UNIT 19 Reported speech
say, tell We can use the verbs say and tell to report what someone said. We use tell if we want to specify who the person is talking to, and say if we don’t want to give this information. Harry told me that he wasn’t hungry. / Harry said that he wasn’t hungry. Joanne told him/her that she didn’t go to the cinema. / Joanne said that she didn’t go to the cinema. ask We can use the verb ask to report a question. When we report yes/no questions, we use if before the reported question, and we put the subject before the verb. Kimberly: Are you sick? Kimberly asked (me) if I was sick. (NOT ...if was I sick) We don’t use the auxiliary verbs do / did in reported questions. Simon: Do you go to the park every Thursday? Simon asked (me) if I went to the park every Thursday. (NOT ...if I did go to the park every Thursday) We can also use question words (How, What, When, Where, Which, Who, Whose, Why) to report a question. The sentence begins with the question word just as in direct speech. When are you having lunch, Megan? He/She asked her when she was having lunch. When there is an imperative, we must decide whether it is a command or a request. Command: Be quiet. → The teacher told them to be quiet. Request: Pass me the salt, please. → I asked him to pass me the salt. Note! In affirmative imperative sentences, the imperative changes to the infinitive. In negative imperative sentences, the imperative becomes not + infinitive. Please don’t shout. → He asked them not to shout.
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Match the direct speech in column A to the reported speech in column B.
A 1 I’m not going out tonight. 2 Are you going to let me in? 3 We won’t be late. 4 I have something to show you. 5 They have given me a present. 6 I can play the guitar.
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B a b c 1 d e f
She said that they had given her a present. They said they wouldn’t be late. He said he wasn’t going out that night. He told me he could play the guitar. I asked if they were going to let me in. She said she had something to show me.