Page 1: Basic Tense Changes in Reported Speech

This page explains the fundamental transformations required when converting direct speech to indirect speech, with a focus on tense changes. The systematic shift of tenses follows specific patterns to maintain the temporal relationship between the reporting and reported speech.

Definition: Reported speech (indirect speech) is the way we represent someone's words in our own speech without quoting them exactly.

Example: Direct: "This is my first time at the club" → Indirect: She said that this was her first time at the club.

Highlight: The main tense changes are:

• Present Simple → Past Simple
• Present Perfect → Past Perfect
• Past Simple → Past Perfect
• Will → Would

Vocabulary: Backshifting - the process of moving verb tenses one step back in time when converting to reported speech.