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ENGLISH LEVEL V
REPORTED SPEECH WORKSHOP
Warm up:
1. Name three companies you consider are successful and say why you believe they are
successful.
2. What characteristics do you think these companies look for when recruiting their employees?
Vocabulary: Look at the following words or expressions and without using a dictionary try to match the
meaning.
Now, you can use a dictionary or your electronic devices to look up the definitions of those words you
couldn´t match.
1. While you are watching the video, write beside each sentence in column A the name of the person who
said that. The first one is done for you as an example. You might need to watch the video two times.
A B
1. Derrick : “Apple will never give up _ She said that the reason you were hired was
because it’s too hard” because you had the potential to be at the
top of your field.
2. _________:“There is no company in the
world with such a reverence for expertise”. _ He said that he loved his role in making that
happen.
3. _________:“The reason you are hired is
because you have the potential to be at the _ He said that they were always refining every
top of your field”. little last detail until there was no more time
to refine.
4. _________: “We are always refining every
little last detail until there’s no more time to _ He said that there was no company in the
refine”. world with such a reverence for expertise.
5. _________: “When we decided to redesign _ He said that Apple would never give up
the batteries for portable products, the goal because it was too hard.
was simple.”
_ She said that they were curious problem
6. _________: “That’s how new technology is solvers, up for any kind of challenge.
done in Apple”.
_ He said that was how new technology was
7. _________: “They are curious problem done in Apple.
solvers, up for any kind of challenge”
_ He said that when they had decided to
8. _________: “I love my role in making that redesign the batteries for portable products,
happen.” the goal had been simple.
REPORTED OR INDIRECT SPEECH
If we report what another person has said, we usually do not use the speaker’s exact words (direct speech), but
reported (indirect) speech. Therefore, you need to learn how to transform direct speech into reported speech.
Indirect speech is also called reported speech because it is used by a person to report someone’s speech in
his/her own words.
RULES
Rule 1. When reporting speech, the tense usually changes. This is because when we use reported speech, we are
usually talking about a time in the past (because obviously the person who spoke originally spoke in the past). The
verbs, therefore, usually have to be in the past too (Backshift). If the situation is reported in the present tense,
then the tense does not change.
DIRECT SPEECH (“”) INDIRECT SPEECH
Verb to be Verb to be
am/is was
are were
Will Would
Rule 2: TIME EXPRESSIONS Words expressing nearness in time or place are generally changed into words
expressing distance.
DIRECT SPEECH (“”) INDIRECT SPEECH
Examples:
In reporting commands and requests, the Indirect Speech is introduced by some verb expressing command or
request, and the imperative mood is changed into the Infinitive.
“Eat the apple!” Mom said. Mom said to eat the apple.
“Don’t use your cell phones.” The The teacher demanded not to use our cell
teacher demanded. phones.
Let’s practice!
From the video you just watched; report some things the employees said using Reported Speech.
“One of the unique things about Apple is the level of cross-collaboration between different groups.”
Marcus said.
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“You don’t know how much work goes in each Apple product” Gary said.
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