examples, there is no tense change when reporting commands and requests – the verb changes into the infinitive... Examples Examples[r]
(1)Reported Speech Reported Speech
(2)Reported statements - intro Reported statements - intro
Look at these examples:
The little prince: “I want a sheep that
will live for a long time.”
The little prince said (that) he wanted a
sheep that would live for a long time
The author: “This is my airplane.”
(3)The differences The differences
The changes you see are due to the fact
we don’t quote speaker’s words but report them
The first difference you can see is the
omission of inverted comas
The second one is the use of introductory
verbs such as say, tell etc
They are normally used in the past tense NB ‘Tell’ requires the object whereas ‘say’
doesn’t
• The use of ‘that’ is optional
(4)
Further changes Further changes
Personal pronouns and possessive
adjectives change, e.g I he/she, you I/we, my his/her, your my etc
The little prince: “I want a sheep that
will live for a long time.”
The little prince said (that) he wanted a
sheep that would live for a long time
The author: “This is my airplane.”
(5)Tense change
Tense change
o Since the introductory verbs are
normally in the past tense, the tense in the main part changes, too Thus:
o Present Simple Past Simple
o The little prince: “Everything is so small where I live.”
(6)Tense change
Tense change
Present Continuous Past Continuous
The little prince: “I am telling you this
partly because of the snake.”
The little prince said he was telling him
(7)Tense change
Tense change
Present Perfect Past Perfect
“I’ve been silly,” she whispered at last
She whispered at last that she had been
(8)Tense change
Tense change
Past Simple Past Perfect
“You are like the fox when I first
encountered him,” he told the roses
He told the roses they were like the fox
(9)Tense change
Tense change
Future Simple Future in the Past
The fox said: “You will then understand
that your rose is unique.”
The fox told the little prince he would
(10)Tense change
Tense change
Must had to; can could
“You must keep your promise,” said the
little prince
The little prince told him he had to keep
his promise
The little prince said: “I cannot
carry this body with me.”
(11)Other changes Other changes
Adverbs of time: now then,
yesterday the day before, tomorrow the next day, today that day, ago before
Adverbs of place: here there etc “I do not have to live here,” said the
little prince
The little prince said he did not have to
(12)Reported commands & requests
Reported commands & requests
Look at these examples:
“Draw me a sheep”, the little prince said The little prince told him to draw him a
sheep
“Please draw me a sheep,” the little
prince said softly
The little prince asked him to draw him a
sheep
(13)Changes Changes
As you can see from the previous
(14)Examples Examples
When reporting negative commands you
must remember that ‘not’ comes before ‘to’
The rose said: “Don’t hang about so.”
The rose said to the little prince not to
hang about so
“Do not come tonight” the little prince
said
The little prince told him not to come
(15)More examples More examples
“Come back tomorrow evening” the little
prince told him
The little prince told him to come back
the next evening
The rose whispered: “Please forgive me
Try to be happy.”
The rose asked the little prince to
(16)Thanks for attention Thanks for attention
All used examples in direct speech taken from the book “The Little Prince” by Antoine de Saint-Exupery,