Reporting Time
When we use reported speech, we usually have to make changes to references of time.
For example, imagine on Monday Bruce says to me:
“I will play tennis tomorrow.”
Then later in the week on Wednesday I see my friend Jill and report what Bruce told me. I can’t say:
x Bruce said he would play tennis tomorrow.
I can’t say this because tomorrow refers to a different day. On Monday when Bruce said tomorrow, it meant Tuesday. But now when I’m talking to Jill on Wednesday, tomorrow means Thursday.
To fix this problem I have to change the time expression, in a similar way to how we backshift the tenses. So the correct way to report is:
✓ Bruce said he would play tennis the next/following day.
Here is a list of the common changes we make to time expressions:
| Direct Speech | Indirect Speech |
|---|---|
| now ‘I’m speaking with him now,’ she said. |
→ then/at that moment She said that she was speaking with him then/at that moment. |
| today/tonight ‘I have to work today,’ he said. |
→ that day/night He said he had to work that day. |
| yesterday ‘We saw James yesterday,’ she said. |
→ the day before She said that they had seen James the day before. |
| next week/month/year ‘David is visiting next week,’ he said/ |
→ the following week/month/year He said that David was visiting the following week. |
| tomorrow ‘I will probably go swimming tomorrow.’ |
→ the next/following day He said that he would probably go swimming the next day/the following day. |
| ago ‘I saw him 5 days ago,’ she said. |
→ before She said that she had seen him 5 days before. |
| last week/month/year ‘I saw my family last week,’ he said. |
→ the previous week/month/year OR the week/month/year before He said that he had seen his family the week before / the previous week. |