Language: grammar and vocabulary

Reporting a whole conversation

Report several turns of a conversation, keeping the tense shift, the pronouns and the reporting verbs consistent throughout.

Reporting one sentence is a rule. Reporting a conversation is a habit, because the same four things move in every single turn — the tense, the pronouns, the words for here and now, and the reporting verb — and the moment one of them slips, the reader loses track of who said what.

The four things that move

Tense steps back: am becomes was, will becomes would, have becomes had. Pronouns shift to the reporter's point of view: I becomes he or she. Words of place and time move away: here becomes there, tomorrow becomes the next day. And the reporting verb changes with the kind of thing said.

Said, told, asked

Said cannot be followed straight away by the listener: said me is never right. Told must be: he told me that. Asked carries a question, and for a command or a request you reach for told, ordered, requested or begged, followed by to and the plain verb.

A reported question stops being a question

It loses the question mark, loses the do-did-does, and goes back to ordinary word order: "Where do you live?" becomes asked where I lived, never asked where did I live. A yes-or-no question needs whether or if to hold it up.

One exception worth keeping

When the words report something that is still true — a general truth, a habit, a rule of nature — the tense may stay where it is. "The sun rises in the east," said the teacher can be reported either way, and neither is wrong.

Worked example

Report two turns: Meena said, "I am going to the market today." Her brother said, "I will come with you."

  1. Turn one: am going steps back to was going, I becomes she, today becomes that day.

    All three moves happen in one turn, and missing any one of them leaves the sentence half-reported.

Try it together

Let us report three turns of one conversation.

The conversation is: Sita said, "I have finished my project." Her friend asked, "When did you start it?" Sita said, "Please help me with the last page."

    1.Turn one. Complete with two words: Sita said that she ____ her project.

    Have a go

    Which sentence reports "Do not touch the wires" correctly?

    Ready to practise?

    Eight questions on what you have just read. Nothing is timed, and you can play as many times as you like.

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