Indirect speech
Present simple: She said, "It's cold."
Change to Past simple: She said it was cold.
Present continuous: She said, "I'm teaching English online."
Change to Past continuous: She said she was teaching English online.
Present perfect simple: She said, "I've been on the web since 1999."
Change to Past perfect simple: She said she had been on the web since 1999.
Present perfect continuous: She said, "I've been teaching English for seven years."
Change to Past perfect continuous: She said she had been teaching English for seven years.
Past simple: She said, "I taught online yesterday."
Change to Past perfect: She said she had taught online yesterday.
Past continuous: She said, "I was teaching earlier."
Change to Past perfect continuous: She said she had been teaching earlier.
Past perfect: She said, "The lesson had already started when he arrived."
NO CHANGE Past perfect: - She said the lesson had already started when he arrived.
Past perfect continuous: She said, "I'd already been teaching for five minutes."
NO CHANGE Perfect continuous: - She said she'd already been teaching for five minutes.
Modal verb forms also sometimes change:
Will: She said, "I'll teach English tomorrow."
Change to Would: She said she would teach English tomorrow.
Can: She said, "I can teach English."
Change to Could: She said she could teach English.
Must: She said, "I must have a computer to teach English."
Change to Had to: She said she had to have a computer to teach English.
Shall: She said, "What shall we learn today?"
Change to Should: She asked what we should learn today.
May: She said, "May I open a new blogspot?"
Change to Might: She asked if she might open a new blogspot.
Note - There is no change to; could, would, should, might and ought to.
Expressions of time also change:
this (evening) ---- that (evening)
today ---- yesterday
these (days) ---- those (days)
now ----then
(a week) ago ---- (a week) before
last weekend ---- the weekend before last / the previous weekend
here ---- there
next (week) ---- the following (week)
tomorrow ---- the next/following day
a gift from Julio-C. ADV6
