English B1 · Reported speech
Inglês Nível B1 Tópico 8 4:36 Narração em inglês · Legendas em inglês + 中文 gravadas
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Transcrição
Direct speech quotes the exact words: she said, I am tired. Reported speech rebuilds the sentence: she said she was tired. The memory hook: a retelling, not a recording. The words move house, and everything steps back to fit the new address. Chinese keeps the verb in place; ta shuo ta hen kun changes nothing. English moves the verb back, because English verbs always carry time.
Everything steps one tense back. I am tired becomes she was tired. I am watching becomes he was watching. I have finished becomes she had finished. I ate becomes he had eaten; the past simple steps into the past perfect, and the flashback from topic three earns its keep. Will becomes would, can becomes could. And if the thing is still true right now, the step-back is optional: the teacher says the test is on Monday, because it still is. News travels in the present; history steps back.
Pause and choose. They said they had finished. The present perfect steps back into the past perfect, one step per retelling. Have finished never moved house, finished skips the perfect entirely, and were finishing turns a finished homework into an ongoing one, which is the opposite of the news.
Three reporting verbs, three licenses. Say something, or say something to someone: she said she was tired; she said to me that she was tired. Tell someone something: she told me she was tired; tell cannot travel without its person, never she told that. And ask is for questions: he asked me if I was OK. She said me is wrong; say takes to before a person. Small verbs, firm licenses.
Pause and choose. She told me that she was tired. Tell needs its person, and the person is me. Said would need a to before me, told to doubles the preposition, and say is the wrong tense for a retelling that already stepped back.
The question machinery switches off inside a reported question. Are you tired becomes she asked if I was tired. Where do you live becomes he asked me where I lived. Yes-or-no questions use if or whether; question-word questions keep the wh-word. And the flip stays home: never he asked where did I live. Inside a reported question, the sentence is a statement wearing a question's hat.
Pause and choose. He asked me where I lived. Statement order inside, no flip, no do. Where did I live kept the machinery running inside the retelling, where the sentence is only a statement wearing a question's hat.
The time words move house with everything else. Yesterday she said, I will call you today. Reported today: she said she would call me that day. The map: today becomes that day, tomorrow becomes the next day, here becomes there, this becomes that. Report it without the move, and the calendar gets confused. And remember the deepest trap: Chinese never back-shifts, so the step-back feels optional. It is not decoration; it is the marker that says this is a retelling.
Play the rumour game: report what your partner said, step by step. I am hungry becomes she said she was hungry. I have never eaten durian becomes he said he had never eaten durian; we believed him. I will finish the homework tonight becomes they said they would finish it that night; nobody believed them. Can you swim becomes she asked me if I could swim. I said I could. The pool disagreed.
Pause for four checks. She said she was tired: am steps back to was. He said he would call me: will to would, you to me. He asked me where I lived: the flip stays home. And she told me: tell needs its person, and said would need a to. Next topic: relative clauses, the sentence inside the sentence.