Reported/Indirect speech

Question

Hi dear teachers,Would you kindly check if I've changed the following Direct sentences into reported correctly?Here're the sentences:1)D=  Mary: "May be I have to read more books."In=  Mary said that she possibly had to read more books.        Or        Mary said she thought she had to read more books.2)D= "I love you", she said.In=  She said she loves me or She said she loved me.[Teachers, I am not sure about whether to use simple present (loves me) or simple past (loved me) in this example.]3)D= He said, "Oh my god!"(Teachers, one of my friends said "We can't change this into Reported or Indirect speech."  Is that true, teachers?) One more thing I'd like to ask you here is "Why do we use Reported speech when we can express the same thing with the Quoted speech?"  I've heard and read that when using reported speech If something is STILL true or still valid, we can choose not to back-shift (as in 2nd example), but how are we supposed to know if something is STILL valid or true ? And what if we don't know whether something is STILL true or valid? Thank you.

Clive · Accepted Answer

Would you kindly check if I've changed the following Direct sentences into reported correctly?
Here're the sentences:

1)
D= Mary: "Maybe I have to read more books."
In= Mary said that she possibly had to read more books. Fine.
Or
Mary said she thought she had to read more books. Does not convey well the idea of 'maybe'.

2)
D= "I love you", she said.
In= She said she loves me or She said she loved me.
[Teachers, I am not sure about whether to use simple present (loves me) or simple past (loved me) in this example.]
Both are fine. Simple Present stresses that she still loves you today.

Your answers both assume that she was speaking to you. What if she was speaking to someone else?

3)
D= He said, "Oh my ***!"

(Teachers, one of my friends said "We can't change this into Reported or Indirect speech." Is that true, teachers?)
You'd have to say eg He expressed surprise.

One more thing I'd like to ask you here is "Why do we use Reported speech when we can express the same thing with the Quoted speech?" You can use either form. Your choice.
Reported speech has some advantages, eg you can summarize a long , rambling and imprecise conversation.

In practice, frequent use of reported speech is one indication that a person is well-educated.

I've heard and read that when using reported speech If something is STILL true or still valid, we can choose not to back-shift (as in 2nd example), but how are we supposed to know if something is STILL valid or true ?eg If Mary said "I love you' to you 5 minutes ago, she probably still does.

Or perhaps she said 'Today is Friday'.

And what if we don't know whether something is STILL true or valid? Then backshift.
Or always backshift, if you find that easier.

Clive

Laborious · Answer

Thank you very very much, sir, for your explanation. I love the way you replied to my questions.

But, sir, I am not being able to understand what you meant by

CliveOr perhaps she said 'Today is Friday'.

And did you mean that we could always back-shift when using Reported speech and it doesn't matter if something was said a short time ago or a very long time ago?

Thank you again for your help.

CalifJim · Answer

Laborious Mary: "Maybe I have to read more books."

Mary said she might have to read more books.

Laborious"I love you", she said.

She said she loved [him / her / them / us / me / you]. It depends who she was talking to at the time.

LaboriousHe said, "Oh my ***!"

No indirect form.

LaboriousWhy do we use reported speech when we can express the same thing with ~~the~~ quoted speech?

That's just it. Most of us don't have a good enough memory to quote speech most of the time. Think of a ten-minute conversation you had with someone a month ago. Can you remember every word exactly? You need to remember every single word that was said, exactly, in order to use direct (quoted) speech. We use reported speech to give the general meaning of what was said.

These exercises are artificial. They are designed just to get you used to the basic idea of reported speech. We almost never have to report speech that was said just two seconds ago.

LaboriousI've heard and read that when using reported speech If something is STILL true or still valid, we can choose not to back-shift (as in 2nd example), but how are we supposed to know if something is STILL valid or true ? And what if we don't know whether something is STILL true or valid?

Always back-shift. It is never wrong to back-shift. The listener will automatically adjust his thinking to understand the time frame of any reported actions or events.

Once your English becomes more advanced, you will instinctively choose not to back-shift when it is appropriate, and you will find that these situations are not very common. Here are two examples where back-shifting is not needed.

1 Even the Greeks claimed that the earth is not flat. ("The earth is not flat" is a generally accepted truth.)
... was not flat is also correct. Using ... was not flat in the context of this report does NOT mean that there was a time when the earth was not flat!
________________________

2
— I'm tired.
— What did you say? I didn't hear you.
— I said that I'm tired.

... I was tired is also correct. Using I was tired in the context of this report does NOT mean that the speaker is no longer tired!

(The reported speech comes immediately after the direct speech, as part of the same on-going conversation.)

CJ

Clive · Answer

But, sir, I am not being able to understand what you meant by

CliveOr perhaps she said 'Today is Friday'. This is an example of something that was true at the time she said it, and is still true at the time you report it.

And did you mean that we could always back-shift when using Reported speech and it doesn't matter if something was said a short time ago or a very long time ago? Yes.

You don't need to call me 'sir'. Please don't.

Laborious · Answer

Dear CJ and Clive, I'd like to say thank you very much for your replies. Your replies to my questions have really helped me a lot.

I hope you won't be bothered if I ask you few more questions about reported speech here

I have these following two sentences. Although, I've tried to change them into reported speech first myself, I'm not sure If I've done that correctly.
Here are the sentences:

1)
D= He said, "As a teenager, one of the books I read was XYZ."
In= He said (that) as a teenager one of the books he had read had been XYZ.

(One of my friends argued with me on the above 'reported sentence'. He said that saying 'had been XYZ' wasn't correct and that we should say 'was XYZ'. Is my friend correct, teachers? And even if he's, could you please tell me the reason behind it?)

2)
D= He said, "As a teenager I read a lot."
In= He said (that) as a teenager he had read a lot.

CliveYou don't need to call me 'sir'. Please don't.

Okay dear Clive, If you don't like me calling you 'sir', I won't do that.

Thank you again.

Clive · Answer

I hope you won't be bothered if I ask you few more questions about reported speech here

I have these following two sentences. Although, I've tried to change them into reported speech first myself, I'm not sure If I've done that correctly.
Here are the sentences:

1)
D= He said, "As a teenager, one of the books I read was XYZ."
In= He said (that) as a teenager one of the books he had read had been XYZ.

(One of my friends argued with me on the above 'reported sentence'. He said that saying 'had been XYZ' wasn't correct and that we should say 'was XYZ'. Is my friend correct, teachers? And even if he's, could you please tell me the reason behind it?) Both tenses can be used here, and are considered correct. The Past Perfect is commonly not used when the meaning is clear without it, as it is here,.

2)
D= He said, "As a teenager I read a lot."
In= He said (that) as a teenager he had read a lot.Same comment as above..

Clive

Car banana 661 · Answer

He said , " Oh my *** !

Into reported speech :

He exclaimed with surprise .

Reported/Indirect speech

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