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Reported Speech II (Reported Speech With Past Tense Reporting Verb)

Advanced

After this lesson, you will be able to report what other people said in the past.

Exercise 1

Sentence Practice

He told me that he would come.
She said that she would be fine.
He promised that he would study.
She said that she would study more.
They swore they had never seen him before.
He told me he had seen the movie.
She said that she hadn’t seen them.

Grammar Focus

The last lesson taught you to report what other people often say or just said:

Joanne said today, "I am going to China tomorrow."
→ Joanne said today that she is going to China tomorrow.

In this example, the verb remained in the same tense. However, when we report something that has already happened, we need to shift the verb tense backward. For example, if today is Wednesday:

Joanne said on Monday that she was going to China on Tuesday.

Since Joanne has already gone to China, the verb tense changed from present to past: 'is going' became 'was going'.

To report things that have already happened, we shift the present tense to the past, the past tense to the past perfect, and the future tense to the conditional mood:

1. Present → Past

Present Simple → Past Simple
He said, “I love you."
→ He said he loved me.

Present Continuous → Past Continuous
He said, “I am buying a new car.”
→ He said that he was buying a new car.

Present Perfect → Past Perfect
She said, “I have bought some pizza.”
→ She said that she had bought some pizza.

Present Perfect Continuous → Past Perfect Continuous
She said, “I have been running for three hours.”
→ She said that she had been running for three hours.

2. Past → Past Perfect

Past Simple → Past Perfect
He said, “I arrived on Monday.”
→ He said that he had arrived on Monday.

Past Perfect → Past Perfect
He told me, “We had gone to the stadium.”
→ He told me that they had gone to the stadium.

Past Continuous → Past Perfect Continuous
He told me, “We were drinking tea.”
→ He told me that they had been drinking tea.

3. Future → Conditional

Future Simple → Present Conditional
They said, “They will come to the party.”
→ They said that they would come to the party.

Future Continuous → Conditional Continuous
He said, “I will be working on Saturday.”
→ He said that he would be working on Saturday.

Exercise 2

Dialogue Practice

Read the dialogues aloud with your tutor.

Planning for a Party

	Zach I'll order some pizza.
	Liam I'll buy some drinks.
	Haruto I'll bring my friends.

Zach said that he would order some pizza.
Liam said that he would buy some drinks.
Haruto said he would bring his friends.

At a Party

	Yan-ting I want some more beer.
	Hyun-woo There is more (beer) in the fridge.

Yan-ting said that he wanted some more beer.
Hyun-woo said that there was more in the fridge.

One Week After a Party

	Nina You didn't come to my birthday party!
	Ling I'm sorry. I couldn't come because I had a fever.

Nina said that Ling hadn't gone to her party.
Ling said that she couldn't go, because she had had a fever.

Exercise 3

Fill in the Blanks

Fill in the blanks with the indirect speech version of the "words in quotations". If the direct speech sentence has contractions (e.g. 'didn't' instead of 'did not'), use contractions in the indirect sentence.

Example

"I can swim," said Renuka. → She said that she could swim.

Jim told me, "We're meeting at 5pm." → He said that at 5pm.

"We went to school in the morning," said Renuka and Jim. → They said that to school in the morning.

I told her, "I love you." → I told her that .

She told me, "I don't love you." → She told me that .

They said, "Arjun always comes to parties." → They said that to parties.

They said, "Arjun always came to parties." → They said that to parties.

They said, "Arjun will come to the party." → They said that to the party.

Exercise 4

Sentence Building

Your friend makes a lot of promises that she does not keep. Remind her of the things she said using the reported speech.

Example

"I will invite you to my house." → You said you would invite me to your house.

"I will call you later."
"I will go with you to Manila."
"I will come to your birthday party."
"I will visit you soon."
"I will exercise with you."
"I will get you a present for your birthday."
"I will buy you lunch sometime."