Grammar — Reported Speech

💼 Why it matters at work

He said the deadline had moved: passing on what others said is half of office life. Reported speech lets you relay messages and keep everyone in the loop without quoting word for word. Shift the tenses well and nothing gets lost in translation.

Reported (indirect) speech tells someone what another person said. The verb usually shifts one tense back.

Use say (no person) or tell + somebody. The reported verb usually backshifts.

→ “I am busy.” → She said she was busy. / She told me she was busy.

• present → past (work → worked)
• present perfect / past → past perfect (have done → had done)
• will → would, can → could, may → might, must → had to

Questions: ask + (if/whether or wh-) + subject + verb (no inversion, no do). Commands: tell/ask + somebody + to + base (negative: not to).

→ “Where is it?” → She asked where it was. / “Wait.” → He asked me to wait.

💡 Tip: Time and place words often change too: now→then, today→that day, tomorrow→the next day, here→there.

⚠️ Watch out

• Remember to backshift the tense.
• In reported questions use statement order (no inversion, no do/does/did).
• say (no object) vs tell + person.