Telling What Someone Said: Reported Speech

Every time you say what someone else said, She said she was tired, The study found that…, you're using reported speech. It's everywhere, especially in academic and news writing, and it asks for three systematic changes, to the tense, the pronouns, and the time words, which learners often get wrong. This post lays out the complete, reliable procedure, and you already know all the building blocks.

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1. Two ways to report what someone said

There are two ways to tell what a person said.

Direct speech = the exact words, inside quotation marks:

She said, "I am tired."

Reported speech (also called indirect speech) = the content woven into your own sentence, with NO quotation marks, and with some words changed:

She said that she was tired.

Notice the changes from direct to reported:

• I → she (the pronoun changed)
• am → was (the tense changed)
• quotation marks → gone, and that added

This kind of reporting is everywhere in academic and formal English: The researchers found that..., She reported that..., The committee stated that... So mastering it is genuinely useful.

Quick recap: Direct speech = the exact words in quotation marks (She said, "I am tired."). Reported speech = the content woven in, no quotation marks, with changes (She said that she was tired).

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2. The three changes (the complete picture)

When you turn direct speech into reported speech (after a past reporting verb like said), you make three changes at once:

Change 1, Tense backshift: the verb moves one step into the past. Change 2, Pronoun shift: pronouns change to fit the reporter's viewpoint. Change 3, Time/place shift: "now/today/here" words become neutral.

Many learners remember only Change 1 (the tense) and forget the other two, so they make pronoun and time errors. The key is to do all three every time. Let's learn each one.

Worth repeating: Reported speech needs THREE changes at once: (1) tense backshift, (2) pronoun shift, (3) time/place shift. Do all three every time, don't forget pronouns and time words!

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3. Change 1: Tense backshift (one step into the past)

The main change is the backshift, the verb moves one step back into the past. ("Backshift" = shifting back in time.) This happens because the speaking already happened (in the past), so the reported words move back too.

Here's the complete backshift table:

Notice the pattern: each form moves one step more past. Present → past. Past → past perfect. will → would, can → could (the past modals from Modal Verbs: can, must, should, may, might (the "Force" Words)).

Examples:

• "I work here." → She said she worked there.
• "I have finished." → She said she had finished.
• "I will call." → She said she would call.

Lock this in: Tense backshift = the verb moves one step into the past. Present → past, past → past perfect, will → would, can → could, may → might, must → had to. "I work here" → She said she worked there.

When NOT to backshift

There are three cases where you keep the original tense (no backshift):

1. The reporting verb is present: She says she is tired. (no backshift, says is present)
2. A universal truth: He said that water boils at 100°C. (always true, so it stays present)
3. Still currently true: She said that Ali lives in Tehran. (if he still lives there, you can keep present)

This last one matters a lot in academic writing, where you report past research that's still valid: Darwin argued that evolution is driven by natural selection (no backshift, the claim is still considered true).

A quick reminder: No backshift when: (1) the reporting verb is present (She says...), (2) it's a universal truth (water boils at 100°C), or (3) it's still currently true (Ali lives in Tehran). Important for reporting valid research.

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4. Change 2: Pronoun shift

Pronouns change to match the reporter's viewpoint (usually shifting from "I/we/you" to "he/she/they"):

The logic: when you report what someone said, their "I" becomes "he" or "she" (from your viewpoint), and their "you" becomes whoever they were talking to. So always update the pronouns to your perspective.

Say it again: Pronoun shift: the speaker's "I/we" becomes "he/she/they"; "you" becomes the listener (he/she); "my" becomes "his/her." "I am leaving" → He said he was leaving.

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5. Change 3: Time and place shift

Words that point to the speaker's immediate moment and place change to neutral forms, because you're reporting later, from somewhere else:

Examples:

• "I saw it yesterday." → She said she had seen it the day before.
• "We'll meet tomorrow." → They said they would meet the next day.
• "Sign it here." → He told them to sign it there.

The logic: yesterday means "the day before today", but when you report it later, "today" has moved, so you say "the day before" to keep the meaning accurate.

Hold onto this: Time/place shift: now → then, today → that day, yesterday → the day before, tomorrow → the next day, here → there, this → that. "I saw it yesterday" → She said she had seen it the day before.

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6. Reporting questions

Reporting a question has a special twist: you remove the question word order (no inversion, remember inversion from How to Make Questions: The Inversion Algorithm?) and turn it into statement order.

Yes/No questions → use "if" or "whether"

• Direct: "Is the report ready?"
• Reported: He asked whether the report was ready. (or if the report was ready)
• ✗ NOT: He asked whether was the report ready. (no inversion in reported questions!)

So you: add if/whether, apply backshift, and use statement word order (subject before verb).

Wh- questions → use the wh-word as the connector

• Direct: "Where did the experiment take place?"
• Reported: She asked where the experiment had taken place.
• ✗ NOT: She asked where did the experiment take place. (no inversion!)

So the rule for reported questions: keep the wh-word (or add if/whether), apply backshift, but DROP the question inversion; it becomes statement order.

One more time: Reported questions DROP the question inversion (become statement order). Yes/No → add if/whether: "Is it ready?" → He asked whether it was ready. Wh- → keep the wh-word: "Where did it happen?" → She asked where it had happened.

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7. Common reporting verbs (and a "tell" warning)

Different reporting verbs have slightly different structures. The most common:

The "say" vs. "tell" trap

A very common error: say and tell are NOT interchangeable!

• say does NOT take a person directly: She said (that) it was ready. (✗ not She said him)
• tell REQUIRES a person: She told him (that) it was ready. (✗ not She told that...)

So: say (that)... but tell someone (that)... Remember it as: you say something, but you tell someone something.

(Note: remember from The Word "to" Has Two Completely Different Jobs's neighbor topic, that that after these verbs is often deleted: She said the results were conclusive. We'll see this deletion fully in the advanced posts as "RT6.")

Check yourself: say (that)... takes no person (She said it was ready). tell someone (that)... requires a person (She told him it was ready). Don't mix them: say something, tell someone something.

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8. Stitching it to the method

Reported speech ties together a lot of what you know.

From Reading Time and Voice Off the Page: The Tense Matrix (tenses): the backshift moves verbs between the tenses you already learned (present → past, past → past perfect). You can only backshift if you know the tense system.

From Modal Verbs: can, must, should, may, might (the "Force" Words) (modals): the modal backshifts (will → would, can → could, may → might) use the past modals you learned.

From How to Make Questions: The Inversion Algorithm (questions): reported questions remove the inversion you learned to create, so you're undoing inversion.

And there's an advanced connection: the that in She said that... is often deleted (She said the results were ready). That deletion is one of the "Reduction Transformations" (RT6) you'll meet in the advanced posts. So reported speech is also preparing you for the deletion-and-restoration skill.

Keep this close: Reported speech uses tenses (Reading Time and Voice Off the Page: The Tense Matrix), past modals (Modal Verbs: can, must, should, may, might (the "Force" Words)), and un-does question inversion (How to Make Questions: The Inversion Algorithm). The deletable that (She said [that] it was ready) previews the advanced deletion skill (RT6).

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9. A gentle practice

Try each yourself first, then check the answers. Use said (that) as the reporting verb unless told otherwise.

Exercise A, Convert to reported speech

1. "I am busy."
2. "We will win."
3. "The experiment has confirmed our hypothesis."
4. "I can attend tomorrow."
5. "The samples were collected yesterday."

Exercise B: Backshift or not?

Decide whether to backshift, and give the reported version.

1. "Water boils at 100°C," he said.
2. "I am tired," she said. (after a past reporting verb)
3. "Ali lives in Tehran," she said. (he still lives there)

Exercise C, Report the question

1. "Where do you live?" she asked.
2. "Is the report ready?" he asked.
3. "Will you review my draft?" he asked.

Exercise D: Say or tell?

1. She ___ him that it was ready. (say / tell)
2. He ___ that the meeting was cancelled. (say / tell)

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Answers (try first, then check!)

Exercise A, Convert to reported speech:

1. She said (that) she was busy. (am → was)
2. She said (that) they would win. (will → would; we → they)
3. She said (that) the experiment had confirmed their hypothesis. (have → had; our → their)
4. She said (that) she could attend the next day. (can → could; tomorrow → the next day)
5. She said (that) the samples had been collected the day before. (were → had been; yesterday → the day before)

Exercise B: Backshift or not?

1. No backshift (universal truth): He said that water boils at 100°C.
2. Backshift required: She said she was tired.
3. No backshift (still true): She said that Ali lives in Tehran. (backshift to lived is also acceptable, but no-backshift is fine since it's still true)

Exercise C, Report the question:

1. She asked where I lived. (drop inversion; backshift; do → lived)
2. He asked whether/if the report was ready. (add whether/if; drop inversion; is → was)
3. He asked whether/if I would review his draft. (add whether/if; will → would; my → his)

Exercise D: Say or tell?

1. She told him that it was ready. (tell requires a person)
2. He said that the meeting was cancelled. (say takes no person)

How did you do? Exercise C (reported questions, dropping the inversion) and Exercise D (say vs. tell) are the discriminating ones. If you got those, you've mastered the trickiest parts of reported speech.

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10. Hold on to these

1. Direct speech = exact words in quotation marks. Reported speech = the content woven in, with changes.

2. Three changes (after a past reporting verb): (1) tense backshift, (2) pronoun shift, (3) time/place shift. Do all three!

3. Backshift: verb moves one step into the past: present → past, past → past perfect, will → would, can → could, may → might, must → had to.

4. No backshift when: the reporting verb is present, it's a universal truth, or it's still currently true.

5. Pronoun shift: I/we → he/she/they; you → the listener; my → his/her.

6. Time/place shift: now → then, today → that day, yesterday → the day before, tomorrow → the next day, here → there, this → that.

7. Reported questions drop the inversion (statement order): yes/no → add if/whether; wh- → keep the wh-word.

8. say takes no person (She said it was ready); tell requires a person (She told him it was ready).

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11. So close now

You've now learned reported speech, a structure that runs through all of academic and news writing, as a clean, three-part procedure. And you've seen that it's not really new: it's the tenses, modals, and question-inversion you already knew, applied in a systematic way.

In Comparing Things: bigger, the biggest, as tall as, we'll study comparison: how English compares things (bigger, the biggest, as tall as) and how it scales degrees (much bigger, the more... the better). It's a practical, everyday topic with a few neat patterns to learn.

When you're ready, Comparing Things: bigger, the biggest, as tall as turns to everyday comparison. First, try reporting a few things people said around you, checking all three changes.