Reporting what has been said (b)
"James wants to travel via Singapore. He is planning to spend 3 weeks there. He may stay longer. "
- James mentioned he wants / he wanted to go via Singapore. He mentioned he is hoping / he was hoping to spend 3 weeks there.He may / might stay longer.
Notice the verb can change to the past, because often we are talking about something that was said in the past.
The simple past (I saw) usually stays the same in reported speech, or you can change it to the past perfect (I had seen).
I told the others, "I saw the postvan arrive but just assumed there was no post for me!"
- I told the others I saw / I had seen the postvan arrive but just assumed / had just assumed there was / had been no post for me.
Jane said "Mum never earned much."
- Jane said her Mum never earned much / had never earned much.
With continuous and present perfect verbs there can again be two versions, depending on how recently you’re referring to:
"I am having problems." "I haven’t seen the weather forecast."
- I told him I am having problems. I told him I was having problems.
- I said I haven’t seen the weather forecast. / I said I hadn’t seen the weather forecast.
Jane told me, "my Dad has lost his savings."
- Jane told me her Dad has lost / had lost his savings.
Here are some plans a friend told you about.
Can you tell another person what Louis said, using reported speech and beginning with the phrase "Louis told me……. "?
1 "My wife is in hospital."
2 "She is expecting a baby."
3 "She has given up her job."
4 "We may move to Edinburgh."
5 "I am thinking of setting up my own business there."
6 "We haven’t had a lot of time to see friends lately."
7 "We’ve been trying to get the house ready to move into."
8 "My father-in-law keeps promising to give us a hand, but he never does."
9 "It’ll be a lot easier when the baby arrives."
10 "We don’t know how the recession will affect our lives."