The Formal Sequence of Tenses
Indirect / Reported speech is what someone has said without quotation marks. Notice the changes in the verb forms from direct (quoted) speech to indirect/reported speech in the examples below.
| Direct / Quoted Speech | Indirect / Reported Speech |
|---|---|
| She said, “I watch CNN every day.” | She said (that) she watched CNN every day. |
| She said, “I am watching CNN.” | She said (that) she was watching CNN. |
| She said, “I have watched CNN.” | She said (that) she had watched CNN. |
| She said, “I watched CNN.” | She said (that) she had watched CNN. |
| She said, “I will watch CNN.” | She said (that) she would watch CNN. |
| She said, “I am going to watch CNN.” | She said (that) she was going to watch CNN. |
| She said, “I can watch CNN.” | She said (that) she could watch CNN. |
| She said, “I may watch CNN.” | She said (that) she might watch CNN. * |
| She said, “I might watch CNN.” | She said (that) she might watch CNN. |
| She said, “I must watch CNN.” | She said (that) she had to watch CNN. |
| She said, “I have to watch CNN.” | She said (that) she had to watch CNN. |
| She said, “I should watch CNN.” | She said (that) she should watch CNN. |
| She said, “I ought to watch CNN.” | She said (that) she ought to watch CNN. |
| She said, “Watch CNN.” | She told me to watch CNN. ** |
| She said, “Do you watch CNN?” | She asked (me) if I watched CNN. |
* In reported speech we can only use “may” if we are immediately reporting the speaker’s words.
** In indirect speech, an imperative sentence is changed to an infinitive. Tell is used instead of say as the reporting verb.