Reported Speech — Activity

A witness statement recorded word for word is direct speech; the moment a lawyer writes up a case note saying what the witness told them, it becomes reported speech — and getting the conversion wrong can quietly change the meaning of what was actually said. This is one of the most frequently tested grammar skills on this entire paper for exactly that reason.

In two minutes

Reported (indirect) speech restates what someone said without quoting their exact words, and converting correctly from direct to indirect speech requires shifting the tense one step back, changing pronouns to match the reporter's perspective, and adjusting time and place references accordingly.

The rest of this chapter

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