Reported speech (estilo indirecto)

El Reported speech o Estilo indirecto es una estructura que usamos cuando reportamos o hacemos mención sobre algo que alguien ha dicho previamente. Aquí tenemos varias páginas que te ayudarán a entender su uso.

Cambios en los tiempos verbales: "I live in Italy". She said. → She said that he lived in Italy.
Cambios en los verbos modales: "They will help you". She said. → She said that they would help me.
 Cambios en las referencias de tiempo y lugar: "We live here". They said → They said that they lived there Cambios en las preguntas: "Where do they sell the tickets?" → He asked where they sold the tickets

REPORTING VERBS (Verbos Comunicadores)

Estos son algunos de los verbos comunicadores o reporting verbs más utilizados (seguidos por una cláusula relativa con that):

add (agregar) complain (quejarse) feel (sentir) repeat (repetir) say (decir) tell (comentar) agree (acordar) deny (negar) inform (informar) reply (responder) show (demostrar) threaten (amenazar) answer (contestar) explain (explicar) promise (prometer) report (comunicar) suggest (sugerir) warn (advertir)

Reporting verbs In the sentence "James said that he was my neighbour", said is a reporting verb (was is a reported verb). There are other reporting verbs we can use depending on the statement. We can also use the verbs like told, offered and promised. Let's take a look at some examples. Told "My brother is buying a car" said Anne (direct speech) becomes Anne told me (that) her brother was buying a car. Use told + person + what was said. Don't use told with to: Anne told to me (that) her brother was buying a car is not correct. Offered Use offered + to + infinitive verb. "I'll do the shopping for you", said Simon becomes Simon offered to do the shopping for us . Promised Use promise + to + infinitive verb "I'll buy you lunch", said Mark becomes Mark promised to buy me lunch. OR Promise + clause (change the tense of the verb): Mark promised (that) he would buy me lunch. Reporting Verbs When using reported speech, most students learn to use "say" and "tell": Examples: John told me he was going to stay late at work. Peter said he wanted to visit his parents that weekend. These forms are perfectly correct for reporting what others have said. However, there are a number of other reporting verbs which can more accurately describe what someone has said. These verbs take a variety of structures. The following list gives you reporting verbs in various categories based on sentence structure. Notice that a number of verbs can take more than one form. verb object infinitive verb infinitive verb (that) verb gerund verb object preposition gerund verb preposition gerund advise encourage invite remind warn agree decide offer promise refuse threaten admit agree decide deny explain insist promise recommend suggest deny recommend suggest accuse blame congratulate apologize insist Examples: Jack encouraged me to look for a new job. They invited all their friends to attend the presentation. Examples: She offered to give him a lift to work. My brother refused to take no for an answer. Examples: Tom admitted (that) he had tried to leave early. She agreed (that) we needed to reconsider our plans. Examples: He denied having anything to do with her. Ken suggested studying early in the morning. Examples: They accused the boys of cheating on the exam. She blamed her husband for missing the train. Examples: He apologized for being late. She insisted on doing the washing up.