Do you know how to report speech? No, Toby! I don't! Well it's simple! Everything goes back
a tense! Oh obviously... I need to pack a tent! No! Everything goes back a tense!
What? Okay... Let me explain... My name is Toby, this is SMASH English and here is
everything you need to know about reported speech for the B2 First Cambridge exam.
Firstly, we have two different types of speech. We have direct speech and we have
indirect speech. Direct speech is exactly what the person speaking says. Um, who are you? I'm...
I'm Toby and in this situation the direct speech is "I am Toby". Indirect speech is when
somebody reports what somebody said, so reported speech. In this situation "I am Toby" becomes
"I said I was Toby". Or we can say "you said you were Toby". Yes! Or "He said he was Toby". But
how do we get from direct speech to indirect speech!? I don't know! Well it's really easy!
We move everything back one tense and we change the pronouns... obviously.
Okay have a look at this. The present simple becomes the past simple. The present continuous
becomes the past continuous. The past simple and the present perfect become the past perfect.
The past continuous and the present perfect continuous become the past perfect continuous.
The past perfect and the past perfect continuous stay the same. And will becomes would. Now we
know the basic grammatical rules let's look at a few examples. Monica Knows. Because sometimes a
girl just knows. Hello my lovelies! And welcome to another exciting edition of Monica Knows! The show
where you know what I know because I tell you. Anyway we have such an exciting show today so
let's go to our chief correspondent Duke! Duke, tell us all about the latest gossip!
Oh hi everybody! Hi Monica! Hi mum! Um, yeah Duke that's not very professional but
whatever... Today I am here with Bruce! Hello everybody. So Bruce what is it that you can do?
I can drink an entire bottle of beer in five seconds. Oh wow that is incredible! That's it!?
Oh my god, Duke that is not news! "I can drink a beer in five seconds" is the present simple. To
put this into reported speech the present simple must become the past simple. "I can drink a beer
in five seconds" therefore becomes Bruce said he could drink a beer in five seconds. So then Bruce,
can you show us? Duke seriously? We are like live on the air and this is the best you could find!?
Yes, Monica! This is today's top story. So Bruce are you ready? Right, right,
I'm preparing... "I am preparing" is the present continuous.
To put this into reported speech the present continuous must become the past continuous. "I
am preparing" therefore becomes Bruce said he was preparing. Okay, okay I'll do it.
Wow guys! This is incredible! "will" in reported speech becomes WOULD.
This gives us: Bruce said he would do it.
Oh my god! What is this!? You're totally ruining my show! Wow Bruce! That was amazing! I didn't
think you could do it! And that is exactly the type of quality news reporting that you can get
here at Monica Knows! Monica, back to you in the studio. "I didn't think you could do it"
is the past simple. To put this into reported speech the past simple becomes the past perfect.
"I didn't think you could do it" becomes: Duke said he hadn't thought Bruce could do it.
Oh my god... Wow... So amazing... While Bruce was drinking... as usual... Our other correspondent
was investigating a secret donation! Oh my god, guys you are gonna love this! It is such a mystery
because we don't know who this donation is from! It is from a special "someone". Duke is here
with the news! Yes, Monica. I was here at SMASH English headquarters and I was investigating a
secret donation. "I was investigating a secret donation" is the past continuous.
In reported speech the past continuous becomes the past perfect continuous. "I was investigating a
secret donation" becomes: Duke said he had been investigating a secret donation. I discovered
that "someone" had donated to SMASH English and i'm not sure who "someone" is but I know that
"someone" has been watching SMASH English for a long time! Oh so like, you don't even know who
"someone" is? No... No. I don't know... So what did you even do!? Oh okay great. Thanks, Duke.
Back to me in the studio! Bye Monica. The perfect tenses always become the past perfect.
So "someone had donated to SMASH English" remains in the past perfect: Duke said someone had donated
to SMASH English. And "someone has been watching SMASH English for a long time" becomes: Duke said
someone had been watching SMASH English for a long time. Oh yeah and if you feel that SMASH English
has helped you with your Cambridge B2 First exam preparation then please do consider being
like "someone" and donating yourself! It really does help me keep this channel going... woohoo.
Bye! Now that we know how to report statements let's look at something a
little bit more difficult: reporting questions! Wow. If we have a question with a yes or no
answer we can report it using the reporting verb ASK and this is the structure that you need to use
to do that...: SUBJECT plus ASK plus OBJECT plus IF or WHETHER plus REPORTED SPEECH as usual
and yeah I know this looks a little bit confusing but don't worry because we are going to look
at lots of examples together. So do we have any more material or is that it for the day?
Um... We have Monica saying "Do we have any more material?". So Monica asked Duke if or whether
they had any more material. Monica is the subject, then asked, then Duke is the object pronoun,
then if or whether. WE becomes THEY because in reported speech you must remember to change
your pronouns and finally the past simple becomes the past perfect. Yeah, see? It's not difficult.
It's actually very very easy! Yes? Yes! With WHETHER we can also add OR NOT.
This can come directly after WHETHER or at the end of the sentence. For example:
Monica asked Duke whether OR NOT they had any more material. Or: Monica asked Duke whether they had
any more material OR NOT. Or: Monica asked Duke whether they had any more material.
Or: Monica asked Duke if they had any more material. All of these are fine and yeah you
need to know all of them. But what do we do if the answer to the question is not yes or no?
What do we do if the question begins with a question word like what, when, why, how,
how much, how many, where, whose? Oh my gosh! There are so many question words! And how do we
use them in reported speech? Well don't worry because I'm going to explain all of that to
you right now! We use the reporting verb ASK as usual and then we just report the question but
we do not use an inversion! Normally in English when we are asking questions we use an inversion:
we put the auxiliary verb before the subject. For example :"what DO you do?". However when we report
questions we don't invert because this isn't actually a question! We're just reporting the
speech! I don't understand! Yeah, it it sounds confusing but it's not. We will look at some
examples together! Oh my god, Duke! Come on! Think of something! This is live TV!
Okay, um, oh! Look! It's Toby! Oh! Ladies and gentlemen! I am now here with the super famous
and successful founder of SMASH English: Toby! Oh hi. Toby! Um, why did you start SMASH English?
Because I'm a very altruistic person and making other people happy makes me happy and nothing
makes me happier than a student being happy after they have passed the B2 First Cambridge exam.
Okay so the question is: "Why did you start SMASH English?". Duke is asking the question to Toby
so we start with DUKE ASKED TOBY. Now we need the question word. Here the question
word is WHY. This gives us DUKE ASKED TOBY WHY. And now we need simple reported speech without
the inversion we normally use with questions. So instead of "why did he start SMASH English?".
We should say: WHY HE HAD STARTED SMASH ENGLISH. Remember it's reported speech! So everything must
go back a tense! This gives us: Duke asked Toby why he had started SMASH English. Let's look
at another example. Okay then but Toby if that is all true then why do you ask for donations?
I don't understand. Oh my god! Yeah good question, Duke! That is what I call journalism!
Um well that's obvious, Duke. Someone's gotta pay for my beer! Exactly Bruce! Yes! I do it for you!
Not for me! God I am such a great guy! So here the question is: "Why do you ask for donations?".
As before we need to say DUKE ASKED TOBY WHY. We do not invert questions when reporting them
so this gives us: DUKE ASKED TOBY WHY HE ASKED FOR DONATIONS. Simple. Okay so now it's your turn.
Duke's interview of me will continue and it will be your job to put Duke's questions and my answers
into reported speech. For the purpose of this exercise you just need to use
two reporting verbs. Use the reporting verb SAY for the statements and use the reporting verb ASK
for the questions. However if you would like to learn every single reporting verb that you need to
know for the B2 First Cambridge exam then I have a video all about them right here! It's great!
And Toby, I see you have a great team here at SMASH English so, uh, who is your favorite member
of the team? Well, Duke! Good question! I love everyone equally! SMASH English is like
a big family! Oh shut up! Oh my god! Whatever! I hate you all! So the direct speech is: "Who
is your favorite member of the team?" And Toby responds: "I love everyone equally". So first with
the question! Remember we don't invert! Let us see if you can do it. PAUSE the video here and try.
"Duke asked Toby who his favorite member of the team was". Note here that we have had
to change the possessive pronoun! And now for Toby's response. Again PAUSE the video here.
Remember everything goes back a tense and Toby's response is in the present simple.
Toby said he loved everyone equally. Not too difficult, eh? Nah. It's easy.
Oh wow! That really is admirable, Toby. You are my hero! Oh thanks, Duke.
I am my hero too so we have a lot in common. Oh my god. But tell me, Toby, I'm dying to know,
what makes you most proud of what you have achieved with SMASH English? To be honest it's the
fact that I have helped thousands of students pass their B2 First Cambridge exam. And because of that
I wake up every morning with a big smile on my face! Toby! You are the best! And it's all free?
Yep it's all free. So please donate! I need it! Oh my god forget it! Show's over!
You guys ruin everything! The direct speech is: Duke: "what makes you most proud of what you
have achieved with SMASH English?" Toby: "It's the fact that I have helped thousands of students pass
their B2 First Cambridge exam. Because of that every morning I wake up with a smile on my face
again". PAUSE this video now and try to put the question into reported speech.
Duke asked Toby what made him most proud of what he had achieved with SMASH
English. So, no inversion. The present simple becomes the past simple and the
present perfect becomes the past perfect. And now for Toby's response. Remember
everything must go back a tense and you need to change the pronouns. PAUSE the video now.
Toby said it was the fact that he had helped thousands of students pass their
B2 First Cambridge exam. Because of this every morning he woke up with a smile on his face. How
did you do? I'm sure you did great! So what have we learned today? Let's summarize! Number one:
We report statements by moving everything back a tense. Number two: We report yes or no questions
with the reporting verb ask and if or whether and moving everything back a tense! And number three:
We report questions with question words with the reporting verb ASK. We eliminate the inversion and
we move everything back a tense. And yes of course if you are reporting speech then you will probably
need to change your pronouns. So yes! Don't forget to change your pronouns! And with that
we are finished! Now you know every single thing you need to know about reported speech for the
B2 First Cambridge exam! If you liked this video don't forget to SMASH that like button, subscribe
if you haven't already, leave a comment down below! My name is Toby and this was SMASH English.