common errors in reported speech made by 11th graders at an upper secondary school in ho chi minh city

VIETNAM ACADEMY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES

GRADUATE OF ACADEMY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES

Nguyễn Lê Văn

COMMON ERRORS IN REPORTED SPEECH

SECONDARY SCHOOL IN HO CHI MINH CITY

MA THESIS IN ENGLISH LANGUAGE

HO CHI MINH CITY, 2020

VIETNAM ACADEMY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES

GRADUATE OF ACADEMY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES

Nguyễn Lê Văn

COMMON ERRORS IN REPORTED SPEECH

SECONDARY SCHOOL IN HO CHI MINH CITY

Field: English LanguageCode: 8.22.02.01

Supervisor: Lê Hương Hoa, Ph.D.

HO CHI MINH CITY, 2020

Author’s signature

Nguyễn Lê Văn

Approved bySUPERVISOR

Lê Hương Hoa, Ph.D.

Date: ………

This thesis is completed with lots of working hours and is contributed by alarge amount of enthusiasm, effort and assistance from many people Firstly, Iwould like to express my sincere gratitude to my advisor, Dr Lê Hương Hoa forthe all support of my research, for her patience, motivation, and immenseknowledge Her guidance helped me in all the time of doing research andwriting this thesis I also would like to send my special thanks to Dr ĐặngNguyên Giang, who gave me important help with some ideals and documents.Additionally, I am so grateful for Mai Lan Hương, who wrote wonderful bookswhich are loved by millions of teachers and students in Vietnam Her works arefilled by deep feelings in the different ups and downs motions, especially duringthe process of my research It is the source of inspirations for me to fulfil thistask Finally, I want to be grateful to my family for all, who are alwayssupportive and enthusiastic during the progress of writing this thesis.

Thanks to all.

LIST OF TABLES viii

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS AND SYMBOLS USED IN THE THESIS ix

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1

1.1 Rationale 1

1.2 Aims of the Study 2

1.3 Scope of the Study 2

1.4 Significance of the Study 3

1.5 Research Questions 3

1.6 Research Methods 4

1.7 Structure of the Study 4

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 6

2.1 Previous studies related to reported speech 6

2.3.3 Changes of direct speech when turning into reported speech 21

2.3.4 Summary of reported speech used in the textbook “Tiếng Anh 11” 31

2.4 Chapter summary 34

CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 35

3.1 Research setting 35

3.1.1 An overview of Nguyễn Hiền Upper Secondary School 35

3.1.2 The teachers’ background and their teaching conditions 35

3.1.3 The students’ background 36

3.2 Methodology 38

3.2.1 Research questions 38

3.2.2 Subjects of the study 38

3.2.3 Data collection instruments 40

3.2.4 Data collection procedures 45

3.2.5 Data analysis 45

3.3 Chapter summary 45

CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS 46

4.1 Results and analysis from questionnaires 46

4.2 Results and analysis from two written mini-tests 55

4.2.1 Results and analysis from the first test 55

4.2.2 Results and analysis from the second test 56

4.2.3 Results and analysis from two written mini-tests 58

4.3 Chapter summary 84

CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION 86

5.1 Recapitulation 86

APPENDIX 4: INTERVIEW XII

APPENDIX 5: WEBSITES OF REPORTED SPEECH XIII

APPENDIX 6: PERCENTAGE CHARTS FROM QUESTIONAIRES XIVAPPENDIX 7: RESULT TABLES OF TWO WRITTEN MINI-TESTS XX

English grammar is regarded as the most important factor to students’learning English, in which reported speech grammar is one of the biggest pointsthat is often used in tests and exams at schools, especially in entranceexaminations However, 11 graders’ ability still have many limitations and needmuch more instruction from their teachers at an upper secondary school Thefindings of the study are concerned with recognizing common errors thatstudents usually make when changing indirect speech statements into reportedspeech ones, and providing some solutions in order to help them avoid makingerrors in performing this kind of grammar point Besides, the research also helpsteachers give useful pedagogical implications in improving the quality oflectures included in the textbook “Tiếng Anh 11” as well as lessons on reportedspeech grammar In addition, teachers can apply some suggested exercises inthis study for their lessons.

In this research, the researcher used two instruments, including thequestionnaire and two written mini-tests for students The subjects involved inthis study were 23 students of a class including 14 school-girls and 9 school-boys who are 11 graders at an upper secondary school in Hồ Chí Minh City.They were invited to participate in the survey questionnaire as well as doing twowritten mini-tests Besides, some English teachers in the school also took part into give best advices in an interview for learning reported speech During givingthe instruments, there were 23 participants handed in the questionnaire and the

mini-tests to the researcher in total, and five teachers teaching English for 11graders finished the questions in the interview.

Hopefully, the findings of the research will help both teacher in givingeffective teaching lessons and students in learning and mastering reportedspeech grammar point.

LIST OF TABLES

PageTable 9: Groups of students depending on their performing levels in English

subject 69Table 15: Comparison between 5 groups through two written mini-tests 77Table 18: The order of ascending difficulty of changes 84

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS AND SYMBOLS USED IN THE THESIS

HCM.C : Hồ Chí Minh City

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION1.1 Rationale

These days, English is the language widely used in the world English is notonly the national or official language of some countries which have differentcultures, but it is also the international language of communication in manyfields including science, technology, business, entertainment and so on Sincewhen Viet Nam joined in international commercial organizations such as WorldTrade Organization (WTO), Asia Pacific Economic Co-operation (APEC) andAsia Europe Meeting (ASEM), the need for learning English has beenconsiderably increasing among Vietnamese due to their proficiency in Englishwhich can help them get good jobs Therefore, learning English is verynecessary.

It, however, is not easy to master this language In order to become goodEnglish learners, besides proficiency in speaking, listening, reading and writingskills, they must use grammar properly Numerous studies show that the use ofpoor grammar in spoken and written statements negatively reflects on thespeakers or authors, and those people, who use imperfect grammar, are instantlyperceived as being less intelligent, reliable or trustworthy than people who useproper grammar.

Consequently, it is essential for English learners to master grammar Amongthe grammar points, reported speech is important but rather difficult now that itinvolves a lot of elements which causes students to feel confused and make arange of certain errors Making so many errors of reported speech is not goodbecause when someone reports incorrectly what others have said, it is difficult

for listeners to understand or it is even easy for them to misunderstand, causingserious consequences In addition, reported speech often appears on commontests, final tests in classes and especially tests in the entrance exams touniversities and colleges.

Therefore, if students do not master this grammar point, they may lose marksrelating to reported speech easily For those above certain reasons, the researcher

decided to study the topic “Common Errors in Reported Speech

Made by 11th Graders at an Upper Secondary School in Ho Chi Minh City”.

1.2 Aims of the Study

The overall aim of the study is to help 11th graders at Nguyễn Hiền UpperSecondary School avoid making errors in preforming reported speech grammar.With that aim achieved, the researcher will suggest appropriate teachingmethods that meet students’ needs with the hope to enhance their ability oflearning reported speech grammar point as well as quality of learning Englishgrammar To achieve the above aim, the following objectives are set forexploration:

(1) To find out 11 graders’ common errors in using reported speech.(2) To suggest some solutions to help the students avoid these errors.(3) To improve the quality of teaching and learning English at the school.

1.3 Scope of the Study

The study is about common errors of reported speech based on the exercisesgiven by the researcher to 23 students who are 11th graders at Nguyễn HiềnUpper Secondary School.

1.4 Significance of the Study

The findings of the study are focus on not only recognizing common errorsthat students usually make when changing indirect speech statements intoreported speech, but also providing some solutions in order to help them avoidmaking errors in performing this kind of grammar point Furthermore, theresearch also helps teachers give useful pedagogical implications in improvingthe quality of lectures included in the textbook “Tiếng Anh 11” as well aslessons on reported speech grammar In addition, teachers can apply somesuggested exercises in this study for their lessons.

Hence, the findings of the research will help get deeper insights intostudents’ learning reported speech grammar towards the aforementionedsolutions, which in turn stimulate the adjustment on the part of teachers toaccord with students’ needs and wants The suggestion of appropriate solutionsmade by the writer of this paper will significantly contribute to reported speechgrammar teaching and learning outcomes In short, valuable information fromthe questionnaires and the two written mini-tests will help shorten the gapbetween theory and practice at least in this context.

1.5 Research Questions

The research is carried out to answer the three following questions:

(1) What is the students’ attitude towards learning reported speech?(2) What are common errors that the 11th graders usually make when

dealing with changing direct speech into reported speech?(3) What are some solutions to these problems?

1.6 Research Methods

This study is qualitatively and quantitatively conducted with the descriptive,analytical, synthetic, and inductive methods A survey with the questionnaires,interview and the two written mini-tests are carried out to investigate thecommon errors of reported speech made by 11th graders at Nguyễn Hiền UpperSecondary School.

1.7 Structure of the Study

At this stage, it should be pointed out that in accordance with the researchproblems; the study is divided into five chapters:

Chapter 1: “Introduction” presents the reasons for choosing the study, the

aims, the research methods, and the scope of the study along with its design.

Chapter 2: “Literature review” reveals the relevant literatures on reported

speech grammar carried out by both foreign and Vietnamese researchers in thepast Besides, it also gives specific introduction about errors and research’saspects on reported speech grammar such as definition of reported speech, typesof reported speech, changes of direct speech when turned into reported speechand especially summary of reported speech used in the textbook “Tiếng Anh11”.

Chapter 3: “Research Methodology” presents and describes the research

methodology that was used to carry out the study Moreover, it presents thepopulation of the study, the research design, and the procedures that were usedfor gathering and analyzing the available data.

Chapter 4: “Findings and Discussions” analyses the data gathered to answer

the research questions.

Chapter 5: “Conclusion” summarizes the findings of the study while trying

to address its limitations, and proposes specific initiatives to improve the qualityof teaching, and open the door for further research.

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW

This chapter, Literature Review, will present previous studies related totypes of errors of indirect speech made in the context of foreign languageteaching The literature review will initially look at the terms concerned in thestudy The pertinent literature will be reviewed and analyzed with the intentionof providing a theoretical foundation to the current study.

2.1 Previous studies related to reported speech

In the past time, many studies relating to reported speech have been carried

out For instances, the study “Teaching Reported Speech” done by Dan Raj

Regmi was about the major mistakes made by the learners of Grade XII ofManagement stream in December, 2009 However, the researcher only gavesuggestions for teachers to make clear how they teach their Nepalese students inorder to help them understand and use reported speech precisely Besides, Dr.Riskhi Anita Tirta Utama from Muhammadiyah University of Surakarta carried

out a research on “An Error Analysis of Indirect Speech Made by the Second

Year Students of Sma Negeri 1 Wonogiri 2007/2008 Academic Year” in 2008 In

this research, the researcher made clear the types of errors of indirect speechmade by the second year students and found the source of errors of indirectspeech that helps students overcome the difficulties in working with Indirectspeech sentences Also, this research was given to the second year students andit just concentrated on copping with types of indirect speech, not specific aspectsof changes in reported speech grammar.

Another study is “Error Analysis of Transforming Direct Speech into

Indirect Speech in Narrative Dialogues at the Second Year Classes of English

Department” carried out by Elyza Martiarini and Risa Mufliharsi at University

of Indraprasta PGRI, Jakarta in 2017 Nevertheless, the findings errors of thisresearch were classified into 4 aspects such as omission, addition, misformation,and misordering which differ with the classification that the writer uses for studyat Nguyễn Hiền Upper Secondary School.

In Vietnam, Lê Thị Thu Quỳnh, a student of Hồ Chí Minh University of

Pedagogy did the research “Indirect Speech in English and Vietnamese: A

Comparative Contrastive Analysis” in 2010 In this research, the researcher

pointed out basic similarities and differences in indirect speech betweenVietnamese and English as well as some major mistakes made by Vietnamese.Also, Nguyễn Thị Mỹ Hạnh, a fourth year of English class 2009A of Foreign

Language Faculty at Đồng Tháp University gave a research “Common Errors of

Reported Speech Made by Grade 11 Students at Doc Binh Kieu High School,Tien Giang Province” in 2013 In this research, the researcher gave result of

usual errors that students made when turning direct into reported speech Thesuggestion was that Vietnamese people have to pay more attention to grammarstructure when they want to change an English indirect speech into the directone However, the researcher gave a general suggestion instead of specific onesto help learners avoid those errors and the subjects just for learners in TiềnGiang province, where students, generally, have lower levels at performingEnglish grammar than those living in Hồ Chí Minh City (HCM.C), the biggestmetropolitan in Vietnam.

Until now, no research has been done on errors in reported speech made bygraders at an upper secondary school in HCM.C For the purpose of11th

investigating the common errors in reported speech made by 11th graders, theresearcher has decided to conduct this study.

2.2 Errors

2.2.1 Classification of errors

When a learner develops his second or foreign language system, he makeserrors In first language learning, these errors are “lapses” or “slips of thetongue” due to physical or psychological reasons (Brown, 1980) However, insecond language and foreign language learning, these errors are reviewedcarefully Corder (1973) introduces the distinction between systematic and non-systematic errors Non-systematic errors occur in one’s native language, Cordercalls these "mistakes" and states that they are not significant to the process oflanguage learning They can be self-corrected when attention is called He keepsthe term "errors" for the systematic ones, which occur in a second language Hebelieves that errors are the evidence of the language system that the learner isusing at a particular point in the course Corder (1973) refers to three types oferrors These are: 1) transfer errors; 2) analogical errors and 3) teaching-inducederrors Chomsky classifies learners’ errors into: 1) performance error and 2)competence error Competence is the ‘speaker-hearer’s knowledge of hislanguage, while performance is the actual use of language in concrete situations.Heaton (1998) and Littlewood (1984) divide errors into two main types: globaland local errors Richard (1974) and some other researchers distinguish betweeninterlingual errors and intralingual errors.

Obviously, errors are classified differently according to perspectives On thewhole, the most popular classification of written errors that earns scholars'

consensus prevailingly is the division of errors into interlingual errors andintralingual errors Because, two major factors that contributed to the presenceof errors in students’ written work are interlingual transfer and intralingualtransfer.

The elaboration of these categories is illustrated as below:

i) Interlingual Errors

According to Brown (1980, p.173) the beginning stages of learning a secondlanguage are characterized by a good deal of interlingual transfer from the nativelanguage Richard (1974, p.35) says that interlingual errors are errors due totransferring rules from the mother tongue They are the incorrect elements underthe influence of learners' native language Therefore, interlingual errors areerrors which are caused by interference from native language to the targetlanguage they learn Therefore, before someone really master the concept oftheir target language they will always use the concept of their native language.When it happens all the time and they do not realize it, it can be calledinterlingual errors.

Obviously, the understanding of intralingual and interlingual error enablesteacher to perceive language teaching form a two-way perspective, which isdifferent from traditional teaching which only emphasizes target language Thisclassification could help the teachers deal with the relationship betweenlanguage 1 and language 2 in teaching practice, to trace the origin of errors, andto decide what language points need more attention.

ii) Intralingual Errors

After learning second language or foreign language for some time, learners’

previous experience and their existing subsumes begin to include structureswithin the target language itself According to James (1998, p.183), the less thelearner knows about the target language, the more he is forced to draw upon anyother prior knowledge he possesses While Brown (1980, p.173) says that it isclear that intralingual errors or intralingual interference-the negative transfer ofitems within the target language, or put another way, the incorrect generalizationof rules within the target language is a major factor in second language learning.Intralingual errors refer to those out of the influence within the developmentalsystem of target language, such as faulty generalization, incomplete applicationof rules, and so on (Ellis, 1999, p.58).

2.2.2 Sources of errors

We all know that errors are unavoidable in language learning process Theseerrors occur because of many reasons By identifying the sources of error, theteacher begins to know how learner’s cognitive and affective self relates to thelinguistic system and also to formulate his process of learning a foreignlanguage.

However, it is by no means easy to identify the actual sources of writtenerrors in the field of English language Teaching Different classifications oferrors provide us with different perspectives to analyze the causes of errors.Brown (1980, p.156) states that errors are caused by the lack of knowledgeabout the target language Edge (1989, p.7) claims that the source of learner’serrors is the interference from the speaker’s first language In tone with it,Richards (1974, p.174) says that the source of errors in studying a language

might be derived from the interference of the learners’ mother tongue and thegeneral characteristics of the rule learning.

In summary, errors can be ascribed to many factors Some of learners' errorsare due to learners' language competence, some due to cultural interference;some are results of learners' learning strategies, while others are the products ofcommunicative strategies Diverse as these viewpoints are, there should be anintersection among different schools of thoughts or a clear-cut justificationamong them so that these causes are figured out and proper error correction isoffered.

In general, the very causes of written errors can be summed up as below:

i) Interlingual interference

Interlingual interference is the interference of the learner’s first language ormother tongue onto the process of learning a second language Mother tongueinterference is one of the major causes leading to learner’s committing errors.Norrish (1987) states that learning a language (a mother tongue or a foreignlanguage) is a matter of habit formation When learner strives to learn a newhabit, the old ones will interfere with the new ones In other words, the term"first language interference" best summarizes this phenomenon Besides, beingable to express fully one's ideas in another language is always a demanding task.Thus, when learners' second language is not sufficient in expressing themselves,it is likely that they will rely on their first language to express their ideas Edge(1989: 7) is in line with this thought: "when people do not know how to saysomething in a foreign language, one possibility is to use words and structuresfrom their own language and try to make them fit into the foreign language."

Moreover, the interference of mother tongue may result from the complicationof the structure of the target language as Abbort et al (1981: 230) argues that"wherever the structures of the first language and target language differed, therewould be problems in learning and difficulty in performance, and that the greaterthe differences were, the greater the difficulties would be."

Undoubtedly, differences and similarities between language 1 and language2 will affect the learning of the target language greatly The consideration of thecontrast and comparison between the two languages will for sure contribute tothe analysis of learner' errors The differences between Vietnamese and Englishare manifested in pronunciation, grammatical rules, lexical meaning, and wordorder is considered another factor of the interlingual interference as well.

ii) Intralingual Interference

Interferences from the students’ own language is not the only reason forcommitting errors During the process of analyzing the causes of errors, a largenumber of errors are found to be the result of intralingual interference within thetarget language As soon as the learner has begun to acquire some parts of thenew language system, more and more intralingual interference will occur Theerrors from intralingual interference normally follow a natural route As thelearner progresses in the second language, his previous experience and hisexisting knowledge begin to permeate for producing new progress, at the sametime arousing new errors Intralingual interference is the negative transfer ofitems within the target language such as the overgeneralization, the wrongapplication of rules and results in false conceptualization on the part of thelearner (Richards 1974:96).

According to James (1998), intralingual errors can be divided into 4 items:a) Overgeneralization

Another possible cause of written errors mentioned is overgeneralization Itoccurs when the learner creates a deviant structure on the basis of otherstructures in the target language It generally involves the creation of one deviantstructure in place of two target language structures Consequently, studentsautomatically apply rules wherein they are not allowed to For examples:

(1) She will cries aloud.

(2) He can speaks English well.(3) We are hope to see you.

In the examples, the learners overgeneralize that the simple present tense ‘s’ending is required by the third person singular Whereas, the form of Englishsentences is not fully the same as they expect In addition, they may reduce theirlinguistic burden To know their mistakes in constructing sentences, theresearcher gives the correct sentences as follows:

(1) She will cry aloud.

(2) He can speak English well.(3) We hope to see you.

b) Ignorance of rule restriction

This types of errors involves the application of rules to contexts where thelearner does not apply Here the learner fails to observe the restrictions ofexisting structures For examples:

(1) He asked to me about my family.

(2) She told to me her big problem yesterday.(3) He showed to me his new cars.

In this case, they should reduce ‘to’ in the sentence “He asked to me”because he applied the same preposition to different verbs The followingsentences are the correct forms of the sentences above:

(1) He asked me about my family.

(2) She told me her big problem yesterday.(3) She showed me his new cars

c) Incomplete application of rules

This kind of intralingual error is converse of overgeneralization andrepresents the degree of development of the rule required to produce acceptablesentences It is typically related to analogy It involves a failure to fully developa structure Thus learners of language 2 English have been observed to usedeclarative word order in questions (for example, “You like to sing?”) in placeof interrogative word order (for example, “Do you like to sing?”) This type ofintralingual error corresponds to what is often referred to as an error oftransitional competence (Richards, 1971).

d) False concepts hypothesized

The last category of intralanguage error that is sometimes called semanticerror is false concepts hypothesized It derives from incorrect comprehending ofdistinction in the target language These particular errors are the result of poorgradation of teaching items The form ‘was’ for example, may be interpreted asthe marker of the past tense, as in “one day it was happened”.

2.2.3 Error analysis

It is to S.P Corder that Error Analysis owes its place as a scientific methodin linguistics As Rod Ellis cites (p 48), "it was not until the 1970s that ErrorAnalysis became a recognized part of applied linguistics, a development thatowed much to the work of Corder" According to James (1998:7) error analysisis a methodology for dealing with data rather than a theory of acquisition Thedata can be taken by conducting a test with the students as the respondents.Further he (James 1998, p.1) says that the process of determining the incidence,nature, causes, and consequences of unsuccessful language learning WhileBrown (1980, p.166) states that error analysis is the fact that learner do makeerrors and that these errors can be observed, analyzed, and classified to revealsomething of the system operating within the learners The purpose is to showsome problems faced by the students It is a key to understand the process offoreign L acquisition.

Richards (1985, p.96) states that Error Analysis is the study of errors madeby the second and foreign language learners Error Analysis may be carried outin order to (a) find out how well someone knows a language, (b) find out how aperson learns a language, and (c) obtain information on common difficulties inlanguage learning, as an aid in teaching or in the preparation of teachingmaterials This definition stresses the functions of Error Analysis.

From those explanations it can be concluded that Error Analysis is amethodology for dealing with data which can be observed, analyzed andclassified to reveal or determine the incidence, nature, causes and consequencesof unsuccessful language learning within the learners In other words, Error

Analysis is an activity to identify, classify and interpreted or describe the errorsmade by someone in speaking or in writing and it is carried out to obtaininformation on common difficulties faced by someone in speaking or in writingEnglish sentences.

In this study, under the theory of error by Richards (1974), the errors due toincomplete application of Intralingual interference made by students in terms ofreported speech was investigated.

2.3 Reported speech2.3.1 Definitions

Definition of reported speech (or indirect speech) is still controversialproblem Each has their own opinion that leads having several definitions thatare defined differently from one by one The researcher would like introducesome outstanding ones that are persuasive:

According to Cambridge Dictionary, “Reported speech is how we representthe speech of other people or what we ourselves say.”

As for Collins Dictionary, “Reported speech is speech which tells you whatsomeone said, but does not use the person's actual words A few changes arenecessary; often a pronoun has to be changed and the verb is usually movedback a tense, where possible.” with an illustrated example:

1) Direct speech: "I'm going to come."

→Reported speech: He said that he was going to come.

Moreover, Oxford Learner’s Dictionaries tells us, “Reported speech is a report of what somebody has said that does not use their exact words.”

In general, all the definitions that the researcher has just mentioned abovehave their own value certainly contributing to learning reported speech grammarpoint In this study, the researcher would like to use all the opinions above sothat they will support for the research sufficiently and effectively most.

2.3.2 Types of reported speech

Also, each one has different classification of reported speech As forCambridge Dictionary, there are two main types of reported speech: Directspeech and indirect speech Whereas, according to https://efc.edu.vn/cau-tuong-thuat-trong-tieng-anh and https://www.myenglishpages.com/site_php_files/grammar-lesson-reported-speech.php, there are various types of sentences ofreported speech for us to use, we either report: statements, questions, requests/commands (imperative) or other types.

With other types of reported speech, the researcher would like to introducesome to make them clearer, for instances: reported exclamations and mixedtypes of reported speech that will be specifically presented as follow.

i) Reported statements

S1 + said to/ told + O + (that) + S2 + V

1) Direct speech: “I’m waiting for my mother,” he said

→ Reported speech: He said that he was waiting for his mother.

2) Direct speech: Rick said to me, “Anne has written Jim a letter.”

→ Reported speech: Rick told me that Anne had written Jim a letter.

ii) Reported imperatives

S + asked / told / ordered + O + (not) to–inf.

a Affirmative imperatives

1) Direct speech: The teacher said to me, “Show me your

notebook.” → Reported speech: The teacher told me to show her mynotebook.

2) Direct speech: He said to me, “Remember to come here on time.” → Reported speech: He asked me to come there on time.3) Direct speech: “Please give me some money,” said the old man to us → Reported speech: The old man begged us to give him some money.

4) Direct speech: The boss tells me, “Come in!”

→ Reported speech: The boss tells me to come

in b Negative imperativesExamples:

1) Direct speech: She said to her husband, “Don’t drive too fast.” → Reported speech: She told her husband not to drive too fast.

2)Direct speech: The teacher says to her students, “Never go to school late.” → Reported speech: The teacher tells her students never to go to school late.

iii) Reported questions

a Yes-No Questions

asked + (O)

S1 + wondered+ if / whether + S2 – V wanted to know

 “Auxiliary + S + …?”

1) Direct speech: She said to me, “Are you hungry?”

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→ Reported speech: He asked me if / whether I was hungry.

2) Direct speech: He said to himself, “Will she arrive on time?”

→ Reported speech: He wondered if /whether she would arrive on time.

3) Direct speech: He enquires, “Does the train stop at York?”

→ Reported speech: He enquires if / whether the train stops at York.

S1 + wondered+ Wh– words + S2 – V wanted to know

1) Direct speech: “Who is going to live in the big house?” he enquired → Reported speech: He enquired who was going to live in the big house.

2) Direct speech: “Who does English belong to?” our teacher has just said tous.

3) Direct speech: “How do you learn English?” she asks him → Reported speech: She asks him how he learns English.

iv) Reported Exclamations

S1 + exclaimed/ said (that) + S2 – V

1) Direct speech: He said, “What a dreadful idea!”

→ Reported speech: He exclaimed that it was a dreadful idea.

2) Direct speech: She says, “What a beautiful dress!”

→ Reported speech: She says that it is a very beautiful dress.

v) Mixed types of Reported speech

Direct speech in the mixed types may consist of: Statement + Question,

Question + Imperative, Imperative + Statement, or all together.

a Rule 1: Statement + Question

Often each type requires its own introductory verb and the conjunction and is used to link them For example:

1) DS: “I’m a stranger Can you tell me how to get to the post office?” she said.→ Reported speech: She said she was a stranger and asked if I could tell her

how to get to the post office.

b Rule 2: Question – Imperative

When the second clause is a statement explaining the first, the conjunction as can be used instead of a second introductory verb For example:

1) Direct speech: “Don’t turn off the light It is dark here.” my sister said → Reported speech: My sister told me not to turn off the light as it was dark

there.

c Rule 3: Imperative – statement

Sometimes the second introductory verb can be a participle For examples:

1) Direct speech: “Please, please don’t smoke Remember that it is harmful to your health,” his wife said.

→ Reported speech: His wife begged him not to smoke reminding him that it

was harmful to your health.

2.3.3 Changes of direct speech when turning into reported speech

1) Direct speech: He said, “I am a student.”

→ Reported speech: He said that he was a student.

 Rule 2

Second person pronouns in the direct speech change from the second personto the person of the object of the reporting verb in the reported speech Forexample:

1) Direct speech: She said to me, “You are very kind.” → Reported speech: She told me that I was very kind.

→ Reported speech: The manager said that they were hard workers.

 Notes

 The new (changed) pronoun will have the same case and number as the original one For example:

1) Direct speech: He said, “This book is mine.”

→ Reported speech: He said that that book was his.

 In some cases, to avoid confusion, we can use the former and the latter instead of the pronouns mentioned in the rules above For examples:

1) Direct speech: Tom said to Peter, “Miss White wants to meet me in theoffice.”

→ Reported speech: Tom told Peter that Miss White wanted to meet the former

b Demonstrative pronoun changes (this/ that/ these/ those) For examples:

1) Direct speech: She said, “This is Tom’s house.”

→ Reported speech: She said (that) that was Tom’s house.2) Direct speech: He said, “These are my new pens.”

→ Reported speech: He said that those were his new pens.

ii) Tense changes

If the reporting verb is in the past tense, tenses of the verbs in the direct

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speech will be changed into their corresponding past tenses in the reported speech The changes are shown in the following table.

1 Simple Present: S + V(s/es) Simple Past: S + V2/ed

Mary said, “I am a secretary.” Mary said that she was a secretary.

2 Present ProgressivePast Progressive

S + is/ am/ are + V-ingS + was/ were + V-ing

She said, “I am listening to She said that she was listening to

Present PerfectPast Perfect

3 S + has/ have VppS + had + Vpp

She said, “I have been to Da Lat.” She said that she had been to Da Lat.

Present Perfect ProgressivePast perfect progressive

4 S + have/has + been + V-ingS + had been + V-ing

The clerk said, “I have been The clerk said that she had beenlearning English for ten years.” learning English for ten years.

Simple Past: S + V2/ed Past Perfect: S + had + Vpp

5 My friend said, “My brother My friend said that his brother hadbought a computer yesterday.” bought a computer the day before.

Past ProgressivePast Perfect Progressive

6 S + was/ were + V-ingS + had been + V-ing

He said, “We were having dinner He said that they had been havingat 7 p.m yesterday.” dinner 7p.m the day before.

7 Past perfect: S + had + Vpp Unchanged

He said, “I had turned off the TV He said he had turned off the TV

Past perfect ProgressiveUnchanged

S + had been + V-ing

8 He said, “I had been waiting for He said that he had been waiting forten minutes when the bus ten minutes when the bus arrived.arrived.”

Modals verbs expressing futureModals verbs expressing futureactionaction in the past

9 S + will + VbareS + would + Vbare

My mother said to me, “I will buy My mother told me that she wouldyou a new watch tomorrow.” buy me a new watch the following

Modals verbs expressing futureModals verbs expressing futureprogressive actionprogressive action in the past:

10 S + will be + V-ingS + would be + V-ing

My friend said, “I will be My friend said that she would bewatching TV at 8 o’clock watching TV at 8 o’clock the

a There are no tense changes in the reported speech if the reported words are true at the time of reporting For example:

1) Direct speech: He said, “I am 24 years old.”

→ Reported speech: He said that he is 24 years old (Now he is 24 years old.)

b There are no tense changes in the reported speech if the reported words express a general truth For example:

1) Direct speech: Our geography teacher said, “The Earth revolves around theSun.”

→ Reported speech: Our geography teacher said that the Earth resolves

around the Sun.

c There are no tense changes in reported speech if the reported words refer to unreal situations For examples:

1) Direct speech: My sister said, “If I were a billionaire, I would help the poor.”

→ Reported speech: My sister said that if she were a billionaire, she would help

the poor.

2) Direct speech: He said, “If I had worked hard, I would have passed theexam.”

→ Reported speech: He said that if he had worked hard, I would have

passed the exam.

d There are no tense changes in reported speech if the reported words

contain unreal past tenses after wish, would rather/ sooner and it is time.

1) Direct speech: Tom said, “I wish I could travel around the world.”

→ Reported speech: Tom said that he wished he could travel around the world.

2) Direct speech: She said to him, “I would rather you did not smoke here.”

→ Reported speech: She told him that she would rather he did not smoke there.

3) Direct speech: He said, “It’s time the government did something to save the environment.”

→ Reported speech: He said that it was time the government did something to

save the environment.

iii) Adjective changes

a Possessive adjective changes

The rule of possessive adjective changes in reported speech is the same as that of possessive pronoun changes mentioned above For examples:

1) Direct speech: He said, “I haven’t finished my work.”→ Reported speech: He said that he hadn’t finished his work.2) Direct speech: My sister said to me, “Don’t put your bag here.” → Reported speech: My sister told me not to put my bag there.

3) Direct speech: Alice said, “I don’t know their names.”

→ Reported speech: Alice said that she didn’t know their

names b Demonstrative adjective changes

The rule of demonstrative adjective changes in reported speech is the same as that of demonstrative pronoun changes mentioned above For examples:

1) Direct speech: He said, “This room needs painting.”

→ Reported speech: He said that that room needed painting.

2) Direct speech: She said, “These books are mine.”

→ Reported speech: She said that those books were hers.

iv) Unchanged with the reporting verbs

If the reporting verb is in simple present, present continuous, present perfect and future tenses, tenses of the verbs in the direct speech will not be changed in

the reported speech For example:

1) Direct speech: He says, “I listen to the radio every day.”

→ Reported speech: He says that he listens to the radio every day.

v) Modal verb changes a Rule 1

Modal verbs in the direct speech will be changed into the corresponding past

forms in the reported speech if the reporting verb is in the past tenses The changes are shown in the following table For examples:

can (ability)could

She said to me, “Can you swim?” She asked me if I could swim.

may (possibility)might

He said, “It may rain.” He said that it might rain.

may (permission)might

Our parents said to us, “You may Our parents told us that we couldwatch TV in your free time.” watch TV in our free time.

must (obligation, present)had to

“Need I eat it all, mummy?” said the The child asked his mother if he had to

“Yes, dear, you must,” she said.

must (obligation, future)would have to/ had to

My father said to me, “You must My father told me that I would havework harder next term.” to/ had to work harder the next term.

needn’t (necessity, present)needn’t/ didn’t have to

27

He said, “I needn’t be in the room till He said that he needn’t / didn’t have to

needn’t (necessity, future)needn’t/ wouldn’t have to

I said, “If you can lend me the I said that if he could lend me themoney, I needn’t go to the bank.” money, I needn’t / wouldn’t have to go

to the bank.

shall (future)(I/ we + would/ should)

(You/ he/ she/ it/ they + would)

I said, “I shall buy a new bicycle if I I said that I should / would buy a newhave enough money.” bicycle if I had enough money.

He said, “I shall buy a new bicycle if He said that he would buy a newI have enough money.” bicycle if he had enough money.

shall (offer, request for advice and shouldconfirmation)

We asked his wife: “Where shall I We asked his wife where he should put

She said, “They will come in time.” She said they would come in time.b Rule 2

In reported speech, such words/ phrases as had better, would rather, would

sooner, ought to, used t, should, would, could and might remain unchanged For

1) Direct speech: “The children should/ had better go to bed early,” the doctorsaid.