Grammar Time! REPORTED SPEECH What EXPERT English Speakers Really Say!

34,092 views ・ 2017-11-05

Eat Sleep Dream English


Please double-click on the English subtitles below to play the video.

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So I was chatting to my mate.
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And I was telling him a really dramatic story that had just happened to me.
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And I noticed that I'd used a grammar structure that I had never taught before and I've never
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seen it in any English course book and yet I use it and I hear it all the time. So today,
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I'm going to teach it to you guys because it's Grammar Time!
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Ok, let's get straight into the story.
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Did you notice how I reported the conversation?
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So as you can see this is a really modern structure, lets look at it. So we've got the
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subject, the verb to be, like and then the actual words that were said so for example
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'He's like are you Harry Potter?' 'I'm like of course I am.' So 'he is like are you Harry
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Potter?' 'I am like of course I am.' So the actual words that were said there 'Are you
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Harry Potter?' 'Of course I am'. Those are the words we actually said to each other.
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And the way that I'm reporting that, the way that I am telling you what was said is 'he
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is like' 'I am like' Now you'll notice there that i've used the present tense of the verb
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to be and in fact in this whole story I use the present tense. That is for stylistic choice.
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So I am using the present tense to make the story seem more immediate, to make you feel
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like you are there at this moment. Of course I could have used the past tense and the past
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tense is perfectly correct. I've just used it for stylistic choice here but I could have
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put this into the past tense as well. So if you look at that structure, the subject, the
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verb to be and like then you can change that verb to be to the past so 'he was like are
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you Harry Potter?' 'I was like of course I am.' The meaning is the same, perfectly fine.
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So what is this structure? Well it's an alternative to the traditional reported speech and it
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comes from American English and it's kind of come in to British English so now it's
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quite commonly used. Certainly on TV shows in conversations, as you are walking around
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you'll hear this type of reported speech. Now I like this structure because I think
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it's easy, simple to use and it brings the story to life. Because you are saying the
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actual words that were said in the story it kind of makes you feel like you are there
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at the time of the story. There are a couple of things to think about here. First of all
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this is very informal, very informal English, it's very conversational, ok? And you are
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not going to hear it or see it any of your English language course books. It's a great
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way to report what somebody has said and I think it's super natural as I said it's a
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structure that I see and hear but I've never taught it and I've never seen it in an English
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language course book. But I was super excited to teach you guys this because yeah i think
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it's a really natural structure.
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Ok, let's get back to the story.
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Again you've got the structure 'so the guy is like can I have your autograph?' and I'm
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like what the heck!' Now there is a little change here. With 'what the heck!' I didn't
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actually say that, I thought it. It was something that was in my mind. So I said it to myself.
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And you can use this structure not just to report speech but also to report thoughts
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and inner monologues. 'So I was like what the heck!' but I didn't say it out loud, that's
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important to know.
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So let's think about what's actually being said in the story. The guy asked me 'Are you
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Harry Potter?' and i said 'of course I am' as a joke. He then said 'Can I have your autograph?'
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and then in my mind I thought what the heck! as he ripped open his shirt. So from telling
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the story and using this structure you can actually hear the real words that were said.
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So that's another reason why I like this structure is because it brings in the real dialogue
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into your story and it kind of makes it feel immediate and makes you feel like you are
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in the story at the time which is a great tool when you are telling a story and making
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it interesting. An extension of that is the fact that when we say the words that were
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actually said we use the intonation that we used at the time. So when i said 'I'm like
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what the heck!'in my mind that's exactly how I said it. You know surprise, you are kind
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of shocked by what he's just done so 'what the heck!' So as I'm telling you that story
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I'm using the same intonation. At the beginning where I said 'I'm like of course I am' Again
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I'm using the intonation that I used in the actual story to again bring it to life and
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make you feel like you are there and you are a part of it. So I think this structure is
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an amazing tool when you are telling stories and trying to tell interesting narratives.
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So the big question is should you use this structure? Well, as i said before you've got
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to go back and think it's informal, it's very conversational so if you are using English
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in informal conversational situations. You have friends who you speak to in English then
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yeah why not. I think it's a great structure. If you are using English for your IELTS exam
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then probably not, i suggest that this isn't the structure you want and they are probably
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looking for traditional reported speech. So again think about the context in which you
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use your English and is a structure appropriate or a phrase or an idiom appropriate and then
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decide whether to use it or not. So if you want to practise I would love it if you wrote
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a little dialogue in the comments below using this structure. You can practise using the
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structure and I will come down and check the comments and give you some advice if you have
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made any mistakes. So yeah write a little dialogue and put it in the comments below.
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Alright guys, I hope you have enjoyed that lesson, it's the second grammar time lesson
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that I've done. Check out the other one, it's about the infinitive of purpose and remember
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I've got new lessons every Tuesday and every Friday helping you take your English to the
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next level and to achieve your life goals whatever they may be. This is Tom, the Chief
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Dreamer, saying goodbye.
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