$’Reported Speech — Direct and Indirect Speech — Rules and BAC Exercises — 3rd Year Secondary’

Reported Speech: Direct to Indirect Transformation

Reported speech (or indirect speech) is used to report what someone said without quoting their exact words.

Key Changes in Reported Speech:

1. Verb Tense Changes (backshift):
– Present Simple to Past Simple (“I like” to “He said he liked”)
– Present Continuous to Past Continuous
– Past Simple to Past Perfect
– Present Perfect to Past Perfect
– Will to Would
– Can to Could
– Must to Had to

2. Pronoun Changes:
– I to He/She
– We to They
– My to His/Her

3. Time and Place Changes:
– Now to Then
– Today to That day
– Yesterday to The previous day
– Tomorrow to The next day
– Here to There

Types of Sentences:

Statements: Say/Tell + (that) + clause
Direct: “I am tired.” to Indirect: He said that he was tired.

Questions:
– Wh-questions: asked + wh-word + statement order
– Yes/No questions: asked + if/whether + statement order
Direct: “Where do you live?” to Indirect: He asked where I lived.

Commands/Requests: told/asked + to + infinitive
Direct: “Close the door.” to Indirect: He told me to close the door.

BAC Exercise Solved:

Exercise: “I will help you tomorrow,” she said.
Answer: She said that she would help me the next day.