Uso del Reported Speech en Inglés: Cambios en Tiempos Verbales

Curso de Inglés Intermedio B1: Preguntas Negativas y Recomendaciones

Contenido del curso

Introduction

1
Estructuras Paralelas y Preguntas Negativas en Inglés B1 Intermedio
02:00 min

Grammar structures in the News and on TV

Recommendations, Expectations, and Negative Questions

Adverbs and Prepositions

See you next time!

21
Técnicas Avanzadas de Escritura Formal en Español
01:12 min

Cursos Empresas Blog Live Conf Eventos Precios

0:004:55

Uso del Reported Speech en Inglés: Cambios en Tiempos Verbales

Curso de Inglés Intermedio B1: Preguntas Negativas y Recomendaciones

Clase 4 de 21

Clase 4 / 21

Reported speech / Tense changes

Spokeswoman: “We are thinking of a way to reduce the financial deficit that this situation put us in. We have come up with 3 alternatives”.

How would someone report to others what she said?

Do words change when they are reported?

The spokeswoman said they were thinking of a way to reduce the financial deficit that the situation had put them in. She said they had come up with 3 alternatives

Tense changes

Normally, the tense in reported speech is one tense back in time from the tense in direct speech:

Phrase in direct speech	Equivalent in reported speech
Simple present	Simple past
Present continuous	Past continuous
Simple past	Past perfect
Present perfect	Past perfect
Past perfect	Past perfect
Present perfect continuous	Past perfect continuous
Past continuous	Past perfect continuous
Future	Present conditional
Future continuous	Conditional continuous

Examples

DIRECT:

“I always drink coffee”

REPORTED:

She said she always drank coffee

DIRECT:

Walter arrived on Tuesday

REPORTED:

He said Walter had arrived on Tuesday

DIRECT:

We have been waiting for a long time

REPORTED:

They complained they had been waiting for a long time

DIRECT:

I’ll be in Berlin on Friday

REPORTED:

She told me she would be in Berlin on Friday

Practice

REPORTED: She said the president would travel there next month
REPORTED: She explained that the summit meeting had been scheduled to take place during the weekend
REPORTED: She told us she was expecting the leaders to arrive soon.

Worksheet

I’m having the interview at 4 o’clock.

She said she was having the interview at 4 o’clock

We went to the scene of the crime yesterday.

He said they had gone to the scene of the crime yesterday

Did you work in customer service a year ago?

She asked me if I worked in customer service a year ago

We will study the weather to make the forecast.

He said she would study the weather to make the forecast

She had been to the Philippines already this year.

She said she had been to the Philippines already that year.

We work tirelessly in this factory every day.

He said he worked tirelessly in this factory every day

They were playing well up until the second half.

She said they had been playing well up intil the second half