indirect speech and reporting clause

• English Grammar
• Clause structure and verb patterns

Reporting verbs with 'that', 'wh-' and 'if' clauses

Level: intermediate

Reporting verbs with that clauses

When we want to report what people say or think, we can use a reporting verb and a clause with that :

He said  that I had to see a doctor . I thought  that he was being silly .

We can leave out the word  that :

He said  I had to see a doctor . I thought  he was being silly .

These verbs have the pattern:

Noun + Verb + ( that ) + Clause

With some verbs, we can mention the hearer as the object of the verb:

She reminded him that it was time to go . He told me he was a friend of yours .

Noun + Verb + Noun + (that) + Clause

Reporting verbs with wh-  and if clauses

Some reporting verbs introduce a wh-  clause or an if clause:

She explained what we had to do . I didn't know where to go . He asked if I was ready . I wonder if they're at home .

Noun + Verb + wh-  word + Clause

Noun + Verb + if + Clause

He told me what I had to do . He asked them if they were ready .

Noun + Verb + Noun + wh-  word + Clause

Noun + Verb + Noun + if + Clause

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Can I call the if-clause an object in the sentence: Call this number and find out if you were selected.

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Hello bre.ribeiro,

Yes, you can. The verb in question here is 'find out' and 'if you were needed' is its object.

You can test this a couple of ways. One way it to see if you can create a passive construction. If you can, you can be sure that you have an object. Here, you can: ...and if you were selected can be found out .

Another way is to see if you can replace the item with a noun or a pronoun. Again, here you can: ...and find out this information / ...and find it out .

The LearnEnglish Team

Hi teachers, I want to ask about the task number 9 "I was wondering if you'd like to go for a drink with me", why don't we use "I was wondered if.."? my second question, is this sentence correct "he wonder if you want to go on a date with him"?

Hello rachl,

'wonder' is a verb and 'I was wondering' is the past continuous form of it. We sometimes use the past continuous to talk about the present in a polite way (see the Polite expressions section on our Past tense page; this is why a past continuous form is used here.

Although adding '-ed' to the end of a bare infinitive can sometimes create an adjective (for example, 'interest' + '-ed' > 'interested'), this doesn't work for all verbs. 'wonder' is one of the verbs that it doesn't work for.

As for your second question, yes, that is correct except for one small error: the verb 'wonder' needs to have 's' at the end since its subject is 'he': 'He wonder s if you want to go on a date with him'.

All the best, Kirk LearnEnglish team

Hi teacher, I'm little bit confused about the above example of Wh- clause (I didn't know where to go). Is 'where to go' a wh- clause or something else? As we know, clause has always a subject and verb.

Hi Khoshal,

Clauses can be finite (with a subject and a verb marked for time) or non-finite (using a non-finite verb form such as an infinitive or a participle). Non-finite verbs generally do not have subjects in the clause. You can read more about finite and non-finite clause structure here:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Non-finite_clause#Structure

Thank you Peter for the reply. In this example 'I didn't know where to go', does it mean the subordinate clause (non-finite clause) has the same subject as the subject of the main clause? Are the following sentences equal in meaning? I didn't know where to go = I didn't know where I had to go

Hello again Khoshal,

Yes, that's right. The subject is the same and so is the time reference, so if a past tense verb is used in the first clause then the non-finite clause also has a past time meaning.

Hello Nevi,

'be added' is a subjunctive form -- more specifically a passive form in the subjunctive. In this case, the subjunctive is used to express a desire for something to be different than it actually is.

I'd refer you to the Wikipedia page on the English subjunctive  to learn a bit more about this. It's a bit technical in places, but if you focus on the examples, I think it will help you make sense of it.

All the best,

Hi Nevı,

Could you give us some example sentences with the structures you mean? That will make it easier to discuss :)

Hello Nevı,

'I forgot I lend you money' is not correct because the action of lending is an action that doesn't extend throughout time -- you lend someone something and then the action of lending is done. The item is still lent or borrowed, but the action itself is considered over in the way English sees it.

'I forgot you spoke Spanish' is correct, but so is 'I forgot you speak Spanish', and they both mean the same thing (unless the person no longer speaks Spanish). Since the ability to speak a language is more of a state than an action that begins and ends quickly (like 'lend'), then we can use the present tense to refer to that ability. But we can also use the past tense to refer to that past situation more than the person's current ability, which is why 'spoke' is also correct.

Hope this helps you make sense of it.

Yes, it sounds to me as if you understand this correctly. We generally backshift the tenses (as you describe), though sometimes we don't when speaking of something that is still true or generally true. But you can also use a backshifted tense (e.g. past simple) when speaking of something that is still true or generally true and you're mostly concerned with the past situation rather than the general truth or current state.

In this case, 'spend' refers to the passing of time, so it is an action that extends through time, i.e. through those five days.

Does that help you make sense of it?

That doesn't sound right to me unless the immigrant is talking about something they do regularly. For example, if he/she spends Monday through Friday on a boat every week, then that would work. But he/she is talking about their trip to their new country, which was one trip in the past, then 'spent' would be the correct form.

Is this perhaps a news headline? The lack of 'an' or 'the' before 'immigrant' isn't correct in most other situations. If this sentence isn't from a headline, perhaps it's from a source that just isn't grammatically correct.

Hello Ahmed Imam,

The first version is correct. The reason is that the sentence is not a question, so there is no need for an interrogative structure (inversion).

Both forms are grammatically possible here, so neither is better or worse - it depends what you want to say. Had believed tells us that the speaker no longer believes in magic; believed does not tell us about his or her current views.

Both forms are correct. Most of the time we'd use the first one, but if you wanted to put some emphasis on her age just before she started working, you could use the second one.

I think both are possible. However, without context the sentence is ambiguous: it's not clear if the admitting was the night before (and the mistake earlier) or the mistake was the night before (and the admitting in the present in narratve terms0.

Though I don't know the context, I would imagine that the answer is 'someone else'. After all, if you are speaking to Tom then you don't need to ask if he is at home, so the question would make no sense.

Hi Ahmed Imam,

Yes, I agree :) I think all the options work. Two of them ( had to / would have to ) are the backshifted verb forms that are normally used in reported speech. But the other two options ( must / will have to ) are also correct, because the reported speech sentence includes tomorrow .

I don't find any major difference in meaning between the four options, only that the forms with  have/had to leave are more likely to mean an externally imposed obligation (i.e. somebody or something is forcing him to leave), while he must leave could be an external or an internal obligation (i.e. leaving is his own personal choice; he wasn't forced to do it).

Does that make sense?

Both of these are used, but I'd recommend the 'had gone' form.

I'd recommend the first sentence for most situations. The fourth one's also correct, though I think it'd be more natural to switch the order of the clauses: 'Tom told me that he'd burnt himself while he was cooking.'

Hello Kim Hui-jeong,

Generally, we do not need to backshift the verb in reported speech when the facts described have not changed between the time of the original speech and the time when it is reported. It is not wrong to shift the tense back, but it is not necessary. However, if the facts have changed then shifting the tense back is used to indicate this. For example:

"I love you."

> She said she loves me. [she loved me then and she still that loves me now]

> She said she loved me. [she loved me then; it is not clear from the sentence if she still loves me now]

In your example, the fact cannot have changed, so both options are possible.

Hello kiwikiss0319,

The verb demand follows this pattern:

demand (that) sb do sth

In this pattern, do is the bare form of the verb. It is actually the present subjunctive form:

She demands that he go now. The police are demanding that she give them the passcode to her phone.

In your example demand is a noun but the construction remains the same.

If the action is in the past then the past subjunctive is used:

She demanded that he went immediately. The police were demanding that she gave them the passcode to her phone.

Other verbs which follow this pattern include insist, suggest, recommend and propose. As you can see, many verbs like this have a similar meaning.

You can read more about the subjunctive in English here:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_subjunctive

Hello Ahmed Imam

'if' and 'whether' are both correct here.

All the best

Both forms are possible. In reported speech (including reported questions) there is often a tense shift backwards, which would make ' Will you watch... ' into ' ...if I would watch... '. However, the shift is not always necessary. If the event (the match) has not yet taken place then  will  is also possible. There is no difference in meaning in this case.

The first sentence is correct, but the second one is not. If you changed 'has just told' to 'just told', then it would be correct, especially in American English, where it's very common to use the past simple with 'just' to refer to a very recent past.

Please note that you might hear a sentence like the second one in informal speaking from time to time, but it is not a standard form.

Without any other context, the first sentence is the one I would choose. While the second sentence is not grammatically incorrect, it does not seem very natural to me.

Hello Risa warysha

'makes' is what we say here. 'what' can include the idea of plural things too, but we just use a singular verb after it in this case.

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Reporting verb + THAT-clause

verb + that-clause

Employee: ... and so far I haven't received a negative response to my work. The employee added that up to that point he hadn't received a negative response to his work.

George: Well, I had difficulty answering some of the questions. George admitted that he had had difficulty answering some of the questions.

Chris: Yes, it was a great film. Chris agreed that the film was great.

Matthew: Do you want to have a cup of coffee sometime? Joanna: Sorry, but you're not my type. When Matthew asked her out, Joanna answered/replied that he was not her type.

Rev. Johansson: All humans are born equal. Reverend Johansson believes that all humans are born equal.

Julie to her neighbour's wife: You may not believe me, but I saw your husband with a blonde girl in the disco on Saturday. Julie claimed that she had seen her neighbour with a blonde girl in the disco on Saturday.

Student to his friend: I hate having to write tons of essays every semester. The student complained that he had to write a lot of essays .

Julie to her neighbour: Yes, it was me who started that ugly rumour about you. I'm sorry. Julie confessed that she had started an ugly rumour about her neighbour.

Secretary to a colleague: That's right, the meeting is on Tuesday. The secretary confirmed that the meeting was on Tuesday.

Customer: I don't think I'll buy this notebook after all. The customer decided that he wouldn't buy the notebook.

Francesco: No, I didn't bump your car. Francesco denied that he had bumped my car.

Student: I don't think that we could convince the professor that this is not plagiarism. The student doubted that they could convince the professor that it was not plagiarism.

Jill: I can make fire with a stick. You know, my father taught me how to do it when I was a child. Jill explained that her father had taught her how to make fire with a stick when she was a child.

Alex: Well, I think we should back her up in this terrible situation. Alex felt that they should back her up in that terrible situation.

Chef: I hope nobody will notice that this is not turkey but pork. The chef was hoping that nobody would notice that it was not turkey but pork.

Secretary to boss: I'm absolutely sure that I shredded those documents. The secretary insisted that she had shredded the documents.

Tom: Once I get back to school, I'm going to take up swimming again. Tom mentioned that he was going to take up swimming again.

David: I will be on time, I promise. David promised that he would be on time.

Wife to husband: As I've told you before, I'd like to invite Dan and Margaret as well. The wife repeated that she wanted to invite Dan and Margaret as well.

Camila: It may have been Mario who bumped your car. Camila suggested that it might have been Mario who had bumped my car.

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Reported Speech in English Grammar

Direct speech, changing the tense (backshift), no change of tenses, question sentences, demands/requests, expressions with who/what/how + infinitive, typical changes of time and place.

• Lingolia Plus English

Introduction

In English grammar, we use reported speech to say what another person has said. We can use their exact words with quotation marks , this is known as direct speech , or we can use indirect speech . In indirect speech , we change the tense and pronouns to show that some time has passed. Indirect speech is often introduced by a reporting verb or phrase such as ones below.

Learn the rules for writing indirect speech in English with Lingolia’s simple explanation. In the exercises, you can test your grammar skills.

When turning direct speech into indirect speech, we need to pay attention to the following points:

• changing the pronouns Example: He said, “ I saw a famous TV presenter.” He said (that) he had seen a famous TV presenter.
• changing the information about time and place (see the table at the end of this page) Example: He said, “I saw a famous TV presenter here yesterday .” He said (that) he had seen a famous TV presenter there the day before .
• changing the tense (backshift) Example: He said, “She was eating an ice-cream at the table where you are sitting .” He said (that) she had been eating an ice-cream at the table where I was sitting .

If the introductory clause is in the simple past (e.g. He said ), the tense has to be set back by one degree (see the table). The term for this in English is backshift .

The verbs could, should, would, might, must, needn’t, ought to, used to normally do not change.

If the introductory clause is in the simple present , however (e.g. He says ), then the tense remains unchanged, because the introductory clause already indicates that the statement is being immediately repeated (and not at a later point in time).

In some cases, however, we have to change the verb form.

When turning questions into indirect speech, we have to pay attention to the following points:

• As in a declarative sentence, we have to change the pronouns, the time and place information, and set the tense back ( backshift ).
• Instead of that , we use a question word. If there is no question word, we use whether / if instead. Example: She asked him, “ How often do you work?” → She asked him how often he worked. He asked me, “Do you know any famous people?” → He asked me if/whether I knew any famous people.
• We put the subject before the verb in question sentences. (The subject goes after the auxiliary verb in normal questions.) Example: I asked him, “ Have you met any famous people before?” → I asked him if/whether he had met any famous people before.
• We don’t use the auxiliary verb do for questions in indirect speech. Therefore, we sometimes have to conjugate the main verb (for third person singular or in the simple past ). Example: I asked him, “What do you want to tell me?” → I asked him what he wanted to tell me.
• We put the verb directly after who or what in subject questions. Example: I asked him, “ Who is sitting here?” → I asked him who was sitting there.

We don’t just use indirect questions to report what another person has asked. We also use them to ask questions in a very polite manner.

When turning demands and requests into indirect speech, we only need to change the pronouns and the time and place information. We don’t have to pay attention to the tenses – we simply use an infinitive .

If it is a negative demand, then in indirect speech we use not + infinitive .

To express what someone should or can do in reported speech, we leave out the subject and the modal verb and instead we use the construction who/what/where/how + infinitive.

Say or Tell?

The words say and tell are not interchangeable. say = say something tell = say something to someone

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Reported speech

Reporting verbs

In the page about reported speech, we talked about how to change direct speech ("I love coffee") into reported speech (Johnna said that she loved coffee), using the  reporting verbs 'say', 'tell' and 'ask'. However, we can also use many other verbs to report what someone said, like 'promise', 'warn', 'advise' and 'recommend'.

Some of these verbs look a bit more complicated to use than 'say' and 'tell', but it's just a question of getting to know the verb patterns (or verb structures).

(As I'm sure you know, we can often choose if we want to use 'that' or not in English. I've put it in brackets () to show that it's optional. The meaning is exactly the same if you use 'that' or if you don't use 'that'.)

Let's look first at the verbs we've already talked about. The basic verb pattern for using 'say' for reported speech is:

say + (that) + clause

• She said (that) she had already eaten.

(The direct speech for this is "I've already eaten".)

On the other hand, with 'tell' we need to use an object, a person who we tell the information to. tell + someone + (that) + clause

• I told John (that) I had seen the new film.

(The direct speech for this is "I've seen the new film".)

When we are reporting orders, we can also use another pattern with 'tell':

tell + someone + to + infinitive

• She told the children to go to bed.

We use 'ask' to report questions or requests. For questions we use the pattern:

ask + someone + if / question word + clause

• I asked my boss if I could leave early.
• She asked them where the station was.

For requests we use the pattern:

ask + someone + to + infinitive

• I asked Lucy to pass me the salt.

(Remember, the first two examples with 'ask' are no longer real questions, so we use the normal sentence word order. We don't use inversion. We say 'she asked them where the station was', NOT  'she asked them where was the station' . You can read more about this on the lessons about indirect questions and  reported speech.)

Other reporting verbs follow a variety of patterns. There aren't any rules about which verbs follow which patterns. You need to learn each one.

(= Give someone advice. Notice the different spelling for the verb and the noun.)

Advise + someone + to + infinitive

• She advised him to see a doctor.

Advise + (that) + clause

• The staff advise that you carry water at all times.

Advise + against + verb-ing

• I'd advise against leaving early.

Agree + to + infinitive

• We agreed to meet the following day.

Agree + (that) + clause

• I agreed that the children could do their homework later.

6: APOLOGISE

Apologise + (to + someone) + for + verb-ing

• They apologised to us for being late.
• She apologised for forgetting the book.

Apologise (+ to + someone) + for + noun

• She apologised for the delay.

Decide + to + infinitive

• They decided to go to the cinema.

Decide + (that) + clause

• They decided that they would go to the cinema.

8: ENCOURAGE

Encourage + someone + to + infinitive

• She encouraged him to take the exam again.
• The teacher encouraged the students to ask questions.

Explain + (that) + clause

• The teacher explained that the course was finished.

Explain + noun + to + someone

• She explained the grammar to the students.

NOT:  She explained me the grammar.

Explain + question word + to + infinitive

• They explained how to buy a train ticket on the internet.
• John explained where to find the restaurant.

Explain + question word + clause

• We explained what the exams would cover.

10: INSIST*

Insist + on + verb-ing

• He insisted on paying.

Insist + (that) + clause

• He insisted that we sit down.

11: PROMISE

Promise + to + infinitive

• He promised to arrive early.

Promise + (someone) + (that) + clause

• I promised him that I wouldn't do it again.

12: RECOMMEND*

Recommend + verb-ing

• I recommend visiting the British Museum while you're in London.

Recommend + (that) + clause

• I recommend that you visit the British Museum

Remind + someone + to + infinitive

• She reminded him to take his keys.

Remind + someone + (that) + clause

• They reminded me that there is a party tonight.

14: SUGGEST*

Suggest + verb-ing

• I suggest leaving soon

Suggest + (that) + clause

• I suggest that you come as soon as you can.

NOT:  I suggest him to come.

Warn + someone + (not) + to + infinitive

• I warned them not to go in the water.

Warn + someone + about + something

• She warned us about the dangerous roads.

Negatives To make the verbs that we have reported negative, we need to look at the verb pattern:

• When there's a clause, we make the negative in the usual way: She said that she  didn't like  ice cream.
• When there's 'to + infinitive', we generally put 'not' before 'to': He promised  not to do  it again.
• When there's 'verb-ing', we generally put 'not' in front of it: I advise  not taking  the bus.

* Advanced Point In formal English, some verbs that are followed by '(that) + clause' use the infinitive instead of a present tense verb. Some people suggest that this is a kind of subjunctive in English. You only need to worry about this in very formal writing.

Mostly, this doesn't make a difference, because the present simple form in English is often the same as the infinitive form. But when the subject is 'he', 'she' or 'it' or when the verb is 'be', we can see it clearly.

• I advise that he  go  to bed early. (Normally we'd expect: I advise that he goes to bed early.)
• I insist that she  come  now. (Normally we'd expect: I insist that she comes now.)
• They suggested that the cats  be  put in the garden for the night. (Normally we'd expect: They suggested that the cats are put in the garden for the night.)

Some reporting verbs may appear in more than one of the following groups because they can be used in several ways.

VERBS FOLLOWED BY "IF" OR "WHETHER"

Verbs followed by a "that", verbs followed by either "that" or an infinitive with "to", verbs followed by a "that" clause containing should, which may be omitted, leaving a subject + zero-infinitive, verbs followed by a clause starting with a question word, verbs followed by object + infinitive with "to", course curriculum.

• Direct and indirect speech 15 mins
• Tense changes in reported speech 20 mins
• Changing time and place in reported speech 20 mins
• Reported questions 20 mins
• Reporting verbs 20 mins
• Reporting orders and requests 15 mins
• Reporting hopes, intentions and promises 20 mins

Indirect Speech Definition and Examples

• An Introduction to Punctuation
• Ph.D., Rhetoric and English, University of Georgia
• M.A., Modern English and American Literature, University of Leicester
• B.A., English, State University of New York

Indirect speech is a report on what someone else said or wrote without using that person's exact words (which is called direct speech). It's also called indirect discourse or reported speech . 

Direct vs. Indirect Speech

In direct speech , a person's exact words are placed in quotation marks and set off with a comma and a reporting clause or signal phrase , such as "said" or "asked." In fiction writing, using direct speech can display the emotion of an important scene in vivid detail through the words themselves as well as the description of how something was said. In nonfiction writing or journalism, direct speech can emphasize a particular point, by using a source's exact words.

Indirect speech is paraphrasing what someone said or wrote. In writing, it functions to move a piece along by boiling down points that an interview source made. Unlike direct speech, indirect speech is  not  usually placed inside quote marks. However, both are attributed to the speaker because they come directly from a source.

How to Convert

In the first example below, the  verb  in the  present tense  in the line of direct speech ( is)  may change to the  past tense  ( was ) in indirect speech, though it doesn't necessarily have to with a present-tense verb. If it makes sense in context to keep it present tense, that's fine.

• Direct speech:   "Where is your textbook? " the teacher asked me.
• Indirect speech:  The teacher asked me  where my textbook was.
• Indirect speech: The teacher asked me where my textbook is.

Keeping the present tense in reported speech can give the impression of immediacy, that it's being reported soon after the direct quote,such as:

• Direct speech:  Bill said, "I can't come in today, because I'm sick."
• Indirect speech:  Bill said (that) he can't come in today because he's sick.

Future Tense

An action in the future (present continuous tense or future) doesn't have to change verb tense, either, as these examples demonstrate.

• Direct speech:  Jerry said, "I'm going to buy a new car."
• Indirect speech:  Jerry said (that) he's going to buy a new car.
• Direct speech:  Jerry said, "I will buy a new car."
• Indirect speech:  Jerry said (that) he will buy a new car.

Indirectly reporting an action in the future can change verb tenses when needed. In this next example, changing the  am going  to was going implies that she has already left for the mall. However, keeping the tense progressive or continuous implies that the action continues, that she's still at the mall and not back yet.

• Direct speech:  She said, "I'm going to the mall."
• Indirect speech:  She said (that) she was going to the mall.
• Indirect speech: She said (that) she is going to the mall.

Other Changes

With a past-tense verb in the direct quote, the verb changes to past perfect.

• Direct speech:  She said,  "I went to the mall."
• Indirect speech:  She said (that)  she had gone to the mall.

Note the change in first person (I) and second person (your)  pronouns  and  word order  in the indirect versions. The person has to change because the one reporting the action is not the one actually doing it. Third person (he or she) in direct speech remains in the third person.

Free Indirect Speech

In free indirect speech, which is commonly used in fiction, the reporting clause (or signal phrase) is omitted. Using the technique is a way to follow a character's point of view—in third-person limited omniscient—and show her thoughts intermingled with narration.

Typically in fiction italics show a character's exact thoughts, and quote marks show dialogue. Free indirect speech makes do without the italics and simply combines the internal thoughts of the character with the narration of the story. Writers who have used this technique include James Joyce, Jane Austen, Virginia Woolf, Henry James, Zora Neale Hurston, and D.H. Lawrence.  

• Direct Speech Definition and Examples
• French Grammar: Direct and Indirect Speech
• Definition and Examples of Direct Quotations
• How to Use Indirect Quotations in Writing for Complete Clarity
• Indirect Question: Definition and Examples
• Indirect Speech in the English Language
• The Subjunctive Present in German
• Preterit(e) Verbs
• Interior Monologues
• How to Teach Reported Speech
• Question Mark Definition and Examples
• Guidelines for Using Quotation Marks Correctly
• German Verbs: How to Recognize the German Subjunctive I, II
• Italian Direct Object Pronouns With Passato Prossimo
• Base Verbs in English Grammar
• Example Sentences of the Verb 'To Buy'

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• Transcription

Reported or indirect speech

The first section mostly reiterates material in the initial training section and is here as a reminder of the basics.  You can skip this if you are already aware of the basic issues or have recently worked through the initial training section for this area. If that is the case, skim through what follows, and/or do the mini-test or use this menu to go to the area you need and then move on.  It's up to you.

At the end of each section, you can click on -top- to return to this menu, simply read on, scroll back or bookmark the page for another time.

In what follows, we are going to consider four sorts of utterances which are often reported:

• Statements such as:     It is in the cupboard which are usually reported with that- clauses
• Questions such as:     When did you go? which are usually reported with dependent wh -clauses
• Exclamations such as:     What a lovely view! which are usually reported with wh -clauses
• Commands such as:     Get this done today which are usually reported with to- infinitive clauses

On the left we have the direct speech – the words uttered. On the right we have reported or indirect speech – how the message is passed on.

On the face of it, there's nothing terribly difficult about this idea.  The tense shifts back one (from, e.g., was to had been, from can to could ) .  At the same time, I changes to he , we changes to they and so on. Here's a list of the changes in English.

A small but significant source of error in reporting in British English is that the intrusive got in, for example:     I have got enough money is dropped when the tense is backshifted so we get:     He said he had enough money However, when the structure is used to express either:

• strong obligation as in:      I have got to go now the got may be retained and the reporting becomes:     He said he had got to go then
• the sense of receive , as in:     I have got a letter from her the got may also be retained and the reporting becomes:     She said she had got a letter from her

Here's a definition:

The name given to those aspects of language whose interpretation is relative to the occasion of utterance Fillmore (1966) in Harman (1989)

It's an important phenomenon in this area because the use of deixis neatly explains a lot of the so-called anomalies of indirect speech.  Because meaning is dependent on the identity, point of view, time and location of the speaker / writer we are obliged (or not) to change, e.g., I to he or she, we to they , bring to come, come to go (and go to come ) , this to that, here to there, yesterday to the previous day, now to then, bring to take and so on. We make these changes because of a movement to the deictical centre.  This is usually I, now and here so we make changes to allow for this. There are three types of deixis which affect the way we report what people say:

• Personal deixis: We change pronouns to reflect who is addressing whom so we report, e.g.:     "Will you please come early?" as any of      She asked me to come early     She asked him / her to come early     She asked you to come early     She asked them to come early     She asked [name(s)] to come early depending on the context of who was addressed.
• we often need to change bring to take when reporting in another place.
• we often need to change this to that and these to those (and vice versa )
• Temporal deixis: When reporting times, we need to consider that most people will expect any utterance to be centred on now so we make the appropriate changes as in, e.g., reporting:     "I want to see you this afternoon" as     She asked to see me that afternoon and     "I'm leaving next year" as     She said she was leaving the following year if the reporting takes place much later.

In this regard, the following changes now make more sense:

Once again, we find that context makes meaning .

For more, there is a guide to deixis on this site, linked below, which includes a larger image of the wheel above and explains what it all means.

Of course, not all changes are always appropriate (but using the changes will usually be correct). If we are reporting something virtually simultaneously, then we often don't change the tense or time expressions.  If we are reporting something in the same place, then we don't change the place expressions. Another way of putting this is to refer to the encoding time (when the statement was made) and the decoding time (when the statement was reported).  If the encoding and decoding times are the same, few if any changes need to be made to time markers and tense forms. So we might get:     A: I'm going there now.     B: What did he say?     C: He said he's going there now However, if the encoding and decoding times are sufficiently separated, we do make changes accordingly so the exchange might end as:     He said he was going there then.

If an utterance remains true, we often don't change the tense so we get, e.g.,     I'm from South Africa = He said he's from South Africa     I love the countryside = She said she loves the countryside

Try this matching exercise to make sure you have understood so far.

Did you notice the changes, particularly with time and place expressions but also with the verb come (which changed to go )?

If you have followed so far, this will be familiar:

It's clear that we have examples of direct speech and indirect speech here in sentences 1, 4, 2 and 5 but Sentence 6 is what is called a hybrid form because the first part follows the 'rules' but the second part actually changes only the pronoun, from you to I . If the sentence followed the reported speech 'rules', it should be     He said I was welcome to come and asked if I would like to bring Mary which is another possibility, of course, but sounds quite formal.

Statements or declarative utterances are routinely reported using that- clauses as in, for example:

There are two things to notice even with the simplest type of reporting of direct statements.

• The omission of that . All the examples in the table here include that .  However, it can be and routinely is omitted (something which, incidentally, is not allowed in some languages which have a parallel structure). When it is omitted, it is still, in technical terms a that- clause but referred to as a zero- that- clause, often written as Ø-that -clause . When the clause is short and concise, that is conventionally ellipted so most users of English will prefer:     She said it's OK rather than:     She said that it's OK However, if the utterance is structurally heavy, including multiple adverbials, subordinated and coordinated clauses and other modifiers, it is usually stylistically inappropriate to ellipt that .  For example, if we report:     Mary explained, "Up to now, I had always assumed the guy in the suit was the boss of the enterprise but now I see I was mistaken." we would normally include that in indirect speech and have:     Mary explained that she had up to then she had always assumed that the guy in the suit was the boss of the enterprise but now she saw that she was mistaken.
• Reporting verbs. If we report something like:     "It's the switch on the left," explained Peter. we may choose to structure the report differently and simply have:     Peter explained which switch it was rather than the more tortuous:     Peter explained that it was the switch on the left. There is more on reporting verbs below.

Incidentally, the rule for ordering in direct speech is that you cannot reverse the verb and subject pronoun but you can reverse a noun or noun phrase subject and verb.  We allow, therefore:     "That's the bus," said John and     "That's the bus," John said and     "That's the bus," he said but     "That's the bus,", said he is now hopelessly archaic.

Closed questions are those which require a Yes or No response and they are usually reported with if or whether .  We get, therefore, for example:     Are you going to the cinema? reported as     He asked her if she was going to the cinema There is a bit more to it, however.

Consider what direct speech is being reported in the following.

• I asked whether there were any good recipes in it.
• I asked if there were any good recipes in it.
• She wondered whether to go.
• He asked whether or not they could come.

When you have done that, try reporting these sentences (from the point of view of later and elsewhere). Then click to reveal the comment .

• “Are they English?” she asked
• “Are they English?” he wondered
• “I’m wondering whether to join you.” she said
• "Can I talk to you?" asked Mary

You should have something like:

• "Are there any good recipes in it?" I asked
• "Shall I go?" she wondered / asked herself
• "Can they come?" he enquired
• She asked whether / if they were English
• He wondered whether they were English
• She was wondering whether to join us
• She asked whether / if she could speak to me

In reporting a direct question, you can use if or whether interchangeably but if you are reporting someone's thoughts and doubts, only whether is usually the choice.

The other important thing to make sure that learners get right is the word ordering when reporting a question.  There are three issues to consider:

• The word order in these clauses is the one we would expect for a normal declarative statement.  We have, e.g.:     I asked if he was coming not     *I asked if was he coming
• The do, does, did operator which is used for forming questions in present and past simple tenses is not used in a reported question.  We have, e.g.:     I enquired if she worked in London not     *I enquired if did she work in London
• There is no reversal of subject and object with primary or modal auxiliary verbs.  We have, e.g.:     He wondered if she could manage the project not     *He wondered if could she manage the project

Many languages do not work this way and the transfer from L 1 to L T often produces errors like:     *She asked were they English     *She wondered should she go     *They enquired whether did the train stop at Margate?

Questions phrased using wh- words: who, what, why, when, which, where, how cannot be predicted to have a Yes-No-Maybe answer. Questions formed in this way cannot be reported with if or whether .  The reporting is done by embedding the questions. This means that reporting this type of question requires a different word ordering from that used in reporting yes-no questions (see above) and that is non-intuitive.  Many learners, having struggled to get the word ordering of yes-no questions right, logically transfer the rule concerning not disturbing the natural word ordering to wh-question s with resulting error.  We can get, therefore:     *She asked me where is the station     *They enquired when are we coming     *She asked what did I do for a living etc.

Embedding is often associated with polite questioning so, instead of the direct:     Where is the station? we form polite embedded questions such as     Can you tell me where the station is?

So it is with reported questions.  Thus:

The tense chosen will often conform to the time and place of the reporting using the common-sense rules discussed above although back-shifting tenses where possible is common even when the reporting is virtually simultaneous.

The big issue for learners with this kind of reporting is the ordering of the subject and verb.  Most first languages will lead learners to produce errors such as:     *Can you tell me when is the film beginning?     *Do you know who is the lady there? etc. And this will also carry over to reported questions so we get:     *She asked me where is the zoo     *They enquired what time did the train leave and so on.

Other reporting verbs such as explain, clarify, complain, mention, remember and state will produce similar errors because the structures are parallel to reported questions in English but not parallelled in many other languages.  We may encounter, therefore:     *She explained how did the machine work     *They clarified what did they need     *I remembered where was I going

There is more on the quirky nature of some reporting verbs below.

If the direct question is formed with who, which or what with the verb be as part of the predicate, it is possible to disturb the word order outlined above.  For example, the following can be reported in two ways, like this:

However, the word ordering with the reversal of subject and verb is always correct, so, for teaching purposes, that is the way to go.  Your learners may, however, encounter this disturbance so it's as well to be prepared for it and note that it only occurs in the limited circumstances set out here.

The disturbed word order is, however, always conventional when the question involves be as a simple copula with an adjectival attribute.  So, for example:     Which is best? is reported as:     She asked which was best not as:     *She asked which best was

What are the rules for using that and what in reported speech?  Report the following using that or what if possible and then reveal the commentary .

• "I am coming now."
• "I don't know her name."
• "What's your name?"
• "My name is Mary."
• "I will not go if it rains"

Rule 1: you can't use that in reporting questions or if -clauses. So we can have:     He said (that) he was coming then / is coming now     She said (that) she didn't / doesn't know her name     She said (that) her name is / was Mary but not:     *He asked that is her name     *She said she would not go that if it rained Rule 2: Conditional sentences may be back-shifted but that may not be used in them. At all other times, that can be dropped with no loss of sense, but some loss of formality. On the dropping or not of that with bridge and non-bridge verbs, see below. Rule 3: to report open questions , we have choices.  We can't use that but we can, with a change to an embedded question, use what :     He asked her her name / He asked her what her name was but not, usually:     ?He asked her what was her name

As we saw in part 1 of this guide, tense shifting is common in English and it is rarely wrong to do it.  However:

• If the reporting verb is in the present, we don't shift tenses.  So we get     She often says, "I don't know what to do" changing to     She often says she doesn't know what to do     "There was a nasty accident here last night," John informs me changing to     John tells me there was a nasty accident here / there last night. (Note that last night does not change because the reporting is of a recent utterance.)
• If the validity of what was said still holds.  For example:     Darwin wrote, "There is grandeur in this view of life." changes to      Darwin wrote that there is grandeur in this view of life. not to     Darwin wrote that there was grandeur in this view of life
• Although back-shifting could be used in all the above examples, there are rare times when it actually produces nonsense.  Try reporting     "I chose to study French because it was a beautiful language." Will you accept     He said he had chosen to study French because it had been a beautiful language ?

We saw above that question forms are reported differently from statements.  How would you report these?  Click here to reveal some comments .

• "What awful weather!" she exclaimed.
• "Stop fidgeting!" she said to John.
• "Stop fidgeting," she growled.

Sentence 19 could be rendered as     She exclaimed / said / remarked loudly what awful weather it was . It can't be reported without a change of grammar. Sentence 20 can be reported as     She told John to stop fidgeting but ... Sentence 21 can't be reported this way.  It has to be something like     She growled at John to stop fidgeting Note that we have to insert the object here.

Essentially, there are three types.  Can you categorise this list into three groups?  Click to reveal , as usual.

The simple reporting verbs in the left-hand column often require only the deixis, pronoun and tense shifts covered in this guide.  So we can have, e.g.:

in which the verbs are arranged in relation to the strength of the statement made so, for example:     "I must have the steak," she said could be reported as:     She insisted on having the steak and     "I'd like the steak," she said as     She said she'd like the steak but     "I wonder if I might have the steak," she said as     She enquired whether she could have the steak This has some pedagogical utility, of course, because it gives learners a way of understanding the connotations of the verbs. However, the categories are not unarguable and people will put different verbs in different boxes.  It is a rule of thumb at best.

Some reporting verbs are used to report an embedded or fronted comment clause so, for example, something like:     "She is, as you well know, quite capable." may be reported as:     He insisted that I knew that she was quite capable. Other comment clauses such as in:     "Well, to be honest, I don't have a clue." and     "As you know, I've been living here for years." may be reported using an appropriate reporting verb but maintaining the adverbial as:     He explained that he honestly didn't have a clue. or as:     He reminded me that he had been living there for years.

There is a difference in the way that such clauses are reported depending on the role of the disjunct adverbial.

• Style disjuncts express the speaker / writer's view of what is being expressed and how it should be understood.  So, for example:     "Seriously, I don't think it will arrive in time." expresses how the speaker wishes to be understood and may be reported as:     She seriously doubted whether it would arrive in time.
• Attitude disjuncts indicate how generally the speaker wants to be understood or what limitations apply and they are reported using the same disjuncts usually (so are considerably easier to form).  For example:     "More or less, that's the same conclusion I arrived at." and      "Administrationally, this is quite a simple matter." can be reported simple as:     He said that it was more or less the same conclusion he had arrived at. and     She said it was administrationally quite a simple matter.

Purely for information, there's a PDF of a list of reporting verbs in English list which considers the syntactical restraints concerned with them.  The list also includes some consideration of the functions of reporting verbs and categorises them accordingly. Click to download a list of reporting verbs . Don't try to teach them all at once!

There is also a guide to the kinds of reporting verbs used in academic writing, linked below, which contains a list of over 150 verbs such as state, aver, suggest, discount, dismiss, investigate etc.

The issue here is whether one can omit the word that from a reported statement. The theoretical distinction is between what are called bridge verbs and non-bridge verbs.  Many simple reporting verbs verbs such as say, tell, think, know, write, claim and hear are bridge verbs and it is perfectly in order to omit the word that when they are followed by a clause so we allow both:     He said that he was coming tomorrow     John thinks that it's too expensive     She claims that she lost the money etc. and:     He said he was coming tomorrow     John thinks it's too expensive     She claims she lost the money Many find (that) the sentences without that are more stylistically acceptable.

However, some verbs, exemplified above with verbs like cry, sneer and shout , refer not only to what was said but to how it was said and these are often non-bridge verbs and leaving out that results in clumsiness at best.  For example, many people find:     She shouted she was coming     She whispered the chairman was drunk     He lied he was married     They acknowledged coming late was rude are all clumsy or even wrong and should be expressed with that as:     She shouted that she was coming     She whispered that the chairman was drunk     He lied that he was married     They acknowledged that coming late was rude In general terms, the less common and more loaded reporting verbs require that when followed by a clause . Here are some examples of how non-bridge verbs are used when reporting:

In all those case where we choose to follow the reporting verb with a clause, the insertion of that is almost obligatory. In the last case, not including that results in:     The minister conceded having long periods of unemployment made it difficult to get work in the future which forces the hearer to reconsider who has long periods of unemployment.

In academic writing simple verbs are often avoided for the sake of style or precision and less frequently used so non-bridge verbs are usually preferred.  For example:      Guru confirms that the results are reliable     He acknowledged that the experiment was flawed     The findings indicate that there is a need for ...     She emphasises that findings are provisional all sound clumsy without that .

Clause length is a factor which tends to override the omission of that even with simple reporting verbs so while, for example:     I said, without much optimism based on his previous track record, he would come is correct and the omission of that is acceptable, most native speakers would insert it to signal the subordinate clause as:     I said, without much optimism based on his previous track record, that he would come

The categories are not watertight but once a learner has decided on a speaker's intentions in terms of the function of what was said (rather than the form), it becomes a good deal simpler to select an appropriate reporting verb providing, of course, that the structural constraints which apply to many of them are understood, too. Should you wish it, that list is included in the list of reporting verbs with the colligational characteristics, available here .

Reporting verbs for true questions form a restricted set which is straightforward to teach.  Almost a complete list is:     ask, enquire, want to know, wonder For example:

However, question forms also routinely perform other functions than asking for information and when this happens, other reporting verbs are necessary to reflect the illocutionary force of the utterance. Like this:

As with much in language, we have to look at the function, not the form, to decide on the right way to report the words.

Colligation with reporting verbs is something of a headache for learners of English and there are numerous constraints and possibilities. Reporting verbs can be categorised by what they may be followed by and it is certainly not intuitive to understand, for example, that we can say:     He confirmed that I had passed but we cannot say:     *He congratulated that I passed Here are some of the common issues.  For a list of reporting verbs and their grammatical constraints and possibilities, download the PDF file from the link above or at the end.

There are times when the source of something said or written is obscure, unknown or unimportant and others when we wish to disguise the source and in these cases a passive clause construction with the dummy it comes to the rescue. In academic texts the structure is also used to cite something so well known in a field of enquiry that it needs no sourcing. For example:     It has been suggested that ...     It is often questioned whether ...     It has been asked whether ...     It is generally reckoned that ... and so on. These constructions are not difficult to teach and are communicatively very useful ways of avoiding the need to say who said or wrote something.

Sometimes, we can use the same kind of passive construction without the dummy pronoun when the source of what has been said or written is unknown, absent or unimportant.  For example:     She has been told to ...     I have often be accused of ...     They are said to be ...     The house is reputed to be ... etc.

At other times, we may wish to emphasise the source of a statement and the passive is also used in this way, of course, so we may encounter, for example:     I have been accused by Mary of ...     She has been asked by the boss to ...     The comment has been made by the department head that ... and so on.

Modal auxiliary verbs are frequently defective insofar as some have no tense forms at all, some have past and future forms which use a different verb altogether and some only have tense forms in certain meanings.  It is a complicated area.  (For more, follow some of the guides from the index of modality.)

There is nothing very difficult about the form of reported speech changes (providing a learner is already familiar with the tense forms of English).  However:

• Because of the 'common sense' issues touched on above, you need to make sure that the language is very clearly set in a time-and-place context.
• It is almost impossible to practise the form changes in class by getting students to report each other's utterances because time and place remain static.  You need to spread the practice over time and place to be authentic.
• You need to make sure that learners are aware of the common-sense issues and don't slavishly transform every utterance.
• Languages deal with the issues differently.  Some, for example, reserve a subjunctive tense for reported speech and some hardly make any changes at all.

Teaching the mechanics of indirect speech is not too challenging providing the learners have a grasp of the tense forms and pronoun systems but one does need to address different forms separately or it all becomes a mass of data that bewilders learners. A sensible approach is to apply the analysis as above, focusing on reporting declarative statements, yes-no questions, open, wh- questions, exclamations, orders and so on separately before making any attempt to combine ideas.

Here's an idea for teaching indirect speech and still applying the common-sense rules.

Obviously, this is contrived and artificial to some extent but it is personalised and situates the language temporally and spatially.  It is certainly better than meaningless sentence-transformation exercises.

Because the word order when reporting questions and using a number of the reporting verbs is a common source of error, it is worth practising separately.  Fortunately, the use of back-shifting, even for virtually simultaneous reporting, is also common so there is less need to set up delayed reporting.

• You have to teach the forms before you can launch into this kind of practice and
• The questions may well be mixes of wh- questions and closed questions so the reporting will include formulations such as     He asked you why you became a teacher and     She asked you if / whether you enjoy teaching

You can set up the task to exclude one or other type of question, of course, but that's a lot less natural.

Reporting verbs in English need careful handling and there are a number of issues:

• Grammatical / Colligational issues We saw above that these verbs vary considerably in the constructions they can appear in. When deciding on a set of reporting verbs to teach, therefore, it makes sense to focus on those which are colligates and share structural characteristics or we risk encouraging error rather than helping our learners to avoid it. The simplest way to start is to take common verbs which can be followed by that clauses (i.e., most of them) before getting into other complications. Even at higher levels, it makes sense to select sets of verbs which take the same structural forms in the following clauses.
• Attitudinal issues Above, we divided reporting verbs into three classes: tentative, neutral and assertive. While this is a rather crude categorisation (and the diagram was meant to alert you to the fact that there is a cline rather than a simple three-part division), it has some utility as far as classroom approaches are concerned because it provides a memorable hook on which to hang the verbs.
• Stylistic issues Some reporting verbs are rare and more formal in style or, sometimes, rarer and quite colloquial. We need, therefore, to alert learners to the stylistic differences between, e.g.:     She enquired how he felt and     She asked how he was because learners need these kinds of data to be able to use the words naturally. We also need to remember the distinction between bridge and non-bridge verbs and the effect of dropping or including that .

Click here for the test .

References: Chalker, S, 1987, Current English Grammar , London: Macmillan Harman, I P, 1989, Teaching indirect speech: deixis points the way, English Language Teaching Journal, Volume 44, No 3, pp230-238, Oxford: Oxford University Press

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• United Nations Editorial Manual Online
• Indirect or reported speech

Editorial Manual 

Indirect speech conveys a report of something that was said or written rather than the exact words that were spoken or written. It is used in many United Nations documents, including summary records and reports on the proceedings of intergovernmental bodies. Indirect speech is not enclosed in quotation marks.

When converting direct, or quoted, speech to indirect, or reported, speech, several changes must be made. First, it is necessary to add a principal, or reporting, clause that contains a verb of saying, thinking or reporting in the past tense ( She stated that... ). Next, a corresponding shift is made in the verb tenses, pronouns and certain other words in the original statement:

In a summary of a speech or discussion, the reporting clause must be added initially to establish the pattern of indirect speech but should not be included in every subsequent sentence. The shift in verb tenses, pronouns and other words signals the fact that the words are being reported.

Verb tenses

The verb tenses are normally changed as follows:

The following examples illustrate these rules:

Present to past tense

Even though the original statement may still be valid at the time of reporting, the verb is changed from the present to the past tense since it must agree with the verb in the main clause, which, whether stated or understood, is in the past tense.

          Note : This rule is not necessarily applied to statements that are universally true:

          The speaker noted that, under the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, everyone has  [ not  had]  the right to life, liberty and security of person.

         However, in summary records, the verb is always changed from the present to the past:

The speaker noted that, under the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, everyone had  the right to life, liberty and security of person.

Present perfect to past perfect tense

Past to past perfect tense

Past perfect tense (no change)

Future to secondary future tense

Future perfect to secondary future perfect tense

Conditional tense (no change)

Special verb forms

Some auxiliary verbs, such as must and ought to , have only one form, which is used in both direct and indirect speech. When should is used as an auxiliary, the form does not change either.

The infinitive form can often be used to avoid cumbersome or awkward constructions in reported speech.

In that-clauses with verbs such as demand, ask, recommend and suggest , either the present subjunctive ( He suggested that the Committee adopt the text ) or should plus the infinitive ( He suggested that the Committee should adopt the text ) may be used.

Pronouns, possessives and demonstratives

The changes required in pronouns, possessive adjectives and demonstratives are as follows:

Adverbs and adjectives

Adverbs and adjectives denoting time and place may have to be changed as follows:

Questions and exclamations

The rules set out above also apply to questions and exclamations. In addition, the final punctuation mark (question mark or exclamation point) should be changed to a full stop (period) in an indirect statement. In some cases, the word order may have to be changed slightly. When converting a direct question to an indirect one, the subject and verb often have to be inverted.

Exclamation

Differing styles in reports

A mixture of direct and indirect styles in a summary of a statement or discussion should be avoided whenever possible. When, however, an account of the proceedings of an intergovernmental body is followed by the conclusions or recommendations put forward by the body, different tenses are often used. While the proceedings are summarized in indirect speech (past tense), the conclusions or recommendations are normally written in the present tense. In such cases, the conclusions and recommendations should be clearly set off from the summary by means of a heading or subheading.

Editorial Manual

• Instructions for the preparation of documents
• Country names and currencies
• I. Introduction
• II. General instructions on footnotes and text notes
• III. United Nations sources
• IV. Outside sources
• V. Repeated references
• VI. Permission footnotes
• VII. Explanatory footnotes
• VIII. Cross references
• IX. Footnote indicators
• X. Reference lists and bibliographies
• Policy questions
• Mention of names of commercial firms in United Nations publications
• Abbreviations
• Capitalization in English
• Italics and bold print
• Numbers, dates and time
• Punctuation
• Spelling (printer-friendly version)
• Communications
• Corrigenda and reissues
• Documents relating to agendas of principal organs
• Documents relating to programme budget implications
• Notes by the Secretary-General
• Reports of intergovernmental and expert bodies
• I. System of identification
• II. Drafting and editing
• Headings and subheadings
• Maps and figures, including photographs
• Mastheads and cover pages
• Paragraphs and subparagraphs
• About United Nations editors
• Contact the editors

Conditionals and Reported Speech

Have you started learning conditionals ? You probably fear you’ll make a lot of mistakes with all those complicated rules, right? And to make things even more complicated, there’s the reported speech. How can you report conditional sentences?

There are numerous English language schools and programs in California that can help you with all the doubts you may have. But to truly master the conditionals and other aspects of the English language, you should rely on as many reliable resources as possible. So, keep reading this article as we explain how if-clauses are changed in reported speech. 

Contact us online and get a quote today or call us via WhatsApp!

Can we use "if" in reported speech?

“If” is a conjunction we use in indirect speech when we report yes/no questions. 

Direct speech: Do you want to go to the cinema?

Indirect speech: He asked if I wanted to go to the cinema.

Also, if we want to report a conditional sentence, we’ll keep “if” in the reported speech too.

Direct speech: If it doesn’t rain, I’ll go for a walk.

Indirect speech: She said that if it didn’t rain, she’d go for a walk.

How do you change the if-clause in reported speech?

To see what tense and modal changes occur, let’s examine each type of conditional sentence separately. 

Zero conditional in reported speech

The tense shift will occur only in instances when the condition is no longer valid. Otherwise, the tenses remain the same.

Mom: If dad gets angry, he always reads a newspaper in the living room and ignores everybody else.

Mom said that if dad gets angry, he always reads a newspaper in the living room and ignores everybody else. (Dad still does this.)

Mom said that if dad got angry, he always read a newspaper in the living room and ignored everybody else. (Dad doesn’t do this anymore. Mom just described his past habit.)

First conditional in reported speech

If we need to report a first conditional sentence, the following changes might take place.

Luke: If we hurry up, we’ll catch the bus .

Luke said that if we hurry up, we’ll catch the bus. (This information is still relevant. Luke and his interlocutor still have time to catch the bus.)

Luke said that if we hurried up, we’d catch the bus. (These reported words aren’t relevant anymore. The bus has already left. Note the tense and modal shift: the present simple becomes the past simple , and will becomes would .)

Second conditional in reported speech

The above tense and modal shifting rules apply to the second conditional too. If the condition is still relevant, no changes occur. However, if it’s outdated, the past simple becomes the past perfect , and would becomes would + have + past participle. 

Sofia: If I had more money, I would buy a new car. 

Sofia said that if she had more money, she would buy a new car. (Sofia still doesn’t have money, and consequently, she can’t buy a new car.)

Sofia said that if she had had more money, she would have bought a new car. (The speaker remembers Sofia’s words and wishes from the past. Maybe Sofia doesn’t have any money issues now.)

Third conditional in reported speech

When reporting third conditionals, there is no change in the verb form:

Tania: If I had seen him, I would have told him about the accident.

Tania said that if she had seen him, she would have told him about the accident .

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Reported Speech: Direct Speech

Mainly, there are two types of reported speech: direct speech and indirect speech. In this lesson, we will focus on the first type: how to use direct speech.

• What Is Direct Speech?

In direct speech (also called quotes ), we repeat the exact words someone said. We place the direct reported speech between quotation marks (also called speech marks or inverted commas ).

• Reporting Verbs

Usually, a direct speech uses a reporting verb in the past simple tense. The most common reporting verbs are:

Reporting verbs can appear before the actual spoken words, after them, or inside the reported sentence.

• Say Vs. Tell

' Say ' and ' tell ' are two of the most common reporting verbs in direct speech, but 'say' is more common. When we use 'say,' we do not mention the addressee of the reported sentence, however, if we do want to mention them, we use the preposition to .

"I'll see you at the party," Mia said.

"See you later," Mia said to me. (Do not say: "See you later," Mia said me .)

However, when we use 'tell' in direct reported speech, we must mention the person being spoken to. ' Tell ' is a verb that needs a direct and indirect object . For example:

"Come over here," Liam told Elijah. (Do not say: "Come over here," Liam told .)

Also, if we want to report a question, we use 'say', not tell.

"Are you OK?" Amelia said. (Do not say: "Are you OK?" Amelia told me .)

If we want to report wishes, greetings, congratulations , etc. we use 'say,' not 'tell.'

"Happy birthday!" Benjamin said. (Do not say: "Happy birthday!" Benjamin told Oliver .)

• Reporting and Reported Clauses

Speech reports have two parts:

• the reporting clause
• the reported clause

The reporting clause contains a reporting verb such as 'say', 'tell', 'ask', 'reply', etc., usually in the past simple tense, and the reported clause contains the actual words the speaker said. The reporting clause may come first or second.

Lucas said, "I have a date with Tiffany tonight."

"Give that back to me!" Noah demanded.

Sometimes, in formal or literary texts, the reporting clause comes in the middle of the reported clause.

"Was it," Ethan asked, "the last time you had seen Mr. Jackson?"

"Yes," Isabella said, "it was the last time."

using direct speech to quote someone

If we want to describe how someone said something, we can use adverbs with the reporting verb.

"I will accept it!" Julian said happily .

"May I speak to him?" she asked somewhat angrily .

In the process of telling a story, especially in novels, when the reporting clause comes second , we often invert the subject and reporting verb. For example:

"My government will invest in the Stock Market," said the queen .

"Hey! Wait for me!" cried Sawyer .

Informal Narratives

Sometimes in informal contexts, we use the present simple tense in the reporting clause. For example:

So then this guy says, "I have a gun. Give me all your money."

In very informal contexts, we can also use the present continuous tense in the reporting clause to make our statement sound dramatic. For example:

And this guy's staring at me and asking, "Didn't you hear me?"

• Direct Speech: Punctuation

In direct speech, a comma is usually placed between the reporting clause and the reported clause. The exact words of the speaker are placed in quotation marks , either single ('…') or double ("…"). If the reported clause comes first , the comma is placed inside the quotation marks. Pay attention to the examples:

"I cannot sing very well," George said.

Nora said, 'I don’t want to marry you.'

If the reported clause is a question or exclamation , we use a question mark or exclamation mark , instead of a comma. For example:

'Are you sure about this?' Penelope asked.

"I don't care!" Gavin shouted.

Sometimes when the reporting clause comes first , we use a colon (:) between the reporting clause and the reported clause. For example:

Ivan replied: 'I don't think it's possible.'

The reported clause always begins with a capital letter , unless the reporting verb comes in the middle of the sentence.

'Why did you say that?' Hannah asked.

'I will see you there,' Skyler said, ' u nless something comes up.'

Direct speech repeats, or quotes the exact words that were spoken. When we use direct speech in writing, we place the spoken words between quotation marks (" ") and we are not allowed to change the words or the tense of the sentence. We may be reporting something that is being said now (for example a conversation between two people in separate rooms repeated by a friend), or telling someone later about a previous conversation.

Here are some important verbs that are used to report something directly.

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Reported speech, reported speech: indirect speech, inversion and fronting.

Detailed Look at the Parts of Direct and Indirect Speech

Back to: Direct and Indirect Speech (Narration)

In today’s lesson we are going to learn the parts of Direct and Indirect speech in details. Both Direct and Indirect speech contains reporting clause, reporting verb and reported clause. 

Table of Contents

What is reporting clause?

The main function of reporting clause is to report. Reporting clause reveals what a speaker has said.

Rules of reporting clause 

• Reporting clause uses proper noun (name) or pronoun (he, she, you, they, etc.) to indicate the actual speaker.
• Reporting clause contains a reporting verb.
• Reporting clause can be used before, after or in the middle of direct speech.
• If reporting clause is used after the speech of the speaker, the comma is used before the reporting clause. And reporting verb in many cases can be placed before the proper noun or pronoun.
• If the speech ends with question or exclamatory mark, comma is not used. 

Here Puja is proper noun and the actual speaker of the words ‘I like roses.’ And said is the reporting verb in the reporting clause ‘Puja said’. 

In this example comma is used after the speech or reported clause. And the reporting verb ‘said’ is used both after and before the proper noun ‘Rahul’

What is reporting verb?

Reporting verb is a type of verb present in both Direct and Indirect speech. Usually say and tell is used as reporting verb. Other reporting verbs are – ask, order, instruct, mention, report, etc. 

What is reported clause? 

Reported clause reveals the actual mouthpiece of a speaker. Simply speaking reported clause reports what a speaker has spoken. 

• In direct speech reported clause is always put inside quotation marks but in indirect speech reported clause is not put inside any such marks.
• In direct speech reported clause can be put before or after reporting clause but in case of indirect speech reported clause is put after the reporting clause. 
• In indirect speech tense, pronoun, expression of the reported clause is changed.

‘Do your homework’ is the reported clause and it is put before the reporting clause ‘mother said’.

The reported clause ‘ I am the best student in school ’ is changed to ‘ he was the best student in school ‘ in indirect speech. 

Other examples of reported clause:

• Trisha said, “I like to play chess.”  
• “ Clean the classroom” , the teacher said.
• Chabi told Maya that she liked to draw . 

Trump says abortion restrictions should be left to states, dodging a national ban

Former President Donald Trump said Monday that abortion laws should be left to the states, many of which have enacted new restrictions since he appointed Supreme Court justices who voted to overturn federal protections for the procedure.

In a 4½-minute video released on his Truth Social media platform , Trump made several false claims, including that "we have abortion where everybody wanted it from a legal standpoint" in the wake of the Supreme Court's 2022 Dobbs decision. A majority of Americans have consistently said in polling that they favor the Roe v. Wade protections that the court dismantled.

"My view is, now that we have abortion where everybody wanted it from a legal standpoint, the states will determine by vote or legislation, or perhaps both, and whatever they decide must be the law of the land," Trump said.

In doing so, he refused to take a position on the national ban that has been promoted by some of his staunchest allies, including Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., and former White House aide Kellyanne Conway. In the past, Trump had hinted that he might embrace a national ban, referring to a 15- or 16-week threshold as a consensus position.

Trump did not say what he would do if he won the presidency and Congress sent him a national ban.

Trump's silence on the matter upset at least one prominent anti-abortion group in Washington. Susan B. Anthony Pro Life America President Marjorie Dannenfelser, who has pushed Republicans to adopt a weeks-based ban at the national level, said she is "deeply disappointed in President Trump's position" on the matter.

"Saying the issue is 'back to the states' cedes the national debate to the Democrats who are working relentlessly to enact legislation mandating abortion throughout all nine months of pregnancy," she said. "If successful, they will wipe out states' rights."

Graham also criticized Trump's stance, saying in a statement, "Dobbs does not require that conclusion legally and the pro-life movement has always been about the wellbeing of the unborn child — not geography."

Democrats in Congress have signed onto a bill that would limit states’ ability to restrict abortion rights. No Democrat in Congress has proposed “mandating abortion.” Unless either party can control the House and 60 votes in the Senate at the same time, the prospects for legislation limiting or expanding abortion rights are dim. It is unlikely that Trump would be presented with an abortion-ban bill.

Over the last quarter of a century and even since he became a candidate for office in 2015, Trump has been all over the map on the abortion issue. Since the 2024 campaign began, he's offered few specifics about which policies he’d back in the post-Roe v. Wade era should he win the White House.

Trump, a Florida resident, hasn’t said where he stands on that state's new six-week ban. When he’s teased support for a nationwide ban, his words often appear to contradict formal statements put out by his campaign.

Trump has said he supports exceptions in cases of rape, incest and to protect the life of the mother, a position he reiterated in Monday's video. But the president does not determine how states make their laws.

Trump has frequently gloated over being responsible for the reversal of Roe v. Wade, which dismantled reproductive rights protections. But he also blamed GOP losses in 2022 on the issue and has said Republicans need to learn how to talk about abortion in a way that doesn't turn off potential voters. 

Last September, more than a year after abortion protections were reversed, he made a vague overture in an interview with NBC News' "Meet the Press" that he would be a voice of consensus on abortion — but didn’t specify how.

“Let me just tell you what I’d do,” he said. “I’m going to come together with all groups, and we’re going to have something that’s acceptable.”

At the time, he said he wouldn’t sign a federal abortion ban at 15 weeks.

In recent months, however, Trump moved in the direction of a federal abortion ban even as some of his statements were at odds with his campaign. After reports surfaced that he told allies he was mulling a federal abortion ban at 16 weeks , his campaign dismissed it as “fake news.” Soon after, Graham told NBC News that “Trump is warming up to 16 weeks.” And then Trump himself in an interview suggested he’d support a 15-week ban . 

The prospect of the top of the GOP ticket backing a federal abortion ban at a time when Democrats are elevating the issue as a central point of attack could put swing-state Republicans in a trick box, after some have attempted to moderate their positions. Statements from Trump’s campaign, however, seem to be leaning toward states’ rights and not a federal ban.

“President Trump supports preserving life but has also made clear that he supports states’ rights because he supports the voters’ right to make decisions for themselves,” Brian Hughes, a Trump senior adviser, said in a statement. He added: “President Trump thinks voters should have the last word.”

After offering little clarity, at a campaign rally last week in Grand Rapids, Michigan, Trump said his campaign would be “making a statement next week on abortion” after he was asked if he supported the six-week abortion ban that the Florida Supreme Court had just upheld .

President Joe Biden’s campaign has seized on Trump’s varying remarks on abortion, particularly his boasts of having a hand in overturning Roe v. Wade, with the president saying in a new ad , “Donald Trump doesn’t trust women. I do.”

Biden continued that theme after Trump's video remarks on Monday, saying in a statement released by his campaign, “Donald Trump made it clear once again today that he is — more than anyone in America — the person responsible for ending Roe v. Wade. He is — more than anyone in America — responsible for creating the cruelty and the chaos that has enveloped America since the Dobbs decision.”

“Trump is scrambling,” Biden added. “He’s worried that since he’s the one responsible for overturning Roe the voters will hold him accountable in 2024. Well, I have news for Donald. They will."

Natasha Korecki is a senior national political reporter for NBC News.

Jonathan Allen is a senior national politics reporter for NBC News, based in Washington.

• Cambridge Dictionary +Plus

Reported speech

Reported speech is how we represent the speech of other people or what we ourselves say. There are two main types of reported speech: direct speech and indirect speech.

Direct speech repeats the exact words the person used, or how we remember their words:

Barbara said, “I didn’t realise it was midnight.”

In indirect speech, the original speaker’s words are changed.

Barbara said she hadn’t realised it was midnight .

In this example, I becomes she and the verb tense reflects the fact that time has passed since the words were spoken: didn’t realise becomes hadn’t realised .

Indirect speech focuses more on the content of what someone said rather than their exact words:

“I’m sorry,” said Mark. (direct)

Mark apologised . (indirect: report of a speech act)

In a similar way, we can report what people wrote or thought:

‘I will love you forever,’ he wrote, and then posted the note through Alice’s door. (direct report of what someone wrote)

He wrote that he would love her forever , and then posted the note through Alice’s door. (indirect report of what someone wrote)

I need a new direction in life , she thought. (direct report of someone’s thoughts)

She thought that she needed a new direction in life . (indirect report of someone’s thoughts)

Reported speech: direct speech

Reported speech: indirect speech

Reported speech: reporting and reported clauses

Speech reports consist of two parts: the reporting clause and the reported clause. The reporting clause includes a verb such as say, tell, ask, reply, shout , usually in the past simple, and the reported clause includes what the original speaker said.

Reported speech: punctuation

Direct speech.

In direct speech we usually put a comma between the reporting clause and the reported clause. The words of the original speaker are enclosed in inverted commas, either single (‘…’) or double (“…”). If the reported clause comes first, we put the comma inside the inverted commas:

“ I couldn’t sleep last night, ” he said.

Rita said, ‘ I don’t need you any more. ’

If the direct speech is a question or exclamation, we use a question mark or exclamation mark, not a comma:

‘Is there a reason for this ? ’ she asked.

“I hate you ! ” he shouted.

We sometimes use a colon (:) between the reporting clause and the reported clause when the reporting clause is first:

The officer replied: ‘It is not possible to see the General. He’s busy.’

Punctuation

Indirect speech

In indirect speech it is more common for the reporting clause to come first. When the reporting clause is first, we don’t put a comma between the reporting clause and the reported clause. When the reporting clause comes after the reported clause, we use a comma to separate the two parts:

She told me they had left her without any money.

Not: She told me, they had left her without any money .

Nobody had gone in or out during the previous hour, he informed us.

We don’t use question marks or exclamation marks in indirect reports of questions and exclamations:

He asked me why I was so upset.

Not: He asked me why I was so upset?

Reported speech: reporting verbs

Say and tell.

We can use say and tell to report statements in direct speech, but say is more common. We don’t always mention the person being spoken to with say , but if we do mention them, we use a prepositional phrase with to ( to me, to Lorna ):

‘I’ll give you a ring tomorrow,’ she said .

‘Try to stay calm,’ she said to us in a low voice.

Not: ‘Try to stay calm,’ she said us in a low voice .

With tell , we always mention the person being spoken to; we use an indirect object (underlined):

‘Enjoy yourselves,’ he told them .

Not: ‘Enjoy yourselves,’ he told .

In indirect speech, say and tell are both common as reporting verbs. We don’t use an indirect object with say , but we always use an indirect object (underlined) with tell :

He said he was moving to New Zealand.

Not: He said me he was moving to New Zealand .

He told me he was moving to New Zealand.

Not: He told he was moving to New Zealand .

We use say , but not tell , to report questions:

‘Are you going now?’ she said .

Not: ‘Are you going now?’ she told me .

We use say , not tell , to report greetings, congratulations and other wishes:

‘Happy birthday!’ she said .

Not: Happy birthday!’ she told me .

Everyone said good luck to me as I went into the interview.

Not: Everyone told me good luck …

Say or tell ?

Other reporting verbs

The reporting verbs in this list are more common in indirect reports, in both speaking and writing:

Simon admitted that he had forgotten to email Andrea.

Louis always maintains that there is royal blood in his family.

The builder pointed out that the roof was in very poor condition.

Most of the verbs in the list are used in direct speech reports in written texts such as novels and newspaper reports. In ordinary conversation, we don’t use them in direct speech. The reporting clause usually comes second, but can sometimes come first:

‘Who is that person?’ she asked .

‘It was my fault,’ he confessed .

‘There is no cause for alarm,’ the Minister insisted .

Verb patterns: verb + that -clause

Word of the Day

singing or playing notes that are at the right pitch (= level) or that agree with others being sung or played

Alike and analogous (Talking about similarities, Part 1)

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A newsletter briefing on the intersection of technology and politics.

Privacy talks are heating up in Congress. Here’s what to watch for.

Happy Thursday! Repeatedly heating up and cooling down the same food can cause it to spoil. What about privacy negotiations? Send news and food preservation tips to: [email protected] .

Congressional negotiations over data privacy and children’s online safety took a notable step forward this week as House and Senate leaders unveiled bipartisan proposals and started ramping up their consideration of the measures.

Most notably, Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) and Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Wash.) struck a deal on a comprehensive privacy bill , and House lawmakers unveiled a companion to the Kids Online Safety Act, raising the prospects that both could still move this Congress. 

The House is scheduled to debate those and other tech measures at a hearing next week , and the Senate could soon follow suit. But just like in years past, the same pesky friction points that have bogged down talks for years may surface again.

Here are some of the expected tugs of war to watch in the coming months: 

California dreaming?

Cantwell and McMorris Rodgers may have finally agreed on a national privacy proposal that would override many state laws, but that doesn’t mean key congressional delegations will be on board, including California’s massive contingency on Capitol Hill.

Last Congress, former House speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and other state leaders spoke out against the chamber’s prior attempt to hash out a privacy bill because it would have preempted California’s watershed law, the California Consumer Privacy Act. 

State officials are already signaling similar concerns with the new privacy proposal.

California Special Assistant Attorney General Eleanor Blume said in a statement that while her office is “glad Congress is taking seriously the need for privacy protections nationwide, we hope that anything enacted at the federal level would provide a floor but not a ceiling.”

Ashkan Soltani , executive director of the California Privacy Protection Agency, said in an email that the new bill “seeks to remove the CPPA’s authority and replace it with a federal structure, thus compromising the CPPA’s unique ability to protect California consumers.”  It would “limit CPPA’s broad rulemaking authority” and omit other “key protections,” he added. 

On Sunday, Cantwell offered a prebuttal of sorts to the California critiques, saying in an interview that the bipartisan proposal is “now stronger than theirs.”

“We have the same standard by which we protect them on these sensitive data like biometric,” she said. “And we've preserved their remedy, which was statutory damages.”

Rep. Anna G. Eshoo (D-Calif.), who opposed the House’s prior privacy bill , said Rep. Frank Pallone Jr. (D-N.J.) made a similar argument to her this week. She replied: “Well if it’s stronger, why are you preempting it?’” Eshoo said she’s still “perusing” the bill, though.

Are the kids all right?

House and Senate lawmakers for years have tussled over whether to prioritize broader privacy legislation or protections for kids, since taking up both has at times appeared unachievable. 

Now both chambers are dialing up efforts on the issues simultaneously. But how they weave together the various proposals vying for attention could determine the fate of the push. 

One issue to watch: The House’s new version of the Kids Online Safety Act includes key changes that could complicate negotiations with the Senate. 

Under the Senate version , a broad swath of companies would be subject to a new “duty of care” standard requiring them to take steps to prevent harm to minors. But the House version only applies that standard to a smaller subset of “high impact” digital services, narrowing the scope.

The House version also tweaks the language on what kind of “compulsive usage” by minors that companies would need to address, focusing on “repetitive behavior reasonably likely to cause a mental health disorder.” By contrast, the Senate version targets repetitive behavior “likely to cause psychological distress, loss of control, anxiety, or depression,” arguably a broader pool.

Asked about the changes Wednesday, Rep. Kathy Castor (Fla.), the bill’s lead Democratic sponsor in the House, stressed that it’s still “early” in the legislative process. 

“I like the idea of having them identical in the House and Senate, but it’s just imperative that we move legislation that can protect kids online and protect our privacy,” she said.

How is the ‘trial bar’ faring?

Republicans have long resisted efforts to give consumers a right to directly sue companies over privacy violations, known as a private right of action. Doing so, they have argued, would only serve as a gift to trial lawyers and a burden on businesses. 

But to strike a deal with Democrats, they have agreed to such provisions with some limitations. Where to draw the line on those limits has been one of the most contentious parts of the negotiations in the past. Sen. Ted Cruz (Tex.), the top Republican on the Senate Commerce Committee, suggested after Cantwell and McMorris Rodgers released their discussion draft that he may not be happy with their compromise on that. If other Republicans agree, it could threaten the deal.

“I cannot support any data privacy bill that empowers trial lawyers, strengthens Big Tech by imposing crushing new regulatory costs on upstart competitors or gives unprecedented power to the FTC to become referees of internet speech and DEI compliance,” he said in a statement. 

Cantwell said the bill was about making “privacy a consumer right” and ensuring there are “policemen on the beat” to enforce the standards. 

Hill happenings

A new bill wants to reveal what’s really inside AI training data (The Verge)

Inside the industry

A drone factory in Utah is at the epicenter of anti-China fervor (By Eva Dou)

OpenAI’s Altman pitches global AI coalition on trip to Middle East (Bloomberg News)

Competition watch

Apple’s antitrust case is getting a new judge (The Verge)

Alternative browsers report uplift after EU’s DMA choice screen mandate (TechCrunch)

DOJ is scrutinizing rival AI companies sharing board members (Bloomberg News)

Privacy monitor

AT&T notifies regulators after customer data breach (TechCrunch)

The House blocks vote on expanding warrantless wiretapping authority (The Verge)

Workforce report

Apple store in New Jersey files to unionize in renewed push (Bloomberg News)

The hacking lawsuit looming over Truth Social (Wired)

• Washington Post Live hosts an event, “This is Climate Summit: Tipping Points,” Thursday at 9 a.m., including conversations with John Podesta , Maryland Gov. Wes Moore and environmental entrepreneurs on climate change and the role of technology in combating it. Register here to watch.
• The Knight-Georgetown Institute hosts an event , “Burning Questions: Online Deception and Generative AI,” Thursday at 11 a.m.
• The House Energy and Commerce Committee holds a hearing , “Where Are We Now: Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act of 1996,” Thursday at 1 p.m.

Before you log off

@washingtonpost Wendy’s will soon spend $20 million on digital menu boards that will allow stores have a more flexible menu, but the fast food chain will not be using Uber-style surge pricing. A Wendy’s spokesperson told The Washington Post earlier on Tuesday that the investment will provide “value” during the slower parts of the day, adding: “As early as 2025, we plan to test a number of features such as AI-enabled menu changes and suggestive selling based on factors such as weather that we think will provide great value and an improved customer and crew experience.” ♬ original sound - We are a newspaper.

That ’ s all for today — thank you so much for joining us! Make sure to tell others to subscribe to  The Technology 202 here . Get in touch with Cristiano (via email or social media ) and Will (via email or social media ) for tips, feedback or greetings!

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NPR defends its journalism after senior editor says it has lost the public's trust

David Folkenflik

NPR is defending its journalism and integrity after a senior editor wrote an essay accusing it of losing the public's trust. Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images hide caption

NPR is defending its journalism and integrity after a senior editor wrote an essay accusing it of losing the public's trust.

NPR's top news executive defended its journalism and its commitment to reflecting a diverse array of views on Tuesday after a senior NPR editor wrote a broad critique of how the network has covered some of the most important stories of the age.

"An open-minded spirit no longer exists within NPR, and now, predictably, we don't have an audience that reflects America," writes Uri Berliner.

A strategic emphasis on diversity and inclusion on the basis of race, ethnicity and sexual orientation, promoted by NPR's former CEO, John Lansing, has fed "the absence of viewpoint diversity," Berliner writes.

NPR's chief news executive, Edith Chapin, wrote in a memo to staff Tuesday afternoon that she and the news leadership team strongly reject Berliner's assessment.

"We're proud to stand behind the exceptional work that our desks and shows do to cover a wide range of challenging stories," she wrote. "We believe that inclusion — among our staff, with our sourcing, and in our overall coverage — is critical to telling the nuanced stories of this country and our world."

NPR names tech executive Katherine Maher to lead in turbulent era

She added, "None of our work is above scrutiny or critique. We must have vigorous discussions in the newsroom about how we serve the public as a whole."

A spokesperson for NPR said Chapin, who also serves as the network's chief content officer, would have no further comment.

Praised by NPR's critics

Berliner is a senior editor on NPR's Business Desk. (Disclosure: I, too, am part of the Business Desk, and Berliner has edited many of my past stories. He did not see any version of this article or participate in its preparation before it was posted publicly.)

Berliner's essay , titled "I've Been at NPR for 25 years. Here's How We Lost America's Trust," was published by The Free Press, a website that has welcomed journalists who have concluded that mainstream news outlets have become reflexively liberal.

Berliner writes that as a Subaru-driving, Sarah Lawrence College graduate who "was raised by a lesbian peace activist mother ," he fits the mold of a loyal NPR fan.

Yet Berliner says NPR's news coverage has fallen short on some of the most controversial stories of recent years, from the question of whether former President Donald Trump colluded with Russia in the 2016 election, to the origins of the virus that causes COVID-19, to the significance and provenance of emails leaked from a laptop owned by Hunter Biden weeks before the 2020 election. In addition, he blasted NPR's coverage of the Israel-Hamas conflict.

On each of these stories, Berliner asserts, NPR has suffered from groupthink due to too little diversity of viewpoints in the newsroom.

The essay ricocheted Tuesday around conservative media , with some labeling Berliner a whistleblower . Others picked it up on social media, including Elon Musk, who has lambasted NPR for leaving his social media site, X. (Musk emailed another NPR reporter a link to Berliner's article with a gibe that the reporter was a "quisling" — a World War II reference to someone who collaborates with the enemy.)

When asked for further comment late Tuesday, Berliner declined, saying the essay spoke for itself.

The arguments he raises — and counters — have percolated across U.S. newsrooms in recent years. The #MeToo sexual harassment scandals of 2016 and 2017 forced newsrooms to listen to and heed more junior colleagues. The social justice movement prompted by the killing of George Floyd in 2020 inspired a reckoning in many places. Newsroom leaders often appeared to stand on shaky ground.

Leaders at many newsrooms, including top editors at The New York Times and the Los Angeles Times , lost their jobs. Legendary Washington Post Executive Editor Martin Baron wrote in his memoir that he feared his bonds with the staff were "frayed beyond repair," especially over the degree of self-expression his journalists expected to exert on social media, before he decided to step down in early 2021.

Since then, Baron and others — including leaders of some of these newsrooms — have suggested that the pendulum has swung too far.

Author Interviews

Legendary editor marty baron describes his 'collision of power' with trump and bezos.

New York Times publisher A.G. Sulzberger warned last year against journalists embracing a stance of what he calls "one-side-ism": "where journalists are demonstrating that they're on the side of the righteous."

"I really think that that can create blind spots and echo chambers," he said.

Internal arguments at The Times over the strength of its reporting on accusations that Hamas engaged in sexual assaults as part of a strategy for its Oct. 7 attack on Israel erupted publicly . The paper conducted an investigation to determine the source of a leak over a planned episode of the paper's podcast The Daily on the subject, which months later has not been released. The newsroom guild accused the paper of "targeted interrogation" of journalists of Middle Eastern descent.

Heated pushback in NPR's newsroom

Given Berliner's account of private conversations, several NPR journalists question whether they can now trust him with unguarded assessments about stories in real time. Others express frustration that he had not sought out comment in advance of publication. Berliner acknowledged to me that for this story, he did not seek NPR's approval to publish the piece, nor did he give the network advance notice.

Some of Berliner's NPR colleagues are responding heatedly. Fernando Alfonso, a senior supervising editor for digital news, wrote that he wholeheartedly rejected Berliner's critique of the coverage of the Israel-Hamas conflict, for which NPR's journalists, like their peers, periodically put themselves at risk.

Alfonso also took issue with Berliner's concern over the focus on diversity at NPR.

"As a person of color who has often worked in newsrooms with little to no people who look like me, the efforts NPR has made to diversify its workforce and its sources are unique and appropriate given the news industry's long-standing lack of diversity," Alfonso says. "These efforts should be celebrated and not denigrated as Uri has done."

After this story was first published, Berliner contested Alfonso's characterization, saying his criticism of NPR is about the lack of diversity of viewpoints, not its diversity itself.

"I never criticized NPR's priority of achieving a more diverse workforce in terms of race, ethnicity and sexual orientation. I have not 'denigrated' NPR's newsroom diversity goals," Berliner said. "That's wrong."

Questions of diversity

Under former CEO John Lansing, NPR made increasing diversity, both of its staff and its audience, its "North Star" mission. Berliner says in the essay that NPR failed to consider broader diversity of viewpoint, noting, "In D.C., where NPR is headquartered and many of us live, I found 87 registered Democrats working in editorial positions and zero Republicans."

Berliner cited audience estimates that suggested a concurrent falloff in listening by Republicans. (The number of people listening to NPR broadcasts and terrestrial radio broadly has declined since the start of the pandemic.)

Former NPR vice president for news and ombudsman Jeffrey Dvorkin tweeted , "I know Uri. He's not wrong."

Others questioned Berliner's logic. "This probably gets causality somewhat backward," tweeted Semafor Washington editor Jordan Weissmann . "I'd guess that a lot of NPR listeners who voted for [Mitt] Romney have changed how they identify politically."

Similarly, Nieman Lab founder Joshua Benton suggested the rise of Trump alienated many NPR-appreciating Republicans from the GOP.

In recent years, NPR has greatly enhanced the percentage of people of color in its workforce and its executive ranks. Four out of 10 staffers are people of color; nearly half of NPR's leadership team identifies as Black, Asian or Latino.

"The philosophy is: Do you want to serve all of America and make sure it sounds like all of America, or not?" Lansing, who stepped down last month, says in response to Berliner's piece. "I'd welcome the argument against that."

"On radio, we were really lagging in our representation of an audience that makes us look like what America looks like today," Lansing says. The U.S. looks and sounds a lot different than it did in 1971, when NPR's first show was broadcast, Lansing says.

A network spokesperson says new NPR CEO Katherine Maher supports Chapin and her response to Berliner's critique.

The spokesperson says that Maher "believes that it's a healthy thing for a public service newsroom to engage in rigorous consideration of the needs of our audiences, including where we serve our mission well and where we can serve it better."

Disclosure: This story was reported and written by NPR Media Correspondent David Folkenflik and edited by Deputy Business Editor Emily Kopp and Managing Editor Gerry Holmes. Under NPR's protocol for reporting on itself, no NPR corporate official or news executive reviewed this story before it was posted publicly.