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Reported Speech — Basics
She said that she was tired.
Visual Explanation
Reporting what someone said
Subject + said (that)+shifted tense clause
Examples
He said that he was feeling much better.
She told me she couldn't come to the meeting.
They said they had already eaten.
When to Use
- Tense shift
- Move one step back: present simple becomes past simple, past simple becomes past perfect, 'will' becomes 'would.'
- say vs. tell
- 'Say' is not followed by a person: 'He said he was tired.' 'Tell' needs a person: 'He told me he was tired.'
- Pronoun and time changes
- 'I' often becomes 'he/she.' 'Today' becomes 'that day.' 'Tomorrow' becomes 'the next day.'
Tip
'That' is optional in reported speech: 'She said she was tired' and 'She said that she was tired' are both correct. Dropping 'that' sounds more natural in spoken English.
Practice Exercises
Multiple Choice
Read the prompt and pick the correct answer from four options. A good way to test recognition before producing language yourself.
Coming soonFill in the Blanks
Complete sentences by typing the missing word or phrase. Tests active recall and spelling accuracy.
Coming soonScrambled Sentences
Drag words into the correct order to form a grammatically correct sentence. Builds structural intuition.
Coming soon