Reported speech

Question

Is it correct to report this sentence in the following way?

John: "The coronavirus is so much worse than September 11."

John claims that the coronavirus is so much worse than September 11.

Are there other ways to report this?

What about "John claims/says: "The coronavirus is so much worse than September 11."?

Thank you

CalifJim · Accepted Answer

teal limeJohn: "The coronavirus is so much worse than September 11."

There are many, many ways to report that.

John said that the coronavirus is a lot worse than the 9-11 attacks.
John thinks the current spread of Covid-19 is worse than the 9-11 terrorist attacks were.
John claims that even 9-11 was not as bad as this recent pandemic.
John claimed that ...
John believes that ...
John was of the opinion that ...
John alleges that ...
John alleged that ...
John contends that ...

In the real world "reported speech" is just telling someone what you heard someone else say. You deliver the message or the general idea, not necessarily the exact words. Anyway, most people can't remember the exact words the next day or the next week or whenever they finally get around to telling someone what you heard.

In ordinary conversation your introductory words are going to be mostly "said" or "asked". You don't usually get too fancy with 'alleged', 'claimed', or 'contended'. Words like that are for when you write your novel. Save the novel for next year.

In the academic world "reported speech" is an artificial exercise to help you get used to telling someone what you heard someone else say, so you are not expected to change the words you are given any more than necessary. "said" and "asked" are good for academic work, too.

CJ

Reported speech

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