For each question or statement, mark the correct answer.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Azar, B. S., Azar, D.A., & Koch R.S. (2009). Understanding and Using English Grammar. Longman.
Barker C. and Mitchell, L. (2004). Mega 1 (First Ed.). Macmillan Publishers.
Hewings, M. (2013) Advanced Grammar in Use with Answers: A Self-Study Reference and Practice Book for Advanced Learners of English. CUP
Murray, L. (2014) English Grammar.Cambridge University Press.
(2021) Practice exercise written by Connie Reyes_Language Department at ENES-LEON UNAM
Audio version performed by Sally and Matthew_Voicemker_Text to Speech Converter_Connie Reyes 2022 Subscription
(2021) Practice exercise written by Connie Reyes-Cruz_Language Department at ENES-LEON UNAM
Interview by Alice Winkler. Published on May 04, 2018. Text retrieved from _ https://learningenglish.voanews.com/a/what-it-takes-maya-angelou-1/4364292.html
(2021) Practice exercise written by Connie Reyes-Cruz_Language Department at ENES-LEON UNAM
Audio version performed by Sally / Matthew_Voicemaker_Text to Speech Converter_Connie Reyes-Cruz 2022 Subscription
