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Reported speech (saying what someone else said) has rules of its own.
Direct vs Reported Speech
Direct speech is written with quotation marks.
Jane said, “I went to the hospital yesterday.”
Reported speech tells you what that person said indirectly.
Jane said that she went to the hospital the day before.
The rules of reported speech are
-- you usually add that.
-- I and you become he or she.
-- the tense is changed to the past tense.
-- time and location may be specificed in different ways to make the sentence clearer.
Questions & Order
Most questions are reported using if
Kate said, “Are you moving?”
Kate asked me if I was moving.
Orders are reported using the infinitive.
Laura told me to move.
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