Unit 47. Reported speech 1 (He said that...)
Unit 47; Part A
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Unit 47; Part B

• Paul said that he was feeling ill.
• I told Lisa that I didn't have any money.
You can leave out that. So you can say:
• Paul said that he was feeling ill. or Paul said he was feeling ill.
In general, the present form in direct speech changes to the past form in reported speech:
am/is → was do/does → did will → would
are → were have/has → had can → could
want/like/know/go etc. → wanted/liked/knew/went etc.
Compare direct speech and reported speech:
You met Jenny. Here are some of the things she said in direct speech: | Later you tell somebody what Jenny said. You use reported speech: |
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Unit 47; Part C

direct Paul said: 'I woke up feeling ill, so I didn't go to work.'
reported Paul said (that) he woke up feeling ill, so he didn't go to work. or
Paul said (that) he had woken up feeling ill, so he hadn't gone to work.
Exercises
![]() | Unit 46 Unit 47 Unit 48 | ![]() |
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