Reported speech is how we represent the speech of other people or what we ourselves say. There are two main types of reported speech: direct speech and indirect speech. Show
Direct speech repeats the exact words the person used, or how we remember their words:
In indirect speech, the original speaker’s words are changed.
In this example, I becomes she and the verb tense reflects the fact that time has passed since the words were spoken: didn’t realise becomes hadn’t realised. Indirect speech focuses more on the content of what someone said rather than their exact words:
In a similar way, we can report what people wrote or thought:
Reported speech: reporting and reported clausesSpeech reports consist of two parts: the reporting clause and the reported clause. The reporting clause includes a verb such as say, tell, ask, reply, shout, usually in the past simple, and the reported clause includes what the original speaker said.
Reported speech: punctuationDirect speechIn direct speech we usually put a comma between the reporting clause and the reported clause. The words of the original speaker are enclosed in inverted commas, either single (‘…’) or double (“…”). If the reported clause comes first, we put the comma inside the inverted commas:
If the direct speech is a question or exclamation, we use a question mark or exclamation mark, not a comma:
We sometimes use a colon (:) between the reporting clause and the reported clause when the reporting clause is first:
Indirect speechWarning: In indirect speech it is more common for the reporting clause to come first. When the reporting clause is first, we don’t put a comma between the reporting clause and the reported clause. When the reporting clause comes after the reported clause, we use a comma to separate the two parts:
Warning: We don’t use question marks or exclamation marks in indirect reports of questions and exclamations:
Reported speech: reporting verbsSay and tellWe can use say and tell to report statements in direct speech, but say is more common. We don’t always mention the person being spoken to with say, but if we do mention them, we use a prepositional phrase with to (to me, to Lorna):
With tell, we always mention the person being spoken to; we use an indirect object (underlined):
In indirect speech, say and tell are both common as reporting verbs. We don’t use an indirect object with say, but we always use an indirect object (underlined) with tell:
We use say, but not tell, to report questions:
We use say, not tell, to report greetings, congratulations and other wishes:
Other reporting verbs
The reporting verbs in this list are more common in indirect reports, in both speaking and writing:
Most of the verbs in the list are used in direct speech reports in written texts such as novels and newspaper reports. In ordinary conversation, we don’t use them in direct speech. The reporting clause usually comes second, but can sometimes come first:
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