Some strategies on teaching reported speech

One of the most confusing grammatical points is ReportedSpeech which major of students don’t know how to change direct speech intoreported one correctly.. Last but not least, theyalso do

4 Use a mind-map in teaching and studying Reported 16

Speech

PART A: INTRODUCTION

1 REASONS OF CHOOSING THE TITLE

Nowadays, in the time of co-operation and globalization, English is used as amean of international communication Therefore, more and more people all overthe world are trying to master this language In Viet Nam, to meet the demandsfor development and integration of the country into the world, over the lastdecades, more emphasis has been put on the teaching and learning of Englishlanguage As a result, English becomes a compulsory subject in most schools ofall levels now

It can not be denied that English grammar is a indispensable factor in teachingand studying English One of the most confusing grammatical points is ReportedSpeech which major of students don’t know how to change direct speech intoreported one correctly Therefore, the question for teachers is that how to teachthis important grammatical point effectively All these reasons motivate me to

carry out the study of “ Some strategies on teaching Reported Speech”.

2 AIMS OF THE STUDY

The study aims at overviewing about the Reported Speech Also, it suggestssome strategies on teaching Reported speech Moreover, I did the research toevaluate the effectiveness of doing Reported Speech tasks of students

3 SUBJECTS OF THE STUDY

The study focuses on some strategies in teaching Reported Speech such as somerules for changing from Direct Speech into Reported Speech, some main forms

of Reported Speech,some other cases of Repoted Speech, and the use of a map in teaching Reported Speech

mind-4 METHODS OF THE STUDY

The research based on the theoretical methods : searching, researching and analysing the materials relating to the grammatical point of Reported Speech Besides, the research also based on the practical methods : attending to the classes of my colleagues, teaching with the attendance of my colleagues, doing some surveys for my students by asking them to do some tasks, homework and tests

PART B : CONTENTS OF THE STUDY

I THE THEORETICAL BASIC

So far, most of learning English students have troubles with Reported Speechbecause of its complicated rules and cases For examples, when changing intoReported Speech, they often confuse with changing Subjects, Verbs, Adverbs oftime and place Moreover, they do not master how many main types of reportingthere are and how to change them into Reported Speech Last but not least, theyalso do not master what verbs used to report the feeling, attitude of the speaker.Because of being a teacher of English , I understand that not only students havedifficulties in learning Reported Speech but also a lot of teachers face to it in

teaching They have not found the most efficient way to facilitate thisgrammatical point to students As a result, how to teach Reported Speecheffectively is the important question for all teachers to answer.

II THE SITUATIONS OF THE STUDY

* In term of students:

- Many students are lack of their attention in the class

- They are not self-confident enough and always passive in mastering the

knowlegde

- Sometimes, they are lazy to do their homework or extra exercises

- Some students belong to the poor families that they have no time for studying any more This problem causes their bad studying result

- Students are lack of a language environment in which their communicative skills are practised daily Every thing students learn is most theoretical

* In term of teaching equipments:

- Equipments used for teaching English are limited and even outdated or not working

- Many schools have no functional classrooms This does not meet the demand

of learning language in the modern life

III THE SOLLUTIONS

1 Some basic rules of Reported Speech

Reported Speech is used to report what someone has said When reporting, thereporter needs to give the exact content, meaning and feeling of a remark or aspeech, without necessarily using the speaker’s exact word Thus, the reporternot only obeys some basic rules but also bases on the context of the situation.These are some basic rules for changing from the direct speech into the indirectspeech

1.1 Change Pronouns, Possessive Adjectives and Reflexive Pronouns

Pronouns, Possessive Adjectives and Reflexive Pronouns usually change from fist or second to third person, except when the speaker is reporting his own words For instance:

a) I said: “ I cut my hand myself ”

=> I said that I had cut my hand myself.

These are some notes for changing Pronouns and Possessive Adjectives in Reported Speech:

1 The first person It is the person of the speaker in the Direct Speech

Ex: a) He said : “ I did it myself ”

=> He said that he had done it himself.

said : “ We come right

=> He said (that) they would come right away.

2 The second person It is the person of the listener in the Direct Speech

Ex: a) He said to her : “ You are a hard-working student”

=> He told her (that) she was a hard-working student.

b) “ You have to do your homework yourselves ”, Mrs Lien said to her students.

=> Mrs Lien told her students (that) they had to do their homework themselves.

3 The third person It stays the same as in the Direct Speech

Ex: a) She said : “ They have to go to the market and cook dinner themselves”

=> She said (that) they had to go to the market and cook dinner themselves.

b) He said : “ She will never return here one more time”

=> He said (that) she would never return ther one more time.

1.2 Change the tense of the Verb

Reported Speech is usually introduced by a verb in the past tense Verbs in theDirect Speech have then to be changed into a corresponding past tense Thechanges are shown in the following table

Ex: She said : “ I am a new student”

she was a new student.

=> She said (that)

Ex: “ We are having dinner”, he said

=> He said (that) they were having dinner.

3 Present Perfect / Past Simple Present Perfect

Ex: a) “ I have never seen a such fat man”, Mai said to Tam

 Mai told Tam that she had never seen a such fat man.

b) “ He sold his apartment”, she said

=> She said that he had sold his apartment.

4 Present Perfect Progressive / Present Perfect Progressive Past Progressive

Ex: a) He said: “ I’ve been waiting for ages”

=> He said that he had been waiting for ages.

b) “ We were having dinner when your mother came”, Lan said to me

=> Lan told me that they had been having dinner when my mother had come.

Ex: a) She said: “ He had been to school but he had learnt nothing here”.

=> She said that he had been to school but he had learnt nothing there.

Ex: a) Jane said: “ I will / shall be 20 on my next birthday”

 Jane said that she would be 20 on her following birthday.

b) He said: “ I will / shall be using the car myself on the 24th”

=> He said that he would be using the car himself on the

24 th

Ex: a) He said : “ If the bus is late again, I will take a taxi to work”

 He said that if the bus was late again, he would take a taxi to work.

b) He said: “ I’ll be glad if she is here in an hour”

=> He said that he would be glad if she was there in an hour.

( NOT: He said that he would be glad if she were there in an hour.)

* Notes:

- If Direct Speech uses the Past Simple which contains a certain period of time,

or an unchangeable event, it will not change into the Past Perfect in ReportedSpeech

Ex: 1 My teacher said: “ The Second World War ended in 1945” =>

My teacher said that the Second World War ended in 1945.

2 She said : “ I decided not to buy the house because it was on the main road”

=> She said that she had decided not to buy the house because

it was on the main road.

- In theory, the past progressive tense in Direct Speech changes into the PastPerfect Progressive However, this change only takes place when it refers to acompleted action In practice, the Past Progressive Tense in Direct Speechusually remains in Reported Speech

Ex: He said: “ When I saw them they were playing tennis”

=> He said that when he saw them they were playing tennis.

- In term of Conditional Sentences in Reported Speech, there is no tense changes

in Type 2 and Type 3

Ex: a) “ If I had a permit I could get a job”, he said

=> He said that if he had a permit he could get a job.

b) Mary said: “ If I had finished the composition earlier, I wouldhave handed it in on time”.

=> Mary said that if she had finished the composition earlier, she would have handed it in on time.

- Unreal past tenses after wish, would rather/ sooner and it is time do not

change:

Ex: “We wish we didn’t have to take exam,” said the children

=> The children said they wished they didn’t have to take exams.

1.3 Change expressions of time and place ( some adverbs of time &

demonstrative)

Adverbs and adverbial phrases of time and demonstrative change as follow:

the day before yesterday two days before

tomorrow the next day / the following day

the day after tomorrow in two days’ time

next week/ next month/ next year, ect the following week/ month / year, ect.last week/ last month, ect The previous week/ month/ etc

* Note:

- If the speech is made and reported on the same day, these time changes are not necessary

Ex: At breakfast this morning my father said: “ I’ll be very busy today” =>

At breakfast this morning my father said that he would be very busy today.

2 Some main types of Reported Speech

To facilitate Reported Speech in teaching and studying, I classified it into three basic types as follow:

- Statements

- Questions : Wh- questions and Yes / No Questions

- Imperatives (Advice, commands, requests, Suggestions)

2.1 Statements

- When reporting statements, we should use the form:

Reporting verb + ( that ) + Reported clause

(F1)

- We use say or tell to report the statements in Reported Speech.

say + that + reported clause tell + sb + that + reported clause

Ex: “ I have just heard the news”, she said

 She told me ( that) she had just heard the news.

 She said ( that) she had just heard the news.

PRACTICE

Change these statements into Reported Speech.

1 “He always has dinner here,” she said

2.2 Questions ( Wh- Questions and Yes / No Questions)

- There are two main kinds of questions, these are Wh- Questions and Yes / NoQuestions When we turn direct questions into Reported Speech , changes arethe same in statements It means that we change tenses, pronouns, possesiveadjectives, adverbs of time and place, and demonstratives If the introductory

verb is say , it must be changed to a verb of inquiry like ask, inquire, want to

know, wonder… The interrogative form of the verb changes to the affirmative

form The question mark (?) is therefore omitted in reported questions Thecommom forms of this type in Reported Speech are shown as follow:

2.2.1 Wh – questions

Reporting verb + wh-word + S + V

(F2)

Ex: a) He said : “ Where is she going ? ”

=> He asked where she was going.

b) She said to me : “ Who are you?”

=> She asked me who I was.

2.2.2 Yes / No Questions:

- Yes / No – questions has the following forms:

To be Do/ Does/ Did + S + N/ Adj …./ V / P2, ect ?

Will/ Shall Can/May/ Should Would/ Could/ Might , ect.

Have/ Has/ Had

- We use if / whether to report Yes/ No question Direct Speech.

Reporting verbs + if / whether + S + V

( F3)

Ex: a) “ Am I right ?”, He said

=> He wondered if / whether he was right.

b) “ Did you see the accident ?” the policeman asked

=> The policeman asked if / whether I had seen the accident.

c) “ Shall I lock the car or leave it unlocked?” he said

=> He asked if / whether he should lock the car or leave it unlocked.

- Whether is usually used to emphasize to a choice Also, we can use whether

or not and whether… or not instead of if / whether.

Ex: He asked: “ Do you want to insure your luggage or not?” =>

He wanted to know whether or not I want to insure my luggage

=> He wanted to know whether I want to insure my luggage or

not.

2.2.3 Before TO – INFINITIVE

a) Question words:

- We can use question words who, what, where, where, when, how before a to –

infinitive to express situation that is difficult or uncertain Some reported verbs

often used in this case are ask, wonder, (not) be sure, have no idea, ( not) know, (not) decide, (not) tell.

Ex: 1 “Who should we contact ? ” said they

=> They asked me who they should contact.

=> They didn’t know who to contact.

2 “ How could I tell this news to my parents ?” said he

=> He wondered how to tell that new to his parents.

- Question words can be used to report questions about something that should bedone:

Ex: “ What should I do?” she said

=> She wondered what to do.

- Note: The question word why can not be used before a to – infinitive.

b) Yes/ No – Questions:

- We can only use whether before to – infinitive.

- Note: if can not be used in this case.

Ex: “ Should I tell my parents what I really think?” she wondered

=> She wondered whether to tell her parents what her really thought.

( NOT: She wondered if to tell her parents what her really thought.)

PRACTICE

Exercise 1: Change the following sentences into Reported Speech.

1 “Is there a word of true in this story,” said his mother

Exercise 2: Rewrite the following questions in reported speech, using

question words before TO- infinitive.

1 “ How should we use this suupport service?” they wondered

=>………

2.3 Imperatives

+ The sentence that expresses a command, a request and an advice or a

suggestion is call an imperative sentence For examples:

- Open the door ( a command)

- Please help me ( a request)

- Avoid unhealthy food ( an advice / a suggestion)

- Don’t make a noise ( a command)+ Indirect commands, requests and advice or suggestion are usually expressed

by a verb of commands / requests / advice/ suggest + Object + to – infinitive.+Common form:

Reporting Verb + O + (NOT) + TO - infinitive

(F4)

Reporting Verbs can be used: ask and tell: ask / tell sb (not) to do st.

Ex: 1 He said, “ Lie down, Tom”

=> He told Tom to lie down.

2 He said : “ Can you pass me a buiscuit?”

=> He asked me to pass him a buiscuit.

3. My teacher said to me : “ You should improve your Spainish

pronunciation ”

=> He told me to improve my Spainish pronunciation.

- The person addressed (indirect object) is often not mentioned in direct

commands, requests, advice, such as He said, “ Go away” Hence, when

reporting we must add a noun or pronoun: He told me / him/ her/ them/ the childen to go away.

2.3.1 Commands

- Direct commands are usually expressed by the imperative in the form of (F4) :

Ex: “ Don’t drive too fast,” he said

=> He told me not to drive too fast.

- Some other reporting verbs can be used for indirect commands such as

command, order,charge, demand, warn, forbid…

Ex: 1 My mornitor said : “ Make a line !”

=> My mornitor commanded us to make a line Ex: 2 “ Don’t swim out too far, boys,” I said.

=> I warned the boys not to swim out too far.

- Note: say is not normally included in command.

2.3.2 Requests, advice

It is especially effective that we report speaker’s words with understanding his

attitude and intention so that we use a reporting verb exactly For instance, “ Can you open the door, please?” In this direct speech, the speaker wants to

give a request of opening the door, but makes a question Therefore, instead of

reporting She asked if I could open the door, we should report : She asked me to open the door.

- Requests and advice can be expressed not only in the forms ( F1), ( F2), ( F3), ( F4) but also in a variet of ways

- Reporting verbs can be used in Reported Speech for them: advise, ask, tell,,

beg, encourage, entreat,request, urge, implore, recommend,remind, invite,….

Ex: 1 “ If I were you, I’d stop smoking,” I said

=> I advised him to stop smoking.

2 “ Don’t forget to order the wine,” said Mrs Pitt =>

Mrs Pitt reminded her husband to order the wine.