Johnny quits the band
Basically, Reported Speech is the grammatical structure for retelling what someone had said.
Long-winded definitions aside, Reported Speech goes like this:
“Johnny said that he was leaving the band if his new song wasn’t performed.”
To construct a Reported Speech Sentence, the speaker begins with a Pronoun like “he, she” or a proper name. The above example uses the name Johnny to be specific. As a result, we now know that Johnny will leave the band if his new song isn’t performed.
A bit about grammar
What are the rules for using Reported Speech in a full sentence?
Sentences that were spoken in Past Perfect Continuous are retold with the same grammatical structure.
Let’s look at an example that uses both Reported Speech and the Past Perfect Continuous Tense:
“She said that Johnny had been playing guitar poorly.”
The above example of Reported Speech demonstrates typical use of NP, VP, SBAR, NP, VP, NP and ADVP in constructing a meaningful sentence. Also, it demonstrates use of Past Perfect Continuous Tense: had been + ing.
Examples of Reported Speech
Statement: I was painting the room.
Reported Speech: He explained that he had been painting the room.
Statement: She had been sitting on the couch.
Reported Speech: She mentioned that she had been sitting on the couch.
Statement: “Coby was watching TV”, he said.
Reported Speech: She said that Cody had been watching TV.
Let’s practice
Q1: Write the Reported Speech for this statement: “My wife was calling me earlier.”
Answer: He mentioned that his wife had been calling him earlier.
Q2: Write the Reported Speech for this statement: “I was walking on the beach.”
She said that she had been walking on the beach.
Q3: Try making your own sentence
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