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Indirect speech: advanced points

Reporting past tenses​

In indirect speech, a speaker’s past tenses are often reported using past perfect tenses.

  • DIRECT: I’ve just written to Jack.
    INDIRECT: She told me she had just written to Jack.
  • DIRECT: I saw Penny at the theatre a couple of days ago.
    INDIRECT: In her email, she said she’d seen Penny at the theatre a couple of days before.

However, past perfect tenses are not always used, especially if the time relationships are clear without a change from past to past perfect.

  • This man on TV said that dinosaurs were around for 250 million years. (not … that dinosaurs had been around …)
  • I told you Jack (had) phoned this morning, didn’t I?
  • We were glad to hear you (had) enjoyed your trip to Denmark.

Reporting present and future tenses​

If somebody talked about a situation that has still not changed – that is to say, if the original speaker’s present and future are still present and future – a reporter can often choose whether to keep the original speaker’s tenses or to change them, after a past reporting verb. Both structures are common.

  • DIRECT: The earth goes round the sun.
    INDIRECT: He proved that the earth goes/went round the sun.
  • DIRECT: How old are you?
    INDIRECT: Are you deaf? I asked how old you are/were.
  • DIRECT: It will be windy tomorrow.
    INDIRECT: The forecast said it will/would be windy tomorrow.

We are more likely to change the original speaker’s tenses if we do not agree with what he/she said, if we are not certain of its truth, or if we wish to make it clear that the information comes from the original speaker, not from ourselves.

  • The Greeks thought that the sun went round the earth. (not … that the sun goes round the earth.)
  • She just said she was thirty! I don’t believe her for a moment.
  • He announced that profits were higher than forecast.

The modals would, should, could, might, ought and must are usually unchanged after past reporting verbs in indirect speech. This is also true of needn’t (see here) and had better (see here).

  • DIRECT: It would be nice if I could see you again.
    INDIRECT: He said it would be nice if he could see me again.
  • DIRECT: It might be too late.
    INDIRECT: I was afraid that it might be too late.
  • DIRECT: It must be pretty late. I really must go.
    INDIRECT: She said it must be pretty late and she really must go.
  • DIRECT: You needn’t pretend to be sorry.
    INDIRECT: I said he needn’t pretend …

First-person shall and should may be reported as would in indirect speech (because of the change of person).

  • DIRECT: We shall/should be delighted to come.
  • INDIRECT: They said they would be delighted to come.
note

For had to as a past of must, (see here).

Reporting ‘Shall I …?’​

There are different ways of reporting questions beginning Shall I …?, depending on whether the speaker is asking for information or making an offer.

  • DIRECT: Shall I be needed tomorrow? (BrE, information)
    INDIRECT: He wants to know if he will be needed tomorrow.
  • DIRECT: Shall I carry your bag? (offer)
    INDIRECT: He wants to know if he should/can/could carry your bag.

Conditionals​

After past reporting verbs, sentences with if and would are usually unchanged.

  • DIRECT: It would be best if we started early.
  • INDIRECT: He said it would be best if they started early.

However, if-sentences that refer to ‘unreal’ situations can change as follows.

  • DIRECT: If I had any money I’d buy you a drink.
  • INDIRECT: She said if she had had any money, she would have bought me a drink. (or She said if she had any money, she would buy …)

Negative questions​

Negative questions often express emotions such as surprise or enthusiasm (see here), and these are usually reported in special ways.

  • DIRECT: Don’t the children like ice cream?
    INDIRECT: She was surprised that the children didn’t like ice cream. (not She asked if the children didn’t like ice cream.)
  • DIRECT: Isn’t she lovely!
    INDIRECT: I remarked how lovely she was. (not I asked if she wasn’t lovely.)

Word order with what, who and which​

Questions beginning who/what/which + be can ask for a subject or a complement. Compare:

  • Who is the best player here? (This asks for a subject: a possible answer is Jack is the best player here.)
  • What is the time? (This asks for a complement: a possible answer is The time is 4.30, not 4.30 is the time.)

When we report the first kind of question (where who/what/which + be asks for a subject), two word orders are possible.

  • DIRECT: Who’s the best player here?
    INDIRECT:
    • She asked me who was the best player.
    • She asked me who the best player was.
  • DIRECT: What’s the matter?
    INDIRECT:
    • I asked what was the matter.
    • I asked what the matter was.
  • DIRECT: Which is my seat?
    INDIRECT:
    • She wondered which was her seat.
    • She wondered which her seat was.

This does not normally happen when who/what/which asks for a complement, except in very informal speech.

  • DIRECT: What’s the time?
  • INDIRECT: She asked what the time was. (informally also She asked what was the time.)

She’s written I don’t know how many books.​

Complicated structures can be produced in informal speech when reporting expressions are put into sentences with question-word clauses or relatives.

  • She’s written I don’t know how many books.
  • He’s gone I don’t know where.
  • This is the man who Anna said would tell us about the church.
note

For more about relative structures of this kind, (see here).

For more about embedding (clauses inside clauses) in general, (see here).

Indirect speech without reporting verbs​

In newspaper, radio and TV reports, reports of parliamentary debates, records of conferences, minutes of meetings, etc, the indirect speech construction is often used with very few reporting verbs. The use of tenses is enough to make it clear that a text is a report.

  • The Managing Director began his address to the shareholders by summarising the results for the year. Profits on the whole had been high, though one or two areas had been disappointing. It was, however, important to maintain a high level of investment, and he was sure that the shareholders would appreciate …

In literary narrative, similar structures are common. The reported speech may be made more vivid by using direct question structures and ‘here and now’ words.

  • At breakfast, Daniel refused to go to school. Why should he spend all his time sitting listening to idiots? What use was all that stuff anyway? If he stayed at home he could read books. He might even learn something useful. His father, as usual, was unsympathetic. Daniel had to go to school, by damn, and he had better get moving now, or there’d be trouble.