Using indirect speech to report words and ideas
|
Indirect speech changes | page 2 of 6 |
Tense changes in indirect speech
It is common for coursebooks to say that when we change direct speech into indirect speech, we need to shift the tense of the verb. Some of the rules are:
| Direct speech | Indirect speech | |||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||
These rules are problematic in two ways.
First, the rules assume that indirect speech is a transformation of direct speech, but this does not have to be the case. Consider the following:
"Her ideas are stupid," he commented.
This can be reported in indirect speech in various ways:
He commented that her ideas were stupid.
His comment was that her ideas are stupid.
He commented on the stupidity of her ideas.
He commented on her ideas, which he considered stupid.
Note that the last two examples do not involve the kind of tense shift commonly described in coursebooks. In other words, changes in tenses do not always operate in indirect speech.
Second, and more importantly, the rules do not reflect the use of indirect speech in authentic text:
He said that you don't have to go as far as Italy to get good beaches.
(Bank of English)The Australian group said that Pearl's policyholders will benefit from the deal. (Microconcord Corpus A)
She said that you can do that all in one step. (Bank of English)
A government spokesman explained that the reclassification may tempt some heavy vehicle users to the Eastern Harbour Crossing. (SCMP 11/7/92)
Introduction
Tense changes in indirect speech
