Reported Speech




	Reported Speech

We use reported speech when we need to report back what somebody else has said. This happens quite often in report writing.

Look at these examples:


	Sandra said, "I live in Sweden."

	Paco said, "I am going to France next year."

	Frank said, "I never eat mushrooms."

	Eva said, "I can never remember his name."

	Maria said, "I've lost my umbrella."

	Henry said, "I've been looking forward to meeting you."

	Julia said, "We met him last year."

	Peter said, "I had forgotten about the meeting."

	David said, "We will finish the job next week."


	She said that* she lived in Sweden.

	He said that he was going to France next year.

	He said that he never ate mushrooms.

	She said that she could never remember his name.

	She said she had lost her umbrella.

	He said that he had been looking forward to meeting me.

	She said that they had met him the year before.

	He said that he had forgotten about the meeting.

	He said that they would finish the job the following week.

* In conversation it is not usual for ‘that’ to actually be used in a ‘that’ clause. However, the more formal the writing, the more often you will find it .

Notice how the time tenses change: Present becomes Past; Present Perfect becomes Past Perfect; can becomes could; will becomes would, and so on.

Remember that time changes. "next year" may be better written "the following year", "today" may be better written "that day" etc.