Reported speech

Grammar reference

Direct Speech / Quoted Speech

Saying exactly what someone has said is called direct speech (sometimes called quoted speech)

Here what a person says appears within quotation marks ("...") and should be word for word.

For example:

She said, "Today's lesson is on presentations."

or

"Today's lesson is on presentations", she said.

Indirect Speech / Reported Speech

Indirect speech (sometimes called reported speech), doesn't use quotation marks to enclose what the person said and it doesn't have to be word for word.

When reporting speech the tense usually changes. This is because when we use reported speech, we are usually talking about a time in the past (because obviously the person who spoke originally spoke in the past). The verbs therefore usually have to be in the past too.

For example:

Direct speech Indirect speech

"I'm going to the cinema", he said.

He said he was going to the cinema .

Past simple  She said it was cold.

Past continuous  She said she was teaching English online.

Past perfect simple  She said she had been on the web since 1999.

Past perfect continuous  She said she had been teaching English for seven years.

Past perfect  She said she had taught online yesterday.

Past perfect continuous  She said she had been teaching earlier.

Past perfect  NO CHANGE - She said the lesson had already started when he arrived.

Past perfect continuous  NO CHANGE - She said she'd already been teaching for five minutes.

Present simple  She said, "It's cold."

Present continuous  She said, "I'm teaching English online."

Present perfect simple  She said, "I've been on the web since 1999."

Present perfect continuous  She said, "I've been teaching English for seven years."

Past simple  She said, "I taught online yesterday."

Past continuous  She said, "I was teaching earlier."

Past perfect  She said, "The lesson had already started when he arrived."

Past perfect continuous She said, "I'd already been teaching for five minutes."

Modal verb forms also sometimes change :

will  She said, "I'll teach English online tomorrow."

would  She said she would teach English online tomorrow.

can  She said, "I can teach English online."

could  She said she could teach English online.

must  She said, "I must have a computer to teach English online."

had to  She said she had to have a computer to teach English online.

shall  She said, "What shall we learn today?"

should  She asked what we should learn today.

may  She said, "May I open a new browser?"

might  She asked if she might open a new browser.