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Pastsimple Posted 19 years ago
Grammar

Reported speech

Pete said, "I don't like this party. I want to go home now."
Bill said, "Pete said that he didn't like the party and he wanted to go home."
Tim said, "Bill said that Pete said / had said ????????????"
  

Top answer

"

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6 Answers
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Hi Pastsimple

I'd just go back to the original statement rather than attempt to report the reported speech:

Tim said, "Pete said that he didn't like the party and he wanted to go home."
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What if I want to report the reported speech, though? :-)
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Bill told me that Pete said that...
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Grammar GeekBill told me that Pete said that...

Bill told me that Pete said that he didn't like the party and he wanted to go home.
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Yes, that's exactly what I meant.

It's hard to follow too many "said that she said that..." so using something different, like "told me" is helpful. I think if you add any more people to this line, though, it starts to sound silly.

Alex told me that Tim said to HIM that Bill just said that Pete... -- at that point, don't you want to run screaming from the party too?
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What if I want to report the reported speech, though? :-)
You won't want to. Trust me!

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