reported speech
noun[U]
languagespecializeduk/rɪˌpɔː.tɪd ˈspiːtʃ/us/rɪˌpɔːr.t̬ɪd ˈspiːtʃ/→indirect speechspecialized
间接引语（同 indirect speech）Linguistic terms & linguistic style
- affricate
- allophone
- allophony
- anaphor
- anaphora
- chatty
- colloquial
- distributive
- double entendre
- downtoner
- emphatic
- entailment
- etymological
- oxymoron
- parallelism
- philological
- philology
- polysemy
- portmanteau word
- prescriptivism
You can also find related words, phrases, and synonyms in the topics:
Quoting & making references
Grammar
Reported speech
Reported speech is how we represent the speech of other people or what we ourselves say. There are two main types of reported speech: direct speech and indirect speech.…Reported speech: reporting and reported clauses
Speech reports consist of two parts: the reporting clause and the reported clause. The reporting clause includes a verb such as say, tell, ask, reply, shout, usually in the past simple, and the reported clause includes what the original speaker said.…Reported speech: punctuation
In direct speech we usually put a comma between the reporting clause and the reported clause. The words of the original speaker are enclosed in inverted commas, either single (‘…’) or double (“…”). If the reported clause comes first, we put the comma inside the inverted commas:…Reported speech: reporting verbs
We can use say and tell to report statements in direct speech, but say is more common. We don’t always mention the person being spoken to with say, but if we do mention them, we use a prepositional phrase with to (to me, to Lorna):…Reported speech: direct speech
Direct speech is a representation of the actual words someone said. A direct speech report usually has a reporting verb in the past simple. The most common reporting verb is said. The reporting clause may come first or second.…Direct speech: inversion of subject and reporting verb
In narratives, especially novels and short stories, when the reporting clause comes second, we often invert the subject (s) and reporting verb (v):…Direct speech: present simple and continuous reporting verbs
In informal conversation, we sometimes use the present simple in the reporting clause. This makes the direct speech more vivid and dramatic:…Reported speech: indirect speech
Indirect speech focuses more on the content of what someone said rather than their exact words. In indirect speech, the structure of the reported clause depends on whether the speaker is reporting a statement, a question or a command.…Indirect speech: reporting statements
Indirect reports of statements consist of a reporting clause and a that-clause. We often omit that, especially in informal situations:…Indirect speech: reporting questions
Indirect reports of yes-no questions and questions with or consist of a reporting clause and a reported clause introduced by if or whether. If is more common than whether. The reported clause is in statement form (subject + verb), not question form:…Indirect speech: reporting commands
Indirect reports of commands consist of a reporting clause, and a reported clause beginning with a to-infinitive:…Indirect speech: present simple reporting verb
We can use the reporting verb in the present simple in indirect speech if the original words are still true or relevant at the time of reporting, or if the report is of something someone often says or repeats:…Indirect speech: past continuous reporting verb
In indirect speech, we can use the past continuous form of the reporting verb (usually say or tell). This happens mostly in conversation, when the speaker wants to focus on the content of the report, usually because it is interesting news or important information, or because it is a new topic in the conversation:…Backshift
‘Backshift’ refers to the changes we make to the original verbs in indirect speech because time has passed between the moment of speaking and the time of the report.…Indirect speech: changes to pronouns
Changes to personal pronouns in indirect reports depend on whether the person reporting the speech and the person(s) who said the original words are the same or different.…Indirect speech: changes to adverbs and demonstratives
We often change demonstratives (this, that) and adverbs of time and place (now, here, today, etc.) because indirect speech happens at a later time than the original speech, and perhaps in a different place.…Indirect speech: typical errors
The word order in indirect reports of wh-questions is the same as statement word order (subject + verb), not question word order:…Reported speech: reporting nouns
Reporting nouns are nouns such as comment, criticism, remark, statement. We can represent indirect speech with reporting nouns as well as with reporting verbs. These are more common in writing than speaking, and are usually quite formal. (Reported speech is underlined.)…