REPORTED SPEECH

ESTILO INDIRECTO

There are two ways to report what someone says or thinks.

 1.Direct speech shows a person’s exact words. Quotation marks (“. . .”) are a sign that the words

are the same words that a person used. For example:

 Jane asked, “Where are you going?”

2.Reported speech puts the speaker’s words or

ideas into a sentence without quotation marks. Noun clauses are usually used. For example:

Jane asked Charlie where he was going.

 If we report what another person has said, we

usually do not use the speaker’s exact words (direct speech), but reported (indirect) speech. Therefore, you need to learn how to transform direct speech into reported speech. The structure is a little different depending on whether you want to transform a statement, question or request. Charlie said that he was going home.

  

Cuando ponemos una frase en estilo indirecto, necesitamos un verbo introductorio en la oración principal, un nexo para introducir la oración subordinada, que ha cambiado con respecto a la original, sobre todo en el tiempo verbal, los pronombres y posesivos y las palabras deícticas.

DIRECT SPEECH REPORTED SPEECH

TYPE OF DISCOURSE INTRODUCTORY VERB LINK WORDSUBORDINATE CLAUSE

statement

to add / to admit / to announce / to declare / to deny / to explain / to insist / to mention / to promise / to propose / to remind / to say / to suggest / to tell someone......

That / Osame word-order as direct speech

yes/no question:

question starting with an auxiliary

to ask someone / oneself / to doubt / to wonder..  If S + (Aux.) + Vb.

WH-question:

question starting with WH-

to ask / to inquire / to wonder.. WH- S + (Aux.) + Vb.

Commands/requests: orders, advices,

to advise /to tell / to forbid / to order/ to ask someone

someone (not)To + Vb

En este cuadro puedes ver la estructura de forma general:

Cuando ponemos en estilo indirecto las frases enunciativas, podemos usar SAY o TELL, como verbos introductorios.

TELL siempre lleva el objeto indirecto detrás.

SAY puede mencionar o no al interlocutor. Si lo menciona, llevará la preposición TO.

La palabra introductoria es THAT, aunque podemos omitirla si queremos.

STATEMENTS

1. “I lived in Madrid for ten years”, Anne said.

2. “You have read my message”, She told me.

3. “She never laughs at my jokes”, Peter complained.

4. “Everest is the highest mountain in the world”, My teacher said.

5. “I will tell you the truth as soon as possible”, he promised.

Probemos con estos ejemplos:

1.“I lived in Madrid for ten years”, Anne said.Anne said that she had lived in Madrid for ten

years.2.“You have read my message”, She told me.She told me that I had read her message.3.“She never laughs at my jokes”, Peter

complained.Peter said that she never laughed at his jokes.4.“Everest is the highest mountain in the world”,

My teacher said.My teacher said that Everest is the highest

mountain in the world.5.“I will tell you the truth tomorrow”, he promised.He said that he would tell me the truth the next

day.

When you report what someone said in the past, you usually shift back a verb tense from the tense the speaker used.

If the reporting verb is in the present tense, there is no change in the reported sentence. Also, a sentence in direct speech in a present or future tense can remain the same if what is said is still true or relevant.

Como puedes ver en los ejemplos anteriores, el tiempo verbal retrocede hacia el pasado. Si miras en los libros de texto verás un listado con las correspondencia entre los tiempos.

VERB BACKSHIFT

VERB BACKSHIFT

Simple present "I always drink coffee", she said Simple past

She said that she always drank coffee.

Present continuous "I am reading a book", he explained.

Past continuous He explained that he was reading a book

Simple past "Bill arrived on Saturday", he said.

Past perfectHe said that Bill had arrived on Saturday

Present perfect "I have been to Spain", he told me.

Past perfect He told me that he had been to Spain

Past perfect"I had just turned out the light," he explained.

Past perfect He explained that he had just turned out the light.

Present perfect continuous They complained, "We have been waiting for hours".

Past perfect continuous They complained that they had been waiting for hours.

Past continuous "We were living in Paris", they told me.

Past perfect continuous They told me that they had been living in Paris.

Future "I will be in Geneva on Monday", he said

Present conditional He said that he would be in Geneva on Monday.

Future continuous She said, "I'll be using the car next Friday".

Conditional continuous She said that she would be using the car next Friday.

Una forma más simple es fijarte en el primer verbo o auxiliar, que es el que lleva la marca de tiempo en inglés. Este verbo cambiaría de la siguiente forma:

Presente…………………………………………….pasado.Pasado simple……….……….………..pasado perfecto.Futuro (will)………………..………condicional (would).

Y de las misma forma, los modales que tengan un equivalente en pasado también cambian:

Can………………………………..…………………..couldMust………………………………………………….had toMay……………………………..……………………..might

There is no change to; could, would, should, might and ought to.

Estas palabras varían de significado en función del contexto espacial o temporal en que se encuentran por lo que tenemos que cambiarlas a menos que algo en la frase nos indique que la referencia es la misma.

DEICTIC WORDS

COMMON CHANGES

This…………………………………………..……..……….thatThese……………………………….……………………..thoseHere………………………..…………..……….…………thereTomorrow…………...the following day or the next daynext month…..the following month or the next monthtoday…………………………………………..………that daytonight……………………………….……………..that nightyesterday………..…..the day before or the previous daylast year……………the year before or the previous yearlast night…….…the night before or the previous night

You also need to be careful with personal pronouns and possessives. They need to be changed according to the situation.

En general, los pronombres personales o los posesivos que hagan referencia a la primera o segunda persona, suelen cambiar hacia la tercera, siempre en función del contexto y los referentes.

Conviene repasar los cuatro grupos de palabras:

PERSONAL PRONOUNS AND POSSESSIVE.

PRONOUNS POSSESSIVE

SUBJECT OBJECT ADJECTIVES PRONOUNS

I me my mine

you you your yours

he him his his

she her her hers

it it its its

we us our ours

You You Your Yours

They them their theirs

Para las preguntas en estilo indirecto, aplicamos todos los cambios anteriores; pero debemos recordar que, estructuralmente, la oración ha dejado de ser pregunta por lo que el sujeto recupera su posición delante del verbo y auxiliares interrogativos como do, does o did, sencillamente desaparecen.

The word order in a reported question is the same as in a statement. The subject comes before the verb.

“Are you in love with me?”Mary asked him if he was in love with her.

QUESTIONS

To change a yes/no question to a noun clause in reported speech, introduce the noun clause with if or whether. Whether or not may also be used.

 En este tipo de preguntas, el verbo

introductorio puede ser ASK, WONDER or WANTED TO KNOW, entre otros. Preferimos ASK si mencionamos el interlocutor.

El nexo más frecuente es IF, e

inmediatamente detrás de él va el sujeto de la oración subordinada.

YES-NO QUESTIONS

1. “Did you turn off the coffee pot?”

2. “Is supper ready?”3. “Will you be at the party?”4. “Have you seen my new

film?”5. “Do you smoke?

Probemos con estos ejemplos:

“Did you turn off the coffee pot?”I asked Amy if she had turned off the coffee pot.  “Is supper ready?”Eli wanted to know whether supper was ready  “Will you be at the party?”Paul asked me whether or not I would be at the party.   “Have you seen my new film?”Mary asked John if he had seen her new film.  “Do you smoke?My boss wanted to know if I smoked.

To change an information question to a noun clause in reported speech, begin the noun clause with the question word, and remember to place the subject before the verb.

 Para estas preguntas usamos los

mismos verbos introductorios pero el nexo ahora no es IF, sino el PRONOMBRE INTERROGATIVO correspondiente seguido del sujeto de la oración subordinada.

INFORMATION QUESTIONS

1. “Where do they live?”2. “When did you call?”3. “What time is it?”4. “Why did you say that?”5. “How often will you visit

me next year?”

Probemos con estas frases:

“Where do they live?”Abdul wanted to know where they lived.  “When did you call?”Sharon asked me when I had called.  “What time is it?”Do you know what time it is?  “Why did you say that?”Pedro asked me why I had said that.  “How often will you visit me next year?”Mary asked him how often he would visit her the

following year.

For commands in reported speech use introductory verbs like 'tell' or 'advise' + infinitive with 'to'. To express negative commands use 'tell' or 'advise' + not + infinitive with 'to'.

Hay una gran variedad de verbos introductorios en función de si se trata de una orden (TOLD, ORDERED,…) o una petición (BEGGED, ASKED,….)

Para poner en estilo indirecto una orden o una petición utilizamos una estructura de acusativo según este esquema:

COMMANDS

Sujeto principal(Someone)

Verbo introductorio

Object(someone else)

(not) to

1. “Will you help me with the homework?”

2. “Don’t tell her my secret”3. “Could you open the

window?4. “ Sit down and be quiet”5. “Kiss me again, please.”

Probemos con estas frases:

“Will you help me with the homework?”Mary asked her brother to help her with the homework.

“Don’t tell her my secret”I told you not to tell my secret.

“Could you open the window?John asked Mary to open the window.

“ Sit down and be quiet”The teacher ordered us to sit down and be quiet.

“Kiss me again, please.”The actor asked the the actress to kiss him again.

The subjunctive, or base, form of the verb (no tense, without to) is used in reported speech when the main verb is recommend or suggest. We can also use the subjunctive with should (which is rather formal)

 Para poner en estilo indirecto una

sugerencia, podemos usar el subjuntivo como hemos dicho antes, pero es más fácil y frecuente usar un gerundio como verbo subordinado.

SUGGESTIONS

1. “How about buying a tie for Daddy’s birthday?”

2. “You should arrive early.”3. “Don’t wait to apply.”4. “Why don’t we visit the

museum?”5. “Let’s study hard this term”

 Probamos con estos ejemplos:

“How about buying a tie for Daddy’s birthday?”Mum suggested buying a tie for Daddy’s birthday.Mum suggested that we buy a tie for Daddy’s birthday.  “You should arrive early.”John recommended arriving early.John recommended that we arrive early.   “Don’t wait to apply.”Anna recommended not waiting to apply.Anna recommended that I not wait to apply.   “Why don’t we visit the museum?”The guide suggested visiting the museumThe guide suggested that we should visit the museum.  “Let’s study hard this term”

I suggest studying hard this term

En cuanto a los verbos introductorios, hay una gran cantidad dependiendo del matiz comunicativo y debemos tener en cuenta cuáles van seguidos de objeto indirecto o no.

The following verbs must be used with an indirect object without to:

told He told me that he was hungry.

informed We informed her that the store was closed.

reminded He reminded the staff that the meeting was at 8 PM.

REPORTING VERBS

The following verbs may be used with an indirect object, but the indirect object is optional .(There is no to before these indirect objects!)

 He asked his wife why she was so

angry. OR He asked why she was so angry

asked We asked [her] where her husband was.

answered He answered [me] that he couldn't help.

promised She promised [him] that she would stay.

The following verbs need to before the indirect object. For any verb that needs to before the indirect object, the indirect object is optional:

 He said to me that he was the chief of police.OR

He said that he was the chief of police.

said He said [to his wife] that he was hungry.

explained We explained [to her] why we had been late.

exclaimed She exclaimed [to the boy] that she was furious.

complained They complained [to us] that the room was too cold.

 

Ask (Pedir o preguntar) to get information or to make a request (He asked her...)

beg (suplicar) to ask emotionally for someone to do something (She begged him...)

answer (contestar) to respond (We answered [him]...) respond (responder) to answer (He responded [to her]...) remind (recordar) to tell somebody something that he or

she might have forgotten (He reminded me...) exclaim (exclamar) to state information with great emotion

(not used for giving commands) (He exclaimed [to her]...) explain (explicar) to state information that will help

somebody understand something (She explained [to him]...) thank (agradecer) He thanked her. (He said thank you to

her.) greet (saludar) She greeted him. (She said hello to him.) agree (estar de acuerdo) He agreed. (He said that somebody was

right or that he would do what somebody wanted.) refuse (negarse a o rechazar) She refused. (She said that she

wouldn't obey somebody or that she wouldn't do somebody a favor.)

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