DIRECT AND REPORTED SPEECHYou can answer the question "What did he/she say?" in two ways:
· by repeating the words spoken (direct speech)
· by reporting the words spoken (indirect or reported speech).
Direct Speech
Direct speech repeats, or quotes, the exact words spoken. When we use direct speech in writing, we place the words spoken between inverted commas ("....") and there is no change in these words. We may be reporting something that's being said NOW (for example a telephone conversation), or telling someone later about a previous conversation
Examples:
She says "What time will you be home?"
She said "What time will you be home?"
and I said "I don't know! "
"There's a fly in my soup!" screamed Simone.
John said, "There's an elephant outside the window."
Reported Speech
Reported speech is usually used to talk about the past, so we normally change the tense of the words spoken. We use reporting verbs like 'say', 'tell', 'ask', and we may use the word 'that' to introduce the reported words. Inverted commas are not used.
She said, "I saw him."  She said that she had seen him.
a. 'That' may be omitted:
She told him that she was happy.
She told him she was happy.
b. 'Say' and 'tell':
Use 'say' when there is no indirect object:
He said that he was tired.
Always use 'tell' when you say who was being spoken to (i.e. with an indirect object):
He told me that he was tired.
'Talk' and 'speak' are used:
- to describe the action of communicating:
He talked to us.
She was speaking on the telephone.
- with 'about' to refer to what was said:
He talked (to us) about his parents.
REPORTING VERBS
Note that some reporting verbs may appear in more than one of the following groups.
1. Verbs followed by 'if' or 'whether' + clause:
| ask know remember
| say see
| 2. Verbs followed by a that-clause:
| add admit agree announce answer argue boast claim comment complain confirm consider deny
| doubt estimate explain fear feel insist mention observe persuade propose remark remember repeat
| reply report reveal say state suggest suppose tell think understand warn
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3. Verbs followed by either a that-clauseor ato-infinitive:
| decide expect guarantee hope
| promise swear threaten
| 4. Verbs followed by a that-clause containing should
(but note that it may be omitted, leaving a subject + zero-infinitive):
| advise beg demand
| insist prefer propose
| recommend request suggest
| 5. Verbs followed by a clause starting with a question word:
| decide describe discover discuss explain forget guess
| imagine know learn realise remember reveal say
| see suggest teach tell think understand wonder
| 6. Verbs followed by object + to-infinitive
| advise ask beg command
| forbid instruct invite
| teach tell warn
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Date: 2016-01-03; view: 986
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