Modal verbs in Reported speech

Past tenses in Reported speech.

When the speaker talks about the action in the past (These are sentences which start with the verb in the past e.g. He said/asked/told, etc.) we change the verb in the subordinate clause according to the rule in the table below. In English it is called sequence of tenses, that does not exist in Ukrainian language and is needed to be remembered by heart.

Direct Speech	Indirect Speech
Present Indefinite He said, “I go to school.”	Past Indefinite He said (that) he went to school.
Present Continuous He said, “I am going to school.”	Past Continuous He said (that) he was going to school.
Past Indefinite He said, “I went to school.”	Past Perfect He said (that) he had gone to school.
Present Perfect He said, “I have gone to school.”	Past Perfect He said (that) he had gone to school.
Past Continuous He said, “I was going to school.”	Perfect Continuous He said (that) he had been going to school.
Present Perfect Continuous He said, “I have been going to school.”	Past Perfect Continuous He said (that) he had been going to school.

If the direct speech was in the present tense, the reported speech must be in the past tense:

She said, "I am an actress, and I also sing. "

She said that she was an actress and that she also sang.

If the direct speech was in the past tense, the reported speech must be in the past perfect

(the "past before a past" form, had + past participle):

He said, "I was scared when I fell down the stairs."

He said that he had been scared when he had fallen down the stairs.

Modal verbs also change while transforming the sentence into indirect speech. Here are some examples:

Direct Speech	Indirect Speech
can He said, “I can go to school.”	could He said (that) he could go to school.
could He said, “I could go to school.”	could He said (that) he could go to school.
will He said, “I will go to school.”	would He said (that) he would go to school.
may He said, “I may go to school.”	might He said (that) he might go to school.
might He said, “I might go to school.”	might He said (that) he might go to school.
must He said, “I must go to school.”	had to He said (that) he had to go to school.
have to He said, “I have to go to school.”	had to He said (that) he had to go to school.
shall He said, “I shall go to school.”	should He said (that) he should go to school.”
should He said, “I should go to school.”	should He said (that) he should go to school.”
ought to He said, “I ought to go to school.”	ought to He said (that) he ought to go to school.”

NOTE! Pay attention that while changing direct speech into indirect one such modal verbs as could, would, should, might, ought to do not have any changes.

Дата добавления: 2014-01-11