Reported Speech

Posted on August 16, 2008
Filed Under grammar, reported speech |

Lead-in Elicit where Ss hear gossip eg
-friends
-Sunday supplements

Ss in pairs / small groups
Discuss two or three gossip / paparazzi stories from the previous weeks news

H/O Newspaper gossip pages.
Prepare newspaper style story (about Ss from the class if appropriate).
These should include a minimum of one example of each tense (in reported statements) and also reported questions (both Wh- and yes / no questions).
A small example of a typical text could read something like this:

We can reveal that Istanbul playboy Emre Alg?nl? and top singer Ebru Gunde? are going to get married. We asked Emre when he met Ebru and he said that he had met her six months ago at Pasha discotheque in Istanbul’s fashionable Ortaköy district.

Highlight an example reported sentence on the WB:

He said that he had met her six months ago

Elicit / show original (direct) speech (maybe by means of picture/speech bubble)

“I met her six months ago” he said

We know the time in the past, which tense do we use? Past simple
Which tense in reported sentence? Past perfect
What’s happened? Tense has ‘moved back one’

Ss in two groups (A and B)
Prepare gap - fill type sentences from the material in the newspaper articles - Group A half of the articles, Group B the other half.

Ss complete the original, direct speech sentences by transforming from reported to direct speech.

Using the above example, this would read:

1. “I ________ her six months ago” Emre said.

Ss work in groups to complete HO. Check together
Put Ss in pairs - one Ss from group A and one Ss from group B.
They compare/check their answers together.
Feedback full list of tense changes.

Other rules Refer back to transformed sentence on WB
Elicit or have Ss in small groups brainstorm other changes in reported speech.

H/O Rules sheet. Ss complete.

Reported Questions

Refer back to original newspaper handout.
Ask Ss to underline all example of reported questions in text.

Ss in 2 groups - A and B
Handout a gap-fill type sheet using questions from the newspaper articles (divided between the 2 groups).
Ss complete direct questions by transforming back from the reported questions in the article.

An example from the above text would be:

1. “When ________ _______ meet Ebru?” We asked

Ss check in their group then pair Ss: one A and one B
Check and compare answers

Ss deduce rules for making reported questions
Handout rules sheet and Ss complete