Learn English Grammar: Reported Speech (Indirect Speech)

Hi, there, guys. Welcome back. We're going to do a lesson today on using indirect speech.

What does that mean? Well, this is where we are relating something that someone said.

I'm going to talk you through the differences between indirect speech -- or reported speech

-- and direct speech, using these little things called "quotation marks" or "speech marks".

I'm going to give you some useful vocab for using reported speech, and showing you the

difference between "tell" and "say". I hope it's useful.

So my friend Billy, he's not feeling very well today. So he says, "I'm feeling sick."

Now, if I'm using direct speech, that's where I use my quotation marks, my speech marks.

I would write it like this: Billy said -- with a little comma -- "I'm feeling sick." -- end

of quotation marks. But if I'm using reported speech, this is I don't use his exact words,

and I don't use these quotation marks. So I could say in reported speech: Billy said

that he was feeling sick. I have used the same words here. But look. I'm using "said

that" and no quotation marks.

Now, what are the differences between reported speech and direct speech? Well, direct speech

uses the present. Look here. "I'm feeling sick." "I am" is obviously in the present.

Whereas reported speech is going to use past. He said that he was feeling sick.

So these are how we put some verbs into the past -- irregular verbs. Here, look. "I am"

goes to "he was". "Am" goes to "was". "Are" would go to "were". So if Billy said,

"You are a jerk", in reported speech, it would be, "Billy said that you were a jerk." "Do"

and "does" would go to "did". So if Billy is saying, "I do play snooker", it would be

in reported speech, "Billy said that he did play snooker on Tuesday last week." Okay?

"Have" and "has" would go to "had". "Will" is going to go to "would". "Can" is going

to go to "could". Okay? Difficult spellings. Doesn't sound how it's spelled. And then,

with your regular verbs, it's going to go to + ed. So Billy might say, "I want to party

tonight." If I'm going to do reported speech, it would be, "Billy said that he wanted to

party tonight." Okay? I hope you're with me so far. I hope you're understanding.

Good, good, good.

Now, "tell" is a little bit different to "say". So when I use the verb "tell", I know whom

the person is talking to. For example, "Billy told me that you were a jerk." So "talking

to me", so I use "tell". I know who the person is talking to. But when I use "say", we don't

know who the person is talking to. So "Billy said that you were kissing at school." Okay?

"Said" -- it doesn't say "me". It doesn't say "said me". It just says "said". Okay?

So we don't know who the person is talking to. Obviously, he's probably talking to me,

but it doesn't say that here, so I need to use "said". Okay?

Now, some interesting verbs to make your writing a bit more fluent, a bit more interesting

to read. I could use "inform". Okay? This is just going to take -- so if I'm using reported

speech, remember I'm going to put it into the past. So here, it's a regular verb, so

I'll add -ed. "Billy informed me that he was going to be late for my lesson." We've already

done "said". "Billy said that he was feeling sick." "Billy answered with the correct answer."

Okay? So this is regular. I'm going to add in my -ed. "Billy reported to me that Sandra

was behaving badly." You're a naughty girl, Sandra. Billy has reported you. Now, this

one's going to go irregular, "reply". "Billy replied that the lunch was disgusting." Okay.

How do we form this? Well, we take off the Y and put -ed, -ied. "Billy replied that the

lunch was disgusting." Now, "respond". This is regular. "Billy responded that he was happy

to be alive" -- -ed, okay? I'm playing around here. So "suggest" is going to be -ed and

"persuade", -ed. What do these mean? "Inform" means "give information". You know what "said"

is. "Answer", question, answer. "Report", like, report, give some information again.

"Reply" is question, answer. "Respond" is just answer. "Suggest" is like -- it's like

a whisper. "I suggested to the bus driver that he put his foot on the accelerator."

"Suggest" -- it's an idea, a suggestion. And "persuade" is when you're persuading, "Come

on, everybody. Make sure you do the quiz after this. You know where to find it, www.engvid.com."

That is the end of today's lesson. Please remember to subscribe to my YouTube channel,

and if you need a bit of extra help, go to -- what is it? Exquisite English, a Facebook

page. That's my page. Well done. Hope you remember this. Direct speech -- remember using

the inverted commas. Present tense, reported speech, in the past. And we often use "said

that" or one of these interesting verbs. Well done. Good concentration. See you next time.