Reported speech | examples and exercises When direct speech is changed into reported speech , with a reporting verb in the past , the verb tense , the pronouns and the time-phrase may all have to be changed to indicate the time shift to the past : • 'We'll be getting married this year,' he said, (direct speech) • He says (that) they'll be getting married this year. (reported speech with a present reporting verb) • He said (that) they would be getting married that year. (reported speech with a past reporting verb) It is usually better style to use more precise reporting verbs than say or tell when turning (usually informal ) direct statements into (usually more formal) reported ones. Examples are: advise, apologise, congratulate, promise, remind. The modals should, would, could, ought and might do not change tense in reported speech, and neither do the second and third conditionals. With a reported second or third conditional, that i...
Learn English Online. English For All comes today with many resources to make learning English easier and give you the chance to succeed.
Comments
Post a Comment