Understanding of grammar Types of Grammar

n ecessary. This kind of structures called ‘indirect speech’ or ‘reported speech’. 43 Example: She said that she wanted to go the market. Commas are not put before that, what, where, etc in indirect speech structure. Example: He explained that he never atc meat ____ not he explained, that he neveretc meat. Reported speech is used when it is interested not in the words that someone has chosen, but in the essential information they conveyed. It is often used far fewer words to report this than were originally spoken. Reported speech found in newspaper report, fiction, talking, or writing about conversation, report articles or speeches that have been heard or read. 44 When turning direct speech into indirect speech, some chenges are usually necessary. The tenses, pronoun and other words may different from the original sentence. 45 If introductory verb which is introduced in indirect speech is a present, present perfect tense, so if someone wants to report the direct speech into indirect speech, the change of tenses will not happen. Or in the other word, there is no change of tenses if someone reports form direct speech into indirect speech. Example: paul says, ―I’m tryingto get a taxi.‖ Paul says he is trying to get a taxi. However, if the introductory verb is in he past tense, the tense of indirect speech have then to be changed into corresponding past tense. 46 Example: 43 Micheal Swam,Practical English Usage, Oxford University Press, 1995, p. 501 44 Martin Parrot, loc. Cit. 45 Micheal Swam, practical english usage, Oxford: Oxford University Press,1995, p. 501-502 46 Thomson, loc. cit Table 2.3 The example of direct and indirect speech Direct Speech Indirect Speech He said , ―I’m waiting for Ann‖ He said that he was waiting for Ann ―do you know jhon?‖ He asked ifwhether I knew jhon He said ―I love you‖ He said he loved me From some examples above it can be seen that, when transforms direct speech into indirect speech, some changes are neede. For example in the first statement: Direct speech : he said, ―I’mwaiting for Ann.‖ Indirect speech : he said that he was waiting for Ann Tenses of the direct speech is present continuous tense, so when it is transform into indirect speech, the tense of indirect speech is past continuous tense. Pronounofis changed into he. Besides, from examples above, it also can be seen that teh most neutal and most common verbs which are used to introduced what are reported are say and tell, and choosing between these verbs often poses a problem to learners.say is never followed by an indirect object e.g. him, us, them, my sister, etc whereas it has to use an indirect object after tell. It is better to choose to tellwhen to draw attention specifically to the person who is being addressed. Example: he said that he was ill. He told thst he was ill. Here is a list of reporting verbs which can be used to report what people say. 47 47 John Sinclair, collins cobuild english grammar, london: Harper Collins, 1990, p. 315