reported speech

When do we use reported speech?

We use reported speech when we want to tell someone what another person said.

Present simple: It is used for habitual actions, routines or universal truths. Keywords: always, usually, often, sometimes, never, every day, weekdays. example: She reads books every night.

Present continuous: It is used for actions occurring in the present moment. Keywords: now, at the moment, currently. structure: the verb "to be" (am, is, are) + main verb + "-ing". example: They are watching TV right now.

Present Perfect: It is used for actions that occurred in the past but have relevance in the present. Keywords: already, yet, just, ever, never, recently, so far. Structure: have/has + main verb in past participle. example: I have finished my homework.

Past simple: It is used for actions that occurred at a specific time in the past and have already ended. keywords: yesterday, last week/month/year, ago. example: She went to the store yesterday.

Past continuous: Used for actions in progress at a specific time in the past. keywords: while, when, as, at (time). structure: was/were + main verb + "-ing". example: He was reading a book when I called him.

Past perfect: It is used for actions that occurred before another event in the past. Keywords: before, after, already, just, never, by the time. Structure: had + main verb in past participle. example: She had already eaten when we arrived.

Past perfect continuous: It’s used to talk about actions that began in the past, continued for a period of time, and then were completed before another event in the past. Keywords: For, since. structure: had been" followed by the main verb in the "-ing" form. example: She had been studying for two hours before her friends arrived.

*for statements with the past perfect, would, could, might, there is no change. for facts that are generally true, there is no change

Reporting questions

For yes/no questions, use ask + if/whether. example: “Have you read the books I bought for your birthday?” “She asked me whether I had read the books she’d bought me.”