Reporting what was asked

Reported speech. When you report what someone said, four things change:

• the tense;
• the pronouns;
• words for time and place;
• for questions, the word order.

Tense moves one step back:

• present → past;
• past → past perfect;
• present perfect → past perfect;
• will → would.

Past perfect and past modals do not change: they cannot go further back.

Pronouns change to fit the reporter: I → he/she; you → he/she; we → they; my → his/her.

Time and place words:

• now → then;
• today → that day;
• yesterday → the day before;
• tomorrow → the following day;
• ago → before;
• here → there;
• this → that.

Reporting a question. Extra steps:

• 1. Change 'said' to asked, inquired or questioned. A question is asked, not said.
• 2. Turn it into a statement: the verb goes after the subject, and the question mark goes. Never use 'that' in a reported question.

Wh- questions keep their question word, right after the reporting verb:

• '"What do you make of the four words, Leroy?"' → Mrs Brown asked Leroy what he made of the four words.

Yes/no questions have no question word, so use if or whether:

• '"Didn't you search Nolan's house, dear?"' → Mrs Brown asked Chief Brown if he had not searched Nolan's house.
• '"Is there a young fir tree…?"' → Encyclopedia inquired whether there was a young fir tree in Mr Nolan's palm-tree nursery.