60-second revision
- If the reporting verb is past (said), move the tense one step back: is to was, has to had, will to would.
- If the reporting verb is present or future (says, will say), the tense does not change.
- Universal truths and habits keep their tense: The sun rises in the east.
- Change time and place words: now to then, today to that day, tomorrow to the next day, here to there.
- Questions become statements: no question mark, no do/did, normal word order; yes/no questions use if or whether.
- Commands use told/ordered/advised + to; requests use requested + to; negatives use not to.
- 'Let us' suggestions use suggested or proposed + that ... should.
- Pronouns change to fit who is speaking to whom: the speaker's 'I' usually becomes he or she.
The four changes
- Reporting verb: said stays said for statements, said to becomes told; for questions use asked or enquired; for commands use told, ordered, advised or requested.
- Joining word: that for statements; if or whether for yes/no questions; the wh-word itself for wh-questions; to + verb for commands.
- Pronouns: change them to match the speaker and the listener in the reporting sentence.
- Tense, time and place: move the tense back one step (when the reporting verb is past) and change words of nearness to words of distance.
Tense back-shift
| Direct | Indirect |
|---|---|
| simple present (I write) | simple past (he wrote) |
| present continuous (I am writing) | past continuous (he was writing) |
| present perfect (I have written) | past perfect (he had written) |
| simple past (I wrote) | past perfect (he had written) |
| past continuous (I was writing) | past perfect continuous (he had been writing) |
| will / shall | would / should |
| can / may | could / might |
| must | had to (for obligation), or must unchanged |
No change is needed when the reporting verb is in the present or future ('He says that he is busy'), or when the reported words state a universal truth, a habit or a scientific fact ('She said that water boils at 100 degrees Celsius at sea level').
Time and place words
| Direct | Indirect |
|---|---|
| now | then |
| today / tonight | that day / that night |
| yesterday | the previous day / the day before |
| tomorrow | the next day / the following day |
| last week | the previous week / the week before |
| next week | the following week |
| ago | before |
| this / these | that / those |
| here | there |
Sentence types
| Type | Direct | Indirect |
|---|---|---|
| Statement | Meena said, 'I have finished my work.' | Meena said that she had finished her work. |
| Yes/no question | He said to me, 'Do you know the way?' | He asked me if I knew the way. |
| Wh-question | She said to him, 'Why are you late?' | She asked him why he was late. |
| Command | The officer said to the guard, 'Open the gate.' | The officer ordered the guard to open the gate. |
| Negative command | Father said to me, 'Do not waste water.' | Father told me not to waste water. |
| Request | She said to the clerk, 'Please check my form.' | She requested the clerk to check her form. |
| Suggestion | He said, 'Let us take a break.' | He suggested that they should take a break. |
| Exclamation | She said, 'How tall this tower is!' | She exclaimed that the tower was very tall. |
| Wish | They said to me, 'May you succeed!' | They wished that I might succeed. |
Choosing the reporting verb
- Statements: said, told (with an object), replied, informed, assured, admitted.
- Questions: asked, enquired, wanted to know.
- Orders: ordered, commanded; advice: advised; warnings: warned; requests: requested, begged, urged.
- Exclamations: exclaimed with joy, sorrow or surprise; wishes and prayers: wished, prayed.
- Greetings and thanks: 'Good morning, sir' becomes 'He wished his teacher good morning'; 'Thank you' becomes 'She thanked me'.
Worked example (fresh)
Direct: The coach said to the team, 'You played well today, but we must train harder tomorrow.' Indirect: The coach told the team that they had played well that day, but that they had to train harder the next day. Every change is visible: said to becomes told, you becomes they, played becomes had played, today becomes that day, we becomes they, must becomes had to, and tomorrow becomes the next day.
Going from indirect to direct
Reverse every change: put the words back in inverted commas, restore the speaker's 'I' and the listener's 'you', move the tense forward one step and restore time words (the next day becomes tomorrow, the day before becomes yesterday). A past perfect with a finished-time word like yesterday becomes simple past, because 'I have seen it yesterday' is ungrammatical.
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