Reported speech in assertive sentences

Here we discuss how to report  a direct speech in assertive sentence.

A direct speech in assertive sentence is reported in  ‘two ways’  on the basis of  the absence and presence of reporting objects.

I )  If there is no reporting object,    (say/says that)  or  (said that) or  (will/shall say that)   is to be written after the reporting subject as explained below in detail,   and   then the assertive sentence can be reported  by applying all the changes  discussed in earlier topics.

• (Say/ says that) is written,  when  the reporting verb is  in simple present,  according to the numbers of the subject and   then,  there will be no change in the tense form of the direct speech.

Eg: We say,” The exam will be cancelled”

( no reporting object, and also the reporting statement is in simple present)

 We say that the exam will be cancelled

 (  ‘say that’)  is written,   as the subject is ‘plural’, and  the tense form of the direct speech is not changed,   as the reporting verb is in simple present)

• (Said that) is  written when the reporting verb is in simple past form and   the tense form of the  direct  speech will be changed.

Eg: James said , “  I have bought a chain for my wife”

( no reporting object and  the direct speech is in simple past form)

James said that he had bought a chain for his wife

 ( as the reporting verb is in simple past form, the tense form of the direct speech is changed)

• (Will/shall that)  is written when the reporting verb  is  in simple future form and  also the tense form of the direct speech will not be changed.

Eg; He shall say,” I will not come tomorrow”

 ( there is no reporting object and the reporting verb is in simple future form)

He shall say that he  shall not come tomorrow

( as the reporting verb is in simple future form, the tense form of the reported speech is not changed and  ‘shall’ is used instead of ‘will’ to maintain the serious sense of the future  in the sentence as we studied in the topic  simple future tense).

II )    If there is a reporting object,   (tell/tells + R.O +that)  or  ( told + R.O +that)  or  (will/shall + tell + R.O +  that) is to be written after the reporting subject and  then we can report the assertive sentence as per the rules we have studied earlier.  ( here  ‘R.O’. stands for  ‘Reporting Object’. )

• (Tell/tells +R.O + that)  is to be written after the reporting subject,  when the reporting verb is in simple present form and  then the tense form of the direct speech is not changed.

Eg:  James says to me “  I often go to gents beauty parlour”

( reporting object is ‘me’ and  the reporting verb is in simple present form)

James tells me that he often goes to gents beauty parlour

( here the tense form of the direct speech is not  changed as the reporting verb is in simple present form)

• (Told + R.O + that) is to be written when the reporting verb is in simple past form and then the tense form of the direct speech is changed.

Eg:  Varghese said to his uncle, “ I saw you yesterday at market”

( here there is a reporting object ‘his uncle’ and the reporting verb is in simple past form. So the tense form of the direct speech is to be changed as follows)

Varghese told his uncle that he had seen him the last day at market.

• (Will/shall + tell + R.O + that)  is to be written when the reporting verb is in  simple future form  and  then the tense form of the direct speech will not be changed, as we discussed in the topic exceptional rules in reported speech.

Eg: They will say to the manager, “ We can’t afford our daily expenses with our salary”

Reported speech in imperative sentence.

As we know,  imperative sentence is used to denote a ‘wish’, ‘warning’, ‘advice’, ‘order’, ‘command’, ‘suggestion’, ‘request’, etc.

Before reporting an imperative sentence,    the reporting verb in the question is to be changed, according to  the sense that the sentence expresses  and also in accordance with the tense form of the reporting verb,  as explained step by step below,

Step 1

If the reporting verb is  simple present,   the reporting verb in the answer should be changed into,

‘wish/wishes’ or ‘warn/warns’ or ‘advise/advises’ or ‘order/orders’ or ‘command/commands’ or ‘suggest/suggests’ or ‘request/requests’ according to the sense of the direct speech.  ( reporting object should be written after these verbs)

Step 2

If the reporting verb is  simple past,  the reporting verb should be,

‘Wished’  or  ‘warned’  or  ‘advised’  or  ‘ordered’  or  ‘commanded’  or  ‘suggested’  or  ‘requested’

Step 3

If the reporting verb is   simple future,  the reporting verb should be,

‘Will/shall + wish’  or  ‘will/shall + warn’  or  ‘will/shall + advise’  or   ‘will/shall + order’  or  ‘will/shall + command’  or  ‘will/shall + suggest’  or  ‘will/shall + request’.

Step 4

 After changing the reporting verb as mentioned above and writing the reporting object,    ‘to’  or ‘not to’  should be written on the basis of   ‘positive’  and  ‘negative ‘ meaning.

Step 5

If the sentence is in  ‘positive’ meaning,   ‘to’  is to be written and  if  ‘negative’   ‘not to’  is to be written ( instead of  ‘don’t’,  ‘never’  etc in the direct speech)

Then write down the direct speech  as seen in the question after making  required changes there. ( in imperative sentences, verbs don’t have tense forms. So we don’t have to concern about the changes of tense)

Eg: Teacher says to students,” study well and get ready for the exam”

 ( the sense that the sentence expresses is an ‘advice’;    the reporting verb  ‘says’  is  in  ‘simple present’ form;  the sentence is in  ‘positive meaning’,  the subject  ‘Teacher’ is  singular)

Teacher ‘advises’ students  ‘to’ study well and get ready for the exam.

( the reporting verb ‘says’ is changed as  ‘advises’  according to tense form  of the ‘reporting verb’ and the ‘sense’ of the  ‘direct speech’ and after it the reporting object ‘students’ is written ;     as the sentence is in positive meaning,   ‘to’ is written here)

His father said to James, “ Don’t repeat it”

( the sense is ‘warning’;   the word ‘don’t’ denotes  ‘negative meaning’)

His father ‘warned’ James  ‘not to’  repeat it.

( reporting verb is changed as ‘warned’ according to the tense form of the ‘reporting verb’ and the  ‘sense’  of the ‘direct speech’ ;   ‘not to’  is written instead of ‘don’t’ in the direct speech)

Mathew will say to him, “ come here at the earliest”

( the ‘reporting verb’  is in ‘simple future’ form and the ‘direct speech’ expresses  ‘a command’;  the sentence is in  ‘positive’ meaning)

Mathew  ‘will command’ him  ‘to’ come there at the earliest.

( ‘reporting verb’  is changed as  ‘will command’ according to the tense form of the reporting verb and the sense of the direct speech;   as the direct speech is positive,   ‘to’ is written)

Step 6

If the direct speech expresses a  ‘request’,  the word ‘please’ or ‘kindly’ or any word expressing a request is to be avoided in reported speech.

Eg: Mohan said to his friend, “Please give me the instructions to operate the machine”

( here,  the direct speech expresses a ‘request’ by the word ‘please’ and also the sentence is in ‘positive meaning’;  the reporting verb ‘said’ is in ‘simple past form’)

Mohan ‘requested’  his friend ‘to’ give him the instructions to operate the machine.

(reporting verb ‘said’ is changed as  ‘requested’  according to the ‘tense’ form of the ‘reporting verb’ and the ‘sense’ of the ‘direct speech’;   ‘to’ is written,  as the direct speech expresses ‘positive’ meaning)

Reported speech in interrogative sentences

Interrogative sentences are in two types, that is,

1) Question word beginning interrogative sentences

Pattern– QW. + Aux + S + V + O ?

Eg: When did he give you the book ?

 2 )   Auxiliary beginning interrogative sentences or  ‘Yes’  or ‘No’ questions

Pattern – Aux + S + V + O ?

Eg: Do you know Grammar ?

Here,  when we report interrogative sentences,  we have to change the reporting verb  as  ‘ask/asks’   or   ‘ asked’  or   ‘will/shall ask’   according to the tense form of the reporting statement. 

( reporting object should be written after that)

That is, if the  ‘reporting verb’  is ‘simple present’,    ‘ask /asks’  should be written after the subject

If the ‘reporting verb’  is  ‘simple past’,   ‘asked’ should be written after the subject

If the  ‘reporting verb’  is  ‘simple future’,   ‘will/shall ask’  should be written after the subject of the reporting statement.

After writing as mentioned above,  we have to change the interrogative sentence into statement form and then report it by applying all the required changes.

But,  there is a slight difference between  reporting  ‘question word’  beginning and  ‘auxiliary beginning’ interrogative sentences.

Question word beginning interrogative sentences are reported by changing  the rest of the sentence   into statement form  ( S + V + O ) after writing  the  question word , as shown below.

Martin said, “ How  has he arrived here?” ( present perfect tense)

As  explained above,   first of all,   we have to change the reporting verb  ‘said’  into ‘asked’,   as the reporting verb  is in simple past form.

 Then   after writing the question word ‘ How’,  we have to change the rest of the sentence   “ has he arrived here’’  into statement form as  “he has arrived here”  and  then report it as  ‘he had arrived there’.

So we get the answer as,

Martin asked how he had arrived there.

Here,  as the reporting verb is simple past,   ‘ asked’ is written and also the ‘present perfect’ form of the verb in the direct speech is changed into  ‘past perfect’ in the reported speech.

Another example,

Thomas says, “ How do we get rain ?”

( here the reporting verb ‘says’  and  also the ‘direct speech’ are in simple present form)

Thomas asks how they  get rain.

(Here, as the reporting verb  ‘says’ is ‘simple present’,   ‘asks’  is written as  reporting verb and  also the  reported speech is written in simple present form.)

The difference in reporting  ‘auxiliary beginning interrogative sentences’ is

 To  add  ‘whether’ or  ‘if’  before the sentence and,  change the whole sentence into  statement form.  After doing so,  the sentence can be reported.

Eg:  John said, “ Will Peter come tomorrow?”

( Reporting verb ‘said’ is simple past  and  the Auxiliary beginning interrogative sentence is in simple future)

John asked ‘whether’ Peter would come the next day.

Here ‘asked’ is written,   as the reporting verb ‘said’ is simple past.

Then ‘whether’ is added before changing the whole sentence into statement form.

Then  the direct speech in auxiliary beginning sentence is reported by changing the modal ‘will’ into ‘would’

and  the word  ‘tomorrow’ into ‘the next day’ ,   as we have studied in the earlier topics,  Changes in tenses, modals and be-forms   and   Change of words in Reported speech.

Another example,

Mary says to Mathew, “Have you seen operas ?” 

( Reporting verb ‘says’ is  ‘simple present’  and  the direct speech is in present perfect form)

Mary asks mathew if he has seen operas.

Here,  the reporting verb ‘says’ is changed into  ‘asks’ and then the direct speech is reported  by adding ‘if’  before the sentence  and changing the whole sentence into statement form.

But there is no change in  the tense , as the reporting verb is in simple present form.

In exclamatory sentences

As we know,  exclamatory sentences are used to denote strong feelings,  and also they have two different patterns, such as,

1 )           What +   (a + adjective + noun/ pronoun)  + V + S  + O ! (exclamation mark)

eg: What a lovely man is your husband !

Before reporting,  change the sentence into statement form by avoiding ‘what’ as 

‘S + V + ( a + adjective + noun/ pronoun)’, that is , 

your husband is a lovely man.

2)              How + adjective/adverb + S + V + O ! (exclamation  mark)

eg: How wonderful the picture is !   

 How  beautifully you sang the song !

Before reporting the sentence,   change it  into statement form by adding  ‘Very’  before  ‘adjective’ or  ‘adverb’ instead of   ‘How’, as  

S + V + O + Very + adj/adv., 

that is,

The picture is very wonderful.

You sang the song very beautifully.

After doing it,  exclamatory sentences can be reported by applying required changes. 

And also it should be noted that,   after the reporting subject   ‘exclaim that/ exclaims that’  or   ‘exclaimed that’ or   ‘will/shall exclaim that’  should be written according to the tense form of the reporting verb,

that is,

if  ‘simple present’,    ‘exclaim that/ exclaims that’  should be written,

if ‘simple past’ ,      ‘exclaimed that’   should be written,

if ‘simple future’,     ‘will/shall exclaim that’ should be written

So, let’s try to report  the exclamatory sentences given below,

1  Mathew says, ”  How  beautiful the sky is ! ”

( reporting verb  ‘says’  and  ‘the direct speech’  are in simple present form)

Mathew exclaims that the sky is very beautiful.  (  S + V + very + adj )

( Here,  ‘ exclaims that’  is written,   as the reporting verb is simple present.   So, the indirect speech is also  written in simple present)

2  John said, ” What  a wonderful dream is it !”

   ( reporting verb  ‘said’  is  ‘simple past’  and  ‘the direct speech’ is in  ‘simple present’ form )

John exclaimed that it was a wonderful dream.  ( S + V + ( a + adj + pronoun) )

( Here, ‘exclaimed that’ is written,  as the reporting verb is  ‘simple past’.   As the reporting verb is  ‘simple past’,  the direct speech is changed into  ‘simple past tense’  from simple present)

3   My wife will say, ”  How lovely you are !”

( reporting verb ‘will say’  is   ‘simple future’  and   ‘the direct speech’  is  in  ‘simple present form’)

My wife will exclaim that I am very lovely.

( Here, as the reporting verb is  ‘simple future’,    ‘will exclaim that’ is written.    As the reporting verb is ‘simple future’,    the tense form of the direct speech is not changed )