5th grammar entry

As you can see, every month I have been writing one entry in the Grammar Section. In October I did a post about the " Linking Words", in November the post was about the " Verb Tenses", in December I wrote about " The phrasal verbs" and finally last month, January, I did a post about the " Passive Voice". This way, I could not only learn more about this grammar points discussed in class, but only to learn it in a more effective way. so, this moth, without exception I will post about the last grammar that we have discussed : " Reported Speech".

Reported Speech

If we report what another person has said, we usually do not use the speaker’s exact words (direct speech), but reported (indirect) speech. Therefore, you need to learn how to transform direct speech into reported speech. The structure is a little different depending on whether you want to transform a statement, question or request.

Statements
When transforming statements, check whether you have to change:
Pronouns
Present tense verbs (3rd person singular)
Place and time expressions
Tenses (backshift)
Type

Example
Direct speech
“I speak English.”
Reported speech(no backshift)
" He says that he speaks English."

Questions
When transforming questions, check whether you have to change:
Pronouns
Present tense verbs (3rd person singular)
Place and time expressions
Tenses (backshift)
Transform the question into an indirect question
Use the interrogative or if / whether
Type

Example

With interrogative
Direct speech
“Why don’t you speak English?”
Reported speech
He asked me why I didn’t speak English.
without interrogative
Direct speech
“Do you speak English?”
Reported speech
He asked me whether / if I spoke English.

Requests
When transforming questions, check whether you have to change:
Pronouns
Place and time expressions
Type

Example

Direct speech
“Carol, speak English.“
Reported speech
He told Carol to speak English.

Additional Information and Exeptions
Apart from the above mentioned basic rules, there are further aspects that you should keep in mind, for example:
Main clauses connected with and / but
Tense of the introductory clause
Reported speech for difficult tenses
Exeptions for backshift
Requests with must, should, ought to and let’s

Source: http://www.ego4u.com/en/cram-up/grammar/reported-speech