Using indirect speech to report words and ideas (Choosing past or present tense) (p. 2)

Using indirect speech to report words and ideas

Choosing past or present tense

page 2 of 3

Choosing a tense for the reporting verb

An indirect speech structure usually contains a reporting verb such as say, speak, tell, ask, or explain. This reporting verb is often past tense in form as indirect speech is typically used to report what people said or wrote in the past:

He asked her if she'd heard of the village. (Bank of English)

Mr Mark told me it was Dennis who saw him. (Bank of English)

However, we can also use the present simple tense for the reporting verb in situations like the following:

	when we are reporting a general statement: People say* that when the baby moves inside you, that's when you feel it's yours.* (Bank of English) The accepted wisdom says* that no matter what we decide to do about economic problems, we cannot expect to see any substantial results before the year 2000. (Bank of English)*
	when we are reporting something that people say as a habit: As you know, I always say* there are only two honourable professions, journalism and politics.* (Bank of English) Be careful of men who always say they will babysit for you. (Bank of English)
	when what we are reporting still has current relevance: The syllabus says* that they do 10 modules. (Bank of English)* The present simple tense is used to indicate that the syllabus can still be considered accurate.
	when we are reporting the content of a book, novel, film, play, academic study, etc: Sproat's book tells something new about the details of his persecution. (Bank of English) The play tells* the story of a girl who tries to work without a work permit.* (Microconcord Corpus A) We use the present simple tense for the reporting verbs in such sentences because the works mentioned are still "alive" and we can discuss them and have a debate about the ideas contained in them. Teaching implications Note that the present simple tense is very commonly used in academic writing when paraphrasing what another author has written. This convention causes problems for students who are beginning university study as they (logically) assume that if the work being referred to has been published, then it must have been written in the past. It is useful to spend time analysing sample academic texts; for example, students could be asked to underline all examples of reporting in a typical study, then analyse the tenses used. This type of analysis makes it very clear that the use of present simple tense is an important convention of academic writing. Introduction Choosing a tense for the reporting verb Choosing a tense for the subordinate clause