module 6 REPORTED SPEECH Reported (or Indirect) Speech is used to communicate what someone else said. DIRECT SPEECH Shylock said: I am a Jew. Desdemona said to Othello: It is strange. REPORTED SPEECH Shylock said (that) he was a Jew. Desdemona told Othello it was strange. GRAMMAR NB: In order to use tell (told-told), two conditions must be present at the same time: 1. the indirect speech 2. the person addressed (the listener ). In all other cases say (said-said)1 is used. See the examples below. Romeo said: I have to go to Mantua. indirect speech: NO; listener : NO Romeo said to Juliet: I have to go to Mantua. indirect speech: NO; listener : YES Romeo said that he had to go to Mantua. indirect speech: YES; listener : NO Romeo told Juliet he had to go to Mantua. indirect speech: YES; listener : YES 1. Reported statements If a sentence starts in the past, there is often a backshift of tenses. If a sentence starts in the present there is no backshift. Other changes include pronouns, and place and time expressions. Look at the following table with the main tense transformations. DIRECT SPEECH REPORTED SPEECH PRESENT SIMPLE Juliet said to Romeo, It is just your name that is my enemy. PAST SIMPLE Juliet told Romeo (that) it was just his name that was her enemy. PRESENT CONTINUOUS Lady Macbeth said, My husband is coming. PAST CONTINUOUS Lady Macbeth said (that) her husband was coming. PAST SIMPLE Othello said, Her father invited me. PAST PERFECT Othello said (that) her father had invited him. PRESENT PERFECT Gertrud said to her husband, I have idealised you. PAST PERFECT Gertrud told her husband (that) she had idealised him. PAST CONTINUOUS Hamlet s father said, I was sleeping in my orchard when... PAST PERFECT Hamlet s father said (that) he had been sleeping in his orchard when... MODALS: will/can/may/shall Romeo said to Juliet, ...and I will be new baptised. MODALS: would/could/might/should Romeo told Juliet (that) he would be new baptised. 1 Say requires the preposition to before the indirect object. 294