Mastering Reported Speech: Tense & Adverb Shifts

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Written on August 4, 2025 in English with a size of 2.91 KB

Understanding Tense Changes in Reported Speech

When converting direct speech to reported (or indirect) speech, verb tenses often shift backward. This process is known as "backshift." Below are common tense transformations:

Direct Speech Tense	Reported Speech Tense	Direct Speech Example	Reported Speech Example
Simple Present	Simple Past	"I always drink coffee," she said.	She said that she always drank coffee.
Present Continuous	Past Continuous	"I am reading a book," he explained.	He explained that he was reading a book.
Simple Past	Past Perfect	"Bill arrived on Saturday," he said.	He said that Bill had arrived on Saturday.
Past Continuous	Past Perfect Continuous	"We were living in Paris," they told me.	They told me that they had been living in Paris.
Present Perfect	Past Perfect	"I have been to Spain," he told me.	He told me that he had been to Spain.
Past Perfect	Past Perfect	"I had just turned out the light," he explained.	He explained that he had just turned out the light.
Present Perfect Continuous	Past Perfect Continuous	They complained, "We have been waiting for hours."	They complained that they had been waiting for hours.
Future (will)	Present Conditional (would)	"I will be in Geneva on Monday," he said.	He said that he would be in Geneva on Monday.

Shifts in Time, Place, and Modal Expressions

Besides tense changes, certain words and phrases indicating time, place, or modality also transform when moving from direct to reported speech:

Direct Speech Expression	Reported Speech Equivalent
today	that day
now	then
yesterday	the day before / the previous day
... days ago	... days before
last week	the week before / the previous week
next year	the following year / the year after
tomorrow	the next day / the following day
here	there
this	that
these	those
can	could
may	might
must / have to	must / had to
will	would

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