📄️ Reported speech
Reported speech is how we represent the speech of other people or what we ourselves say. There are two main types of reported speech: direct speech and indirect speech.
📄️ Reported speech: direct speech
Direct speech is a representation of the actual words someone said. A direct speech report usually has a reporting verb in the past simple. The most common reporting verb is said. The reporting clause may come first or second.
📄️ Reported speech: indirect speech
Indirect speech focuses more on the content of what someone said rather than their exact words. In indirect speech, the structure of the reported clause depends on whether the speaker is reporting a statement, a question or a command.
📄️ Reported speech: reporting nouns
Reporting nouns are nouns such as comment, criticism, remark, statement. We can represent indirect speech with reporting nouns as well as with reporting verbs. These are more common in writing than speaking, and are usually quite formal. (Reported speech is underlined.)