TENSES CHANGES
Present Simple
He said, “ I type letters”. /Past Simple
He said that he typed letters.Present Continuous
He said, “I am typing letters” /Past Continuous
He said that he was typing letters.Present Perfect Simple
He said, “ I have typed letters”. /
Past Perfect Simple
He said that he had typed letters.Present Perfect Continuous
He said, “I have been typing letters”. /Past Perfect Continuous
He said that he had been typing letters.Past Simple
He said, “ I typed letters”. /Past Perfect Simple
He said that he had typed letters.Past Continuous
He said, “I was typing letters”. /Past Perfect Continuous
He said that he had been typing letters.Future Simple
He said, “I will type letters.” /Would
He said that he would type letters.Future Continuous
He said, “I will be typing letters”. /Would + continuous
He said that he would be typing letters.Imperative
I said, “Type letters!” /To + infinitive
I told him to type letters.Can
He said, “I can type letters”. /Could
He said that he could type letters.Shall
He asked, “shall I type letters? /Should
He asked if he should type letters.May
He said, “I may type letters”. /Might
He said that he might type lettersHave to & must
He said, “ I have to /must type letters”. /
Had to
He said that he had to type letters.REPORTED SPEECH
§ The past perfect simple do not change in indirect speech.
§ The modals should, could, would, might and ought to do not change.
§ When the report questions, we also change the word order to that of a regular sentence. “Why are you late?”¢ She asked why I was late.
§ Other changes in indirect speech include: time expressions and demonstratives.
§
DIRECT / INDIRECTTime expressions
Now / Then, in that moment
Today / That day
Yesterday / The day before, the previous day
Tomorrow / The next/following day, the day after
Next week/month / The next/the following week/month
Last week/month / The previous week/month, the week/month before
A week ago / The week before
Recently / Those days
Demonstratives
This / ThatThese / Those
Here / there