0
Hotmale Posted 11 years ago
Grammar

"Here are ..." in reported speech

Hello

Can you please tell me what's the common way of reporting this sentence.

"Here are your keys" he said.

Can I simply say: "He gave me my keys"?

Thank you
  

Top answer

Hotmale Can I simply say: "He gave me my keys"? You can, but it wouldn't be reporting what was said. I can't think of a faithful way to put that sentence into reported speech.

  • Hotmale Can I simply say: "He gave me my keys"?
  • You can, but it wouldn't be reporting what was said.
  • I can't think of a faithful way to put that sentence into reported speech.
  • "He told me that my keys were here/there" works literally but doesn't capture the correct idiomatic sense that you intend.
Free · every Monday

Get the Weekly English Kit 📬

New words, one handy idiom, and a 2-minute quiz — delivered to your inbox to keep your streak alive.

3 Answers
0
HotmaleCan I simply say: "He gave me my keys"?
You can, but it wouldn't be reporting what was said.

I can't think of a faithful way to put that sentence into reported speech. "He told me that my keys were here/there" works literally but doesn't capture the correct idiomatic sense that you intend.
0
HotmaleCan I simply say: "He gave me my keys"?
I don't really see a good reported speech conversion for that case, but these would be better, I think:

He told me that there were my keys.
He told me that he was giving me my keys.

Such a conversion is just a make-work exercise anyway; I wouldn't worry about it overmuch.
0
I see. Thank you both!

Related Questions