Academia Teach: Useful Language Skills: Reported Speech
Why Does Reported Speech Change?
Imagine your friend tells you:
“I’m leaving tomorrow.”
A few hours later, another friend asks:
“What did she say?”
You probably wouldn’t repeat the sentence exactly. Instead, you would naturally adapt it to the new moment.
You’d say:
She said that she was leaving the next day.
This is called Reported Speech.
When we report what someone said, we often move the sentence into the past because we’re talking about something that was said earlier. This process is known as backshift.
Direct Speech | Reported Speech |
am / is | was |
are | were |
have / has | had |
do / does | did |
will | would |
can | could |
Notice that the speaker’s words stay the same, but the grammar changes because the situation has changed.
Time and Place Expressions
Sometimes, changing the verb isn’t enough.
If the conversation happened in a different place or at a different time, some expressions also need to change.
Direct Speech | Reported Speech |
today | that day |
tonight | that night |
now | then |
yesterday | the day before |
tomorrow | the next day |
last week | the week before |
next week | the following week |
this | that |
these | those |
here | there |
For example:
Direct Speech
Nico said,
“I’m leaving tomorrow.”
Reported Speech
Emilia told Ale that Nico was leaving the next day.
Does Backshift Always Happen?
Not always.
If the information is still true when you report it, English speakers often keep the original tense.
For example:
Direct Speech
Claudette said,
“Vancouver is an expensive city.”
Reported Speech
Emilia said that Vancouver is an expensive city.
The city is still expensive, so changing the tense isn’t necessary.
MINI TEACH TIP
Don’t think of Reported Speech as changing words. Think of it as moving the conversation to a new moment in time.
When the context changes, the grammar often changes too.
Practice:
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