Lessons
Grammar
💬
Reported Speech
Grammar
Advanced
+35 XP
~1 min
Report what people said using indirect speech with correct tense backshifting.
📖 Lesson
Direct vs Reported Speech
Direct: She said, "I am tired."
Reported: She said (that) she was tired.
Tense Backshifting
| Direct | Reported |
|---|---|
| present simple | past simple |
| present continuous | past continuous |
| past simple | past perfect |
| will | would |
| can | could |
| must | had to |
Time and Place Changes
- now → then
- today → that day
- tomorrow → the next day / the following day
- yesterday → the day before
- here → there
- this → that
Reporting Verbs
Instead of "said", use precise verbs:
- told (+ object): He told me he was leaving.
- asked: She asked if I was ready.
- warned: He warned us not to be late.
- promised: She promised she would help.
- suggested: He suggested going by train.
Questions in Reported Speech
Direct: "Where do you live?" he asked.
Reported: He asked where I lived. (no inversion, no question mark)
Follow Along reads paragraph by paragraph with highlighting.
Hover underlined words for quick definitions.
🃏 Key Vocabulary — tap to flip
7 wordsbackshift
/ˈbækʃɪft/
Advanced
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Definition
The change of verb tense when converting direct speech to reported speech
"In reported speech, 'I am tired' becomes 'She said she was tired' — that's backshift."
Tap to flip back
discourse markers
/ˈdɪskɔːrs ˈmɑːrkərz/
Advanced
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Definition
Words or phrases that connect ideas and show relationships between clauses in speech
"Words like 'well', 'you see', and 'I mean' are discourse markers often omitted in reported speech."
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reporting verb
/rɪˈpɔːrtɪŋ vɜːrb/
Advanced
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Definition
A verb used to introduce what someone said, like 'say', 'claim', 'allege', or 'maintain'
"The reporting verb 'insist' carries a stronger meaning than 'say' in reported speech."
Tap to flip back
deictic shift
/deɪˈɪktɪk ʃɪft/
Advanced
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Definition
The change of perspective words like 'here', 'now', 'I', and 'this' when reporting speech
"In reported speech, deictic shift changes 'I'll do it tomorrow' to 'She said she'd do it the next day'."
Tap to flip back
syntactic embedding
/sɪnˈtæktɪk ɛmˈbɛdɪŋ/
Advanced
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Definition
The grammatical process of placing a clause inside another clause in reported speech
"Syntactic embedding allows us to nest reported speech within complex sentence structures."
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presupposition
/ˌprɛsəpəˈzɪʃən/
Advanced
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Definition
Information implied as true in reported speech without being explicitly stated
"'He mentioned he was late' presupposes that being late occurred — unlike 'he denied he was late'."
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faithfulness
/ˈfeɪθfəlnəs/
Advanced
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Definition
The degree to which reported speech accurately preserves the original meaning and tone
"Using 'claim' instead of 'say' affects the faithfulness of your reported speech to the original message."
Tap to flip back
✏️ Fill in the Blank
Type the missing word to complete each sentence.
In reported speech, 'I am tired' becomes 'She said she was tired' — that's ___.
Words like 'well', 'you see', and 'I mean' are ___ often omitted in reported speech.
The ___ 'insist' carries a stronger meaning than 'say' in reported speech.
In reported speech, ___ changes 'I'll do it tomorrow' to 'She said she'd do it the next day'.
___ allows us to nest reported speech within complex sentence structures.
🧠 Practice Quizzes
Test Your Knowledge: Advanced English Grammar
5 questions · 10 min · +60 XP
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