What is Reported Speach

Let us understand the concept of reported speech clearer here:

We may report the words of a speaker in two ways- We can either quote hisactualwords which would then be called direct speech.

For instance,

• Ethan said, I am very busy right now.

• Farhan asked, Why didn't you come?

  We may also report what he said without quoting his exact words.

  For instance,

• Ethan said that he was very busy then;

• Farhan asked why I didn't go.

While changing the voice, few rules need to be taken into consideration such as:

• A simple present becomes a simple past;

• A present continuous becomes a past continuous;

• A present perfect becomes a past perfect

For instance,

• She said, I don't want to go. becomes She said that she didn't want to go.

• She said, I am not going. becomes She said that she wasn't going.

• She said, I didn't go. becomes She said that she hadn't gone.