{"id":1332,"date":"2016-06-17T09:52:18","date_gmt":"2016-06-17T09:52:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.perfectyourenglish.com\/blog\/?p=1332"},"modified":"2016-06-17T09:52:18","modified_gmt":"2016-06-17T09:52:18","slug":"reported-speech-rules-for-changing-tenses","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/perfectyourenglish.com\/blog\/reported-speech-rules-for-changing-tenses\/","title":{"rendered":"Reported speech | Rules for changing tenses"},"content":{"rendered":"

If the reporting verb (the verb outside the quotation marks or inverted commas) is in the past tense<\/strong>, the reported speech must also be in the past tense.<\/p>\n

Study the example given below.<\/p>\n

Direct speech: He said, \u2018I write a letter.\u2019<\/p>\n

Indirect speech: He said that he wrote<\/strong> a letter.<\/p>\n

Rani said, \u2018I work at a bank.\u2019<\/p>\n

Rani said that she worked<\/strong> at a bank.<\/p>\n

Direct speech: She said, \u2018I\u2019m waiting for you.\u2019<\/p>\n

Indirect speech: She said that she was waiting<\/strong> for me.<\/p>\n

Here are the basic rules.<\/p>\n

When the reporting verb is in the past tense<\/h2>\n

Change simple present tense to simple past tense<\/strong><\/p>\n

Maya said, \u2018I like oyster.\u2019
\nMaya said that she liked<\/strong> oyster.<\/p>\n

Suresh said, \u2018I enjoy watching movies.\u2019
\nSuresh said that he enjoyed<\/strong> watching movies.<\/p>\n

Pooja said, \u2018I don\u2019t know the answer.\u2019
\nPooja said that she didn\u2019t know<\/strong> the answer.<\/p>\n

Change present continuous tense into past continuous tense<\/strong><\/p>\n

Rashmi said, \u2018I am preparing for my test.\u2019
\nRashmi said that she was preparing<\/strong> for her test.<\/p>\n

The boys said, \u2018We are waiting for the bus.\u2019
\nThe boys said that they were waiting<\/strong> for the bus.<\/p>\n

The teacher said to the boy, \u2018What are you doing there?\u2019
\nThe teacher asked the boy what he was doing<\/strong> there.<\/p>\n

Change present perfect tense into past perfect tense<\/strong><\/p>\n

Meera said, \u2018I have watched this film.\u2019
\nMeera said that she had watched<\/strong> that film.<\/p>\n

The girl said, \u2018I have finished my lunch.\u2019
\nThe girl said that she had finished<\/strong> her lunch.<\/p>\n

Mother said, \u2018I have laid the table.\u2019
\nMother said that she had laid<\/strong> the table.<\/p>\n

Change present perfect continuous tense into past perfect continuous tense<\/strong><\/p>\n

He said to me, \u2018I have been waiting for you since morning.\u2019
\nHe told me that he had been waiting<\/strong> for me since morning.<\/p>\n

Ramesh said, \u2018I have been looking for a job for two years.\u2019
\nRamesh said that he had been looking<\/strong> for a job for two years.<\/p>\n

Change simple past into past perfect<\/strong><\/p>\n

Aliya said, \u2018I received his letter yesterday.\u2019
\nAliya said that she had received<\/strong> his letter the previous day.<\/p>\n

Pooja said, \u2018I didn\u2019t receive the notification.\u2019
\nPooja said that she had received<\/strong> the notification.<\/p>\n

Change past continuous into past perfect continuous<\/strong><\/p>\n

The students said, \u2018We were waiting outside the gate.\u2019
\nThe students said that they had been waiting<\/strong> outside the gate.<\/p>\n

Rohan said, \u2018I was working in the garage.\u2019
\nRohan said that he had been working<\/strong> in the garage.<\/p>\n

Past perfect and past perfect continuous tenses<\/strong> do not undergo any change.<\/p>\n

Mahesh said, \u2018I had finished the job.\u2019
\nMahesh said that he had finished<\/strong> the job.<\/p>\n

Rekha said, \u2018I had been waiting to hear from them.\u2019
\nRekha said that she had been waiting<\/strong> to hear from them.<\/p>\n

Change will into would, shall into should, can into could and may into might.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Supriya said, \u2018I will come.\u2019
\nSupriya said that she would come.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Father said, \u2018I cannot come now.\u2019
\nFather said that he could not go then<\/strong>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If the reporting verb (the verb outside the quotation marks or inverted commas) is in the past tense, the reported speech must also be in the past tense. Study the example given below. Direct...<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[251],"tags":[288],"class_list":["post-1332","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-grammar","tag-reported-speech"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/perfectyourenglish.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1332","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/perfectyourenglish.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/perfectyourenglish.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/perfectyourenglish.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/perfectyourenglish.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1332"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/perfectyourenglish.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1332\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1333,"href":"https:\/\/perfectyourenglish.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1332\/revisions\/1333"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/perfectyourenglish.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1332"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/perfectyourenglish.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1332"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/perfectyourenglish.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1332"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}