Understanding reported speech is important since you will be using this in your IELTS Speaking Part 2. When you tell a story or a monologue to your examiner, you recall what happened in the past and it’s highly likely that you also recall what someone said to you in the past and share it with your examiner.
The way to achieve a story that is natural and spontaneous when recalling what someone said to you is to use the reported speech.
ADVANCED GRAMMAR FOR
IELTS SPEAKING
(Reported Speech)
When we tell someone what the other person said, we can either use direct speech or indirect speech. So, direct speech and indirect speech are the two types of reported speech. Take a look at the examples:
Direct Speech
The boy said, ‘I can’t find my mom.’
Direct speech is commonly used in novels, news reports, or scripts. Quotation marks are used in this type of speech. In other words, direct speech is the repeat of the exact words uttered. On the other hand, we change the original words uttered by the speaker in indirect speech.
Indirect Speech
The boy said that he couldn’t find his mom.
Can you see the difference between the two sentences? When we tell a story in IELTS Speaking Part 2, it’s best if we use indirect speech. Why? Well, observe the given examples below. Which do you think sounds better?
Compare the two examples below:
First example I’d like to talk with you about my recent experience of helping a boy who was lost in the supermarket. Well, I saw him crying in the corner of the supermarket. I asked him, “Are you okay? Are you lost? Where is your mom?” And the boy replied, “I cannot find my mom.”
Second example I’d like to talk with you about my recent experience of helping a boy who was lost in the supermarket. Well, I saw him crying in the corner of the supermarket. I asked him, if he was okay, if he was lost, and where his mom was. And he replied that he couldn’t find his mom.
So, which one sounds better? Of course the second one.
The first one sounds odd or off, and it isn’t smooth. Whereas the second one sounds pretty natural and spontaneous. Using indirect speech can surely help you make your story sound more natural. And this can also help us achieve a higher mark in the criterion, Grammatical Range and Accuracy.
Now, let me give you an example so you can understand better:
This is an actual conversation between you and the boy. Let us use the cue card, DESCRIBE A TIME YOU HELPED A CHILD
While you are grocery shopping on a Monday, you see a boy crying in the supermarket so you approach him.
YOU: Are you okay? Are you lost? Where is your mom?
BOY: I can’t find your mom.
YOU: Don’t worry, we will find your mom. Can you please tell me your name and your mom’s?
BOY: I’m John. My mom is May Peters.
So, this is your actual conversation with the boy. The exact words uttered by you and the boy.
Now, let’s imagine that you take the IELTS speaking test on Friday, 4 days after you helped that boy and you get the cue card about DESCRIBING A TIME YOU HELPED A CHILD. So, you will talk about your experience of helping that boy last Monday to your examiner and this is the time that you apply indirect speech to your story.
So, you can say:
I’d like to talk with you about my recent experience of helping a boy who was lost in the supermarket. Well, I saw him crying in the corner of the supermarket. I asked him, if he was okay, if he was lost, and where his mom was. And he replied that he couldn’t find his mom.
This is an example of an indirect speech. You might be wondering, what happened to the questions? You have to remember this, once we tell the question to someone else, it isn’t a question anymore. We change the grammar to a normal positive sentence in indirect speech.
For example: Where is your mom? becomes I asked him where his mom was.
And if the question can be answered with a yes or no, we use ‘if’.
Are you okay? becomes I asked him if he was okay.
Are you lost? becomes I asked him if he was lost.
So, how do we know what verb tense and time expression should we use when using indirect speech? This is easy.
First, let’s start with THE PRESENT TENSE.
Present Tense → Past Tense
Let’s have three people, Mary, Frank, and David. And let’s imagine that it is Monday.
Mary talks with Frank
Mary to Frank: I am so tired today.
And then later that day, Frank tells David what Mary said to him.
Frank to David: Mary said she was so tired today.
Notice, the present tense changes to the past tense.
Now, imagine that it’s Tuesday now, and Frank tells David what Mary said to him. So it becomes…
Frank to David: Mary said that she was so tired yesterday.
The time expression, today, becomes yesterday.
Let’s have THE PRESENT CONTINUOUS TENSE.
Present Continuous Tense → Past Continuous Tense
Mary is talking with Frank
Mary to Frank: I am feeling tired today.
And then, later that day Frank tells David what Mary said to him
Frank to David: Mary said she was feeling tired today.
Notice, the present continuous tense changes to the past continuous tense.
Now, imagine it’s now Tuesday and Frank tells David what Mary said to him.
So it becomes…
Frank to David: Mary said that she was feeling tired yesterday.
The time expression, today, becomes yesterday.
Let’s have THE PAST SIMPLE TENSE.
Past Simple → Past Perfect
Imagine that it is Monday.
Mary to Frank: I borrowed money from my parents yesterday (Sunday).
And then later that day, Frank tells David about what Mary said to him.
Frank to David: Mary said she had borrowed money from her parents yesterday.
Notice, the past simple changes to the past perfect tense.
Now, imagine, it’s now Tuesday and Frank tells David what Mary said to him.
So it becomes…
Frank to David: Mary said (that) she had borrowed money from her parents the day before yesterday.
The time expression, yesterday, becomes the day before yesterday (Sunday).
Let’s have THE PAST SIMPLE CONTINUOUS.
Past Simple Continuous Tense → Past Perfect Continuous Tense
Imagine that it is Monday.
Mary to Frank: I was exercising in the gym this morning
And later that day, Frank tells David what Mary said to him.
Frank to David: Mary said (that) she had been exercising in the gym this morning.
Notice, the past simple continuous changes to the past perfect continuous tense.
Now, imagine, it’s now Tuesday, Frank tells David what Mary said to him.
So it becomes…
Frank to David: Mary said (that) she had been exercising in the gym yesterday morning. The time expression, this morning, becomes yesterday morning.
Next, we have THE PRESENT PERFECT TENSE.
Present Perfect Tense → Past Perfect Tense
Mary to Frank: I have eaten fruits and vegetables.
And then Frank tells David what Mary said to him.
Frank to David: Mary said (that) she had eaten fruits and vegetables.
Notice, the present perfect changes to the past perfect tense.
Now, let’s apply the indirect speech we have studied above in our monologue for the cue card, DESCRIBE A TIME YOU HELPED A CHILD. I want you to observe how I use indirect speech in the story below:
SAMPLE MONOLOGUE
I want to share with you my experience of how I helped a child in the supermarket.
Well, that happened a month ago when I went to the supermarket to buy my daily needs. While I was picking fruits, I could hear a cry from a boy coming from the corner of the fruit stand where I was picking apples and oranges.
Deep down inside I knew that the boy really needed help and his way of crying really reminded me of the time when I was also a little boy who was lost in the supermarket. So that memory of mine urged me to check on the boy. So, I immediately walked towards him and asked him if he was okay, if he was lost, and where his mom was. And he replied that he couldn’t find his mom.
I knew then that he was lost. So, I gave him assurance that I would find his mom so he could stop crying. Then, I asked him what his name was and what his mother’s name was, as well.
Fortunately, he knew the complete name of his mother so it was so easy for me to ask for help from customer service. So, I immediately went to the customer service booth and asked one of the staff to page the name of the boy’s mother.
After a couple of minutes, a woman came rushing to the customer service booth, where we were seated. She immediately hugged the boy and I was very happy looking at them. After that, I introduced myself to her and narrated how I found her child.
She was very grateful to me and offered me dinner but unfortunately at that time, I was busy so I just politely refused her wonderful offer.
Learn how to develop a story in
Part 2 for the recent IELTS Cue
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Meaning of Words and Phrases Sources: Collins, Macmillan, Cambridge, Oxford
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