Page 130 - Nidalist

Reported speech overview When forming reported speech from direct speech, See also:

some words change in order to keep the meaning
Present simple 1 Past simple 7 Tenses in reported
consistent. Other words stay the same. speech 44 Modal verbs 56 Personal pronouns 77

CHANGING REFERENCES IN REPORTED SPEECH
Certain words have TENSE PRONOUNS TIME REFERENCES
variable reference, which
means their meaning is
context-dependent.
In order to retain the
meaning of the direct
speech, reported The tense usually moves back.
speech usually revises
tenses, pronouns,
and time references.

“My” changes to “Tomorrow” changes to
“her” to refer back “the next day” to keep
to the first speaker. the meaning the same.

REPORTING VERBS IN THE PRESENT TENSE REPORTING MODAL VERBS

The reporting verb can be in the present tense. Most modal verbs, except for “will” and “can,” behave differently from other verbs.
In this case, the tense of the sentence doesn’t change. No matter what the tense of the direct speech, they don’t change in reported speech.

Reporting verb is in The main verb doesn’t The modal verb is the
the present tense. change tense. same as in direct speech.

Using “tell” in the present tense The reported verb also doesn’t
can be more emphatic than “say.” change from direct speech.

128 129

128-129_Unit_48_Reported_Speech_Overview.indd 128 25/07/2016 11:12 128-129_Unit_48_Reported_Speech_Overview.indd 129 25/07/2016 11:12