Using indirect speech to report words and ideas
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Indirect speech changes | page 1 of 6 |
Introduction
Coursebooks and reference books sometimes say that a number of changes have to be made when transforming direct speech into indirect speech:
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Change present tense to past tense. |
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Change tomorrow to the next day. |
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Change come to go. |
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Change here to there, and so on. |
While these rules can be taught easily, they do not always reflect
the use of authentic English, and teachers may sometimes find it difficult to explain
cases which break these rules. To see a relevant teacher's question, click on this icon 
.
This file explains that changing one form to another in indirect speech depends on meaning, and students need to be aware of this from the beginning.
You may either read through this file page by page or jump to a specific page by clicking on one of the choices below.
Introduction
Tense changes in indirect speech
