ملخص الدرس / الثآنية ثانوي/اللغة الإنجليزية/UNIT 4/ Disasters and Safety
Direct speech and reported (indirect) speech
When reporting what someone else has said, we can either repeat the exact words
e.g.. Sofiane said. "He likes helping people". (Direct speech)
or use the form of language called indirect or reported speech
(e.g.. Sofiane said that he liked helping people.
(told Rashid /me/her/him/us/them/ that he liked helping people.
Reported speech in statements:
When we use reported speech, the verbs in the reported statement usually change to the past when the reporting verb is in the past simple tense.
Direct speech Reported speech
Subject + said/told me/her, __ Subject+ said/told her/him (that)
work for a charity." S/he worked for a charity".
"We've (have) worked for a charity for two years. they had worked for a charity a charity for two years.
"We worked yesterday". they had worked the previous day.
"We'll (will) work for a charity." they would work for a charity
I can work for a charity." he could work for a charity
I may work for a charity." The might work for a charity
Other words which refer to time and place:
Other words which refer to time and place may also change in reported speech when the reporting verb is in the past simple tense.
Direct speech → Reported speech |
|
|
this/these → that/those |
|
| Here → there |
|
now → then or at that moment |
| Direct speech | Direct speech |
| today | that day |
| yesterday | the previous day |
| tomorrow - | the next day |
e.g., They said, “We finished our work here yesterday" -
They said that they had finished their work there the previous day.
Reported speech in wh-questions:
Reported questions are not real questions so the word order is the same as in normal statements.
|
Direct speech |
Reported speech |
| He asked, | He asked her |
| "Where have you worked before?" | where she had worked before " |
| Which charity have you worked for?” | which charity she had worked for. |
| "When did you start working for a charity?" | when she started working for a charity. |
| “How did you do it?" | how he had done that. |
| "What do you think?" |
what I thought. |
Reported speech in yes/no questions:
When we report yes/no questions, the reporting verb is followed by if or whether.
|
Direct speech |
Reported speech |
| She asked | She asked her |
| "Have you contributed anything?" | if/whether she had contributed anything |
|
"Did you help her in any way?" |
if/whether she had helped her in any way. |
| “ Was it your turn or Ali's?" |
if/whether it had been my turn or Ali's |
Note:
A. In statements say and tell are the most common reporting verbs. Here are some do's and don't's about their use.
| He said it was beautiful. |
He told it was beautiful |
| He said me/her/him/them/xis it was beautiful | He told me/her/them/us it was beautiful. |
| He said to me/her/him/them/us it was beautiful. |
He told to me/her/him/them/us (that) it was beautiful. |
B. The verbs ask and tell are used to report requests and orders.
| “Help me". | He told/ asked me to help him. |
| "Don't help him." |
He told/asked me not to help him. |
C. In reported speech we also use other reporting verbs such as advise, refuse, apologize ... because it is not always necessary to repeat what the person said.
| "I'm sorry. I'm late." | He apologised for being late. |
|
"I won't do it again." |
She promised not to do that again. |
articles:
Lead-in paragraphs are the first paragraphs in 'hard' news stories (articles). They usually help the reader to answer important questions who, what, where, when and sometimes why or how - very quickly. The other paragraphs in news stories give additional information.
We generally use the past continuous, the past simple and the past perfect with link words like while, when, as, before, after to report 'hard' news stories.