Reported Speech Statement, Question and Imperatives Expanation . Tugas Pembelajaran B.inggris Berbantuan Komputer#

Reported Statements

Sometimes someone says a sentence, for example "I'm going to the cinema tonight". Later, maybe we want to tell someone else what the first person said.

We use a 'reporting verb' like 'say' or 'tell'. If this verb is in the present tense, it's easy. We just put 'she says' and then the sentence:

• Direct speech: I like ice cream.
• Reported speech: She says (that) she likes ice cream.

We don't need to change the tense, though probably we do need to change the 'person' from 'I' to 'she', for example. We also may need to change words like 'my' and 'your'.

Tense	Direct Speech	Reported Speech
present simple	I like ice cream	She said (that) she liked ice cream.
present continuous	I am living in London	She said (that) she was living in London.
past simple	I bought a car	She said (that) she had bought a car OR She said (that) she bought a car.
past continuous	I was walking along the street	She said (that) she had been walking along the street.
present perfect	I haven't seen Julie	She said (that) she hadn't seen Julie.
past perfect*	I had taken English lessons before	She said (that) she had taken English lessons before.
Will	I'll see you later	She said (that) she would see me later.
would*	I would help, but..”	She said (that) she would help but...
Can	I can speak perfect English	She said (that) she could speak perfect English.
could*	I could swim when I was four	She said (that) she could swim when she was four.
Shall	I shall come later	She said (that) she would come later.
should*	I should call my mother	She said (that) she should call her mother
might*	I might be late	She said (that) she might be late
Must	I must study at the weekend	She said (that) she must study at the weekend OR She said she had to study at the weekend

Occasionally, we don't need to change the present tense into the past if the information in direct speech is still true (but this is only for things which are general facts, and even then usually we like to change the tense):

• Direct speech: The sky is blue.
• Reported speech: She said (that) the sky is/was blue.

Reported Questions

So now you have no problem with making reported speech from positive and negative sentences. But how about questions?

• Direct speech: Where do you live?

How can we make the reported speech here?

In fact, it's not so different from reported statements. The tense changes are the same, and we keep the question word. The very important thing though is that, once we tell the question to someone else, it isn't a question any more. So we need to change the grammar to a normal positive sentence. A bit confusing? Maybe this example will help:

• Direct speech: Where do you live?
• Reported speech: She asked me where I lived.

Direct Question	Reported Question
Where is the Post Office, please?	She asked me where the Post Office was.
What are you doing?	She asked me what I was doing.
Who was that fantastic man?	She asked me who that fantastic man had been.

Reported Speech Imperatives

An imperative sentence expresses ideas such command, request, advice, suggestion, allowance etc. To change such sentences into indirect speech we use to-infinitive or that clause and instead of the reporting verb ‘said’ we use the following reporting verbs:

Advise, command, request, suggest, threaten, order, forbid, decree, propose, entreat, prompt, counsel, pardon, beg, persuade, instruct etc. Depending upon the nature of imperative sentence in reported speech.

Indirect Speech of Imperative Sentences

• Direct speech: She said, “Wow! Pakistan won the cricket game.”
• Indirect speech: She was so excited about Pakistan winning the cricket game. Or She exclaimed with happiness that Pakistan had won the cricket game.
• Direct speech: He said, “Ops! Something went wrong with the internet.”
• Indirect speech: He exclaimed with sorrow that something had gone wrong with the internet.

Note: The verb forbid itself coveys a negative sense. Therefore, we don’t need to use not in indirect speech.

• Direct speech: I said to the students, ‘Do not make a noise.’
• Indirect speech: I forbade the students to make a noise. (Not I forbade the students no to make noise.)

IMPORTANT: In order to change an imperative sentence into indirect speech we choose the reporting verb according to the nature of imperative sentence in direct speech. Therefore, you have to be careful when choosing a reporting verb.

• The poor man said to me, ‘Please help me.’ 
• The poor man requested me to help him. 
• The teacher said to the students,’ respect elders.’
• The teacher advised the students to respect elders. 
• He said to the customer, ‘ come in, please.’
• He allowed/ asked the customer to come in. 
• The policeman said to the prisoner,’ Do not fight in the prison.’
• The policeman warned the prisoner not to fight in the prison. 

Change the following into indirect speech.

1. The girl said that it ..................................... her great pleasure to be there that evening.

a.       gives  

b.      gave

c.       would give  

2. The man ........................................... that he must go as soon as possible.

a.       said

b.      asked

c.       told  

3. She said that she ........................................... to see any of them and asked them to go away.

a.       did not want

b.      does not want  

c.       had not wanted

4. The teacher says that if you work hard you .....................................

a.       will pass  

b.      would pass  

c.       passed

5. He said that he ..........................................

a.       won  

b.      has won  

c.       had won