Reporting Tense (Ouch My Head Hurts)
This is perhaps the weirdest thing that happen to me since I started learning the English language – the writing in “reporting tense”, or “indirect speech” (“I am dancing” -> He said he was dancing) – as required for writing meeting minutes. I have come to realize that I have never done meeting minutes (at least formally) in my life, and obviously in those situations, I don’t have to the huge pressure of native English speakers such as the island-grown Singaporeans glaring at my half-past six linguistic capabilities. Ouch, my head hurts.
So, I learned again yesterday, after learning it around 20 years ago when I was 8 years old, that this becomes that, at the moment becomes at that moment, must be becomes must have been, may bring becomes might bring, and when she said, “I’ve worked here since I left my last job.”, I have to write She told me that she had worked there since she HAD left her last job, and how the hell the last HAD went into the sentence was still pretty unclear to me… one step back into the past? Also, indirect questions can be complicated for my feeble brain, thus I try to minimize.
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Some quick summary of tips from various websites after I went through my self-taught crash course:
- If the reporting verb (i.e. said) is in the past, the reported clause will be in a past form. This form is usually one step back into the past from the original. e.g. Jack said he came to school every day.
- If simple present, present perfect or the future is used in the reporting verb (i.e. says) the tense is retained. I rarely use this coz the meeting is over, but it’s useful in everyday speech.
- If reporting a general truth the present tense will be retained. e.g. The teacher said that the sky is blue.
Remember to change the pronouns (my becomes her) and time signifiers (went becomes had gone). Then change time words (tomorrow becomes the next day, yesterday becomes the day before).
For yes/no questions, use “if”, the rest (why, where, when, etc.) just follow.
As for the words that are used to quote speech, here’s a list of useful words to choose from. Note: Simple past, present perfect and past perfect all change to past perfect!
advise encourage invite remind warn agree decide offer promise refuse threaten admit agree decide deny explain insist promise recommend suggest deny recommend suggest accuse blame congratulate apologize insist
End of English lesson. Further Reading.
