Reported Speech, Part 1. In order to understand what reported speech, it's important that you know what quoted speech is. Quoted speech is also known as direct speech. This is exactly the words that someone has said. For example, I am trapped in a painting! When we write quoted speech or direct speech, it is surrounded by quotation marks. Reported speech on the other hand, which is also called indirect speech, is when someone is reporting or relating what someone else has said. For example, she said she was trapped in a painting! Notice there are no quotation marks. Also, you see the verb said. This is our reporting verb. With reported speech, there is always a reporting verb. It could be say, tell, explain, respond. There are many reporting verbs. After the reporting verb is the noun clause. This is what someone has said. This noun clause could be preceded by that, but it's optional. Let's take an example. Joe and Mary were talking on the phone. They had a great conversation. Mary wanted to tell her friend all about it. When she talked to Lisa, she told Lisa everything that Joe said. Let's imagine that the quoted speech you see here are things that Joe could've said. When the reporting verb is in the past tense, for example, said or told, this will affect the tense of the verb in the noun clause. Let me show you what I mean. If Joe said, I eat chocolate, then Mary could report to Lisa, he said that he ate chocolate. Notice that we take a step back in the verb tense, so the simple present becomes the simple past. If he said I'm eating chocolate, she could tell her friend, he said that he was eating chocolate. The present perfect then becomes the past perfect. Let's look at some more examples. I ate chocolate, he said that he had eaten chocolate. Notice the past perfect does not change. I was eating chocolate, would become, he said (that) he had he had been eating chocolate. With the future tense, will becomes would, and am going to, was going to. With modal verbs, can would become could, may and might are both might, must and have to would become had to, and should remains the same. You are now going to see many examples of quoted speech and reported speech. Pay close attention to how the verb tense changes in reported speech. It was Judy's birthday, and she was very happy to have received a special birthday cake. But she was sad when she found that it had been stolen. Let's take a look at this exclusive interview with Judy. Hi, I'm Amelia Ellis from UCICE Eye Witness News and I'm here right how with Judy Hoo who was the victim of a terrible crime, earlier this morning, when someone stole her birthday cupcake. Thank you for meeting with us, Judy. How are you feeling now? >> I'm hurt and just really disappointed. >> She said that she was hurt and disappointed. >> I can't do anything right now, I can't work, I can't sleep, I. >> I know, thank you, I know. She said that she couldn't work or sleep. And this happened earlier this morning, correct? How did you feel when you realized that your cupcake was gone? >> I'm not going to lie, I was really looking forward to eating that cake. I cried all morning. >> Awful, just awful. She explained tot me that she had been looking forward to eating that cupcake, and that she had cried all morning. Miss Hoo, what are you going to do? >> I should probably take some time to heal. >> When I asked her what she was going to do moving forward, she responded that she should take some time to heal. >> I may take a break off of work. I don't know, figure things out. >> She also said that she might take a break from work. You saw lots of good, although silly, examples of reported speech. In this lesson, you learned that when reporting speech with a past tense reporting verb like said, told or explained, the verb tense in the noun clause takes a step back in the verb tense. Watch Part 2 to learn about some exceptions.
