Examples of Tense Changes in Reported Speech

This page provides concrete examples of how different tenses change when converting direct speech to reported speech. Understanding these transformations is crucial for mastering mowa zależna angielski (reported speech in English).

1. Present Simple to Past Simple:

   • Direct: Ann said, "I wake up at 7 o'clock every day."
   • Reported: Ann said (that) she woke up at 7 o'clock every day.

2. Present Continuous to Past Continuous:

   • Direct: My uncle said, "My wife is preparing breakfast at this moment."
   • Reported: My uncle said his wife was preparing breakfast at that moment.

3. Past Simple to Past Perfect:

   • Direct: He said, "We were in the cinema yesterday."
   • Reported: He said they had been in the cinema the day before.

4. Past Continuous to Past Perfect Continuous:

   • Direct: Mark said, "I was watching TV last evening."
   • Reported: Mark said he had been watching TV the previous evening.

5. Future Simple to Future Simple in the Past:

   • Direct: Our Dad said, "I will buy this vacuum for us."
   • Reported: Our Dad said he would buy that vacuum for us.

Example: These transformations show how the tense shifts back in time when reporting speech. For instance, "I wake up" becomes "she woke up" in reported speech.

Understanding these tense changes is essential for accurately conveying information in reported speech. It helps maintain the original time reference while adapting it to the new context of the report.

Modal Verbs and Questions in Reported Speech

This page focuses on the changes that occur with modal verbs and questions when converting direct speech to reported speech. These aspects are often included in mowa zależna angielski Quiz (reported speech English quiz) exercises.

Modal Verbs in Reported Speech: Some modal verbs change in reported speech, while others remain the same:

• "will" changes to "would"
• "can" changes to "could"
• "shall" changes to "should"
• "may" changes to "might"

Unchanged modal verbs:

• "would" remains "would"
• "could" remains "could"
• "should" remains "should"
• "might" remains "might"

Vocabulary: Modal verbs are auxiliary verbs that express necessity, possibility, permission, or ability.

Questions in Reported Speech: When converting questions to reported speech, they take the form of a statement, but the sequence of tenses rule still applies. There are two types of questions to consider:

1. General Questions:
   • Use "if" or "whether" to introduce the reported question.
2. Specific Questions:
   • Keep the question word (who, what, where, when, why, how) unchanged.

Example: Direct question: "Do you like coffee?" Reported question: He asked if I liked coffee.

Example: Direct question: "Where do you live?" Reported question: She asked where I lived.

Understanding these transformations for modal verbs and questions is crucial for mastering reported speech in English. It allows for accurate and natural-sounding indirect reporting of various types of statements and questions.