Reported speech versus direct speech

 

When you are talking to someone you are usually using direct speech. We use it every day and without realizing it. It is the simplest style of speech. On the other hand, the indirect style appears when we talk about what someone else has said. Let's look at the details of one and the other.

Direct Speech

When we want to report exactly what another person has said, we use the direct style.

EXAMPLES:

"I am going to London next week" she said 

"Do you have a pen i could borrow" he asked 

"Alice said, "I love to dance"

Reported Speech

Indirect style, unlike direct style, does not use quotation marks and does not need to be word for word. In general, when indirect style is used, the verb tense changes.

Present Simple ---> Past Simple 

EXAMPLES:

"He is American" 

She said he was American. 

"I am happy to see you" 

Mary said that she was happy to see me. 

He asked, “Are you busy tonight?”

He asked me if I was busy that night.

Present Continous --> Past Continous 

EXAMPLES:

“Dan is living in San Francisco,” she said.

 She said Dan was living in San Francisco.

He said, “I’m making dinner.”

 He told me that he was making dinner.

“Why are you working so hard?” they asked.

 They asked me why I was working so hard.

Past Simple --> Past Perfect Simple 

EXAMPLES:

“We went to the movies last night,” he said.

 He told me they had gone to the movies the night before.

 Greg said, “I didn’t go to work yesterday.”

 Greg said that he hadn’t gone to work the day before.

“Did you buy a new car?” she asked.

 She asked me if I had bought a new car.

In this way, all verb tenses are taken into account, as you will see below: 

Past Continous --> Past Perfect Continous.

Present Perfect --> Past perfect.

Past Perfect --> Past Perfect.

Will --> Would.

Would --> Would.

Can ---> Could.

Could --> Could.

Shall --> Would.

Might --> Might. 

Must ---> Must or had to.