Reported Statements
| direct statement | reported statement |
| He said: "I am sick." | He said that he was sick. |
Reported statements are one form of reported speech.
We usually introduce reported statements with "reporting verbs" such as "say" or "tell":
- He said (that)...
- He told me (that)...
Useful Tip
When we report a statement, we can say "He said that..." or simply "He said...". Both are possible. "He said that..." is more formal.
When we use our own words to report speech, there are one or two things that we sometimes change:
- pronouns may need to change to reflect a different perspective
- tense sometimes has to go back one tense (eg, present becomes past) - this is called backshift
| pronoun | backshift | |||
| direct statement | He said, | "I | am | sick." |
| reported statement | He said (that) | he | was | sick. |
There are sometimes other things too that we may need to change, such as time or place. Look at these examples:
| pronoun | backshift | time | |||
| direct statement | Jane said, | "I | was | sick | yesterday." |
| reported statement | Jane said (that) | she | had been | sick | the day before. |
| backshift | place | ||||
| direct statement | She said, | "It | is | hot in | here." |
| reported statement | She said (that) | it | was | hot in | there. |
We also sometimes need to think about the third person singular "s":
| pronoun | 3rd person singular | |||
| direct statement | Mary said, | "I | work | in London." |
| reported statement | Mary said (that) | she | works | in London. |
Notice that in the above example, we do not change the tense. Usually, with the present simple, if something is still true now - she still works in London - we don't need to change it.
Useful Tip
Typical reporting verbs for statements: say, tell, mention, inform
- He said that... OR He said...
- He told me that... OR He told me...
- He mentioned that...
- He informed me that...
