Learn how to use reported speech in the past and future tenses
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Jonathan: Good day, Listeners. An Unexpected English Call. Jonathan here. |
| Dede: And I’m Dede reporting! |
| Jonathan: In this lesson, you will learn how to take and leave a message for someone unavailable at the moment and use reported speech further. |
| Dede: This conversation takes place over the phone between Sheila and Isabel and then briefly in person between Sheila and Dave. |
| Jonathan: Sheila and Isabel do not know each other very well so they speak a bit more formally. |
| Jonathan: Ready to listen? |
| Dede: Yup, let’s go! |
| DIALOGUE |
| Sheila: Hi this is Sheila, may I ask who’s calling? |
| Isabel: Oh hi Sheila, this is Isabel. |
| Sheila: Isabel? Well this is certainly unexpected… |
| Isabel: Yeah, I suppose so… is Dave available? |
| Sheila: Uh, sorry, he just left to go to the pharmacy; he has a pretty bad migraine. |
| Isabel: Oh that’s terrible… Would you mind telling him I called when he gets back? |
| Sheila: Not at all… Do you want me to tell him anything else? |
| Isabel: Just tell him that I had an epiphany. I will be at the diner around 9 tonight. He should join me if he wants to talk. |
| Sheila: The usual place? OK… I’ll tell him that when he gets home. Take care, Isabel. |
| Isabel: Thanks a lot… Bye |
| (sound of door opening) Sheila: Oh hey Dave… I just hung up the phone. It was Isabel… She said that she had an epiphany and that she would be at the diner tonight; you can join her if you want to talk… |
| Dave: Woah… |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Dede: “This is Your Name.” “Hello?”, and “Your Name speaking.” are all ways that people in the United States answer their phones. |
| Jonathan: “Hello?” asked as a question is the most common way, but it’s polite to identify yourself when you answer the phone and ask who is calling. |
| Dede: Sheila must have been raised in a very proper household, because while what she said is very correct, it is not that common to hear people answer the phone like this at home. |
| Jonathan: Answering in that manner has its advantages though – you present a professional and gentle front for anyone contacting you. |
| Dede: That’s very true. If that’s too much, though, I would recommend that our listeners use a simple “Hello?” when picking up the phone. |
| Jonathan: Yeah, I agree! |
| Dede: Okay, let’s move onto the vocabulary from this lesson! |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Dede: Let's take a look at the vocabulary for this lesson. |
| The first word we shall see is: |
| Jonathan: unexpected [natural native speed] |
| Dede: surprising |
| Jonathan: unexpected [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Jonathan: unexpected [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Jonathan: available [natural native speed] |
| Dede: not busy, easy to get or use |
| Jonathan: available [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Jonathan: available [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Jonathan: pharmacy [natural native speed] |
| Dede: store that sells medicine and other things |
| Jonathan: pharmacy [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Jonathan: pharmacy [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Jonathan: migraine [natural native speed] |
| Dede: a severe, painful headache |
| Jonathan: migraine [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Jonathan: migraine [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Jonathan: to suppose [natural native speed] |
| Dede: to guess, to assume that something is the case |
| Jonathan: suppose [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Jonathan: suppose [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Jonathan: epiphany [natural native speed] |
| Dede: sudden realization, moment of awareness |
| Jonathan: epiphany [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Jonathan: epiphany [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Jonathan: to mind [natural native speed] |
| Dede: to have a problem with, to be bothered by |
| Jonathan: to mind [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Jonathan: to mind [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Jonathan: diner [natural native speed] |
| Dede: A café that serves quick and inexpensive food, often 24 hours a day. |
| Jonathan: diner [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Jonathan: diner [natural native speed] |
| Next: |
| Jonathan: usual [natural native speed] |
| Dede: regular, normal |
| Jonathan: usual [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Jonathan: usual [natural native speed] |
| VOCAB AND PHRASE USAGE |
| Dede: That’s it for this lesson. Why don’t we take a look at some of the phrases from the dialogue. |
| Jonathan: Sounds good! What’s our first one? |
| Dede: "would mind", which is a polite way to request that someone do something. In the dialogue, Isabel says this when she asks Sheila “Would you mind telling him that I called…?” |
| Jonathan: That's right. And if we are asked if we “would mind” something, then we should respond with “No”, “Not at all” or another negative response if we can do it because we “don’t mind”. If we say “yes” it can mean that you do not want to do what they are asking you to. |
| Dede: Hey, Jonathan. |
| Jonathan: Yes? |
| Dede: Would you mind passing me that water? |
| Jonathan: Not at all! Good example. What’s our next phrase? |
| Dede: Sheila confirms the diner by asking “The usual place?” to Isabel. |
| Jonathan: With friends or people we know, the “usual place” is the restaurant, bar, diner, etc. where you meet most regularly. We can use it when we meet someone someplace regularly. |
| Dede: Also, clients that often go to a restaurant or bar can be referred to as a “regular” or “usual” |
| Jonathan: That just about does it! Let’s move onto the grammar. |
| Dede: Okay! |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Jonathan: The focus of this lesson is reported speech in the past and future tenses. |
| Dede: Sheila said “She said that she had an epiphany and that she would be at the diner tonight; you can join her if you want to talk…” |
| Jonathan: Previously, we discussed how to report speech both with and without backshift. |
| Dede: During that lesson, we focused only on reporting speech that was in the present tense. |
| Jonathan: Before we go forward, let’s look at a review of the language we learned to report present tense speech with and without backshift |
| Dede: Let’s start without back shift. |
| Jonathan: "I love fish! And I am eating fish now!" |
| Dede: Jonathan says he loves fish and is eating fish now. |
| Jonathan: Without backshift, the tense of the verb does not change, we just have to change the pronoun. |
| Dede: Okay, let’s hear some examples with backshift now. |
| Jonathan: "I run everyday, and I am trying to eat healthier." |
| Dede: Jonathan said that he ran everyday, and he said that he was trying to eat healthier. |
| Jonathan: With backshift, we report present simple tense with past simple. |
| Dede: And present continuous tense with past continuous. |
| Jonathan: Okay, let’s take a look at how to report speech that was originally in past tense. |
| Dede: Reporting speech in past tense is very easy. In past simple, we do not have to worry about the verb changing and we just change the pronoun to make it a 3rd person pronoun. |
| Jonathan: You will notice that past continuous in reported speech with backshift looks the same as present continuous in reported speech with backshift. |
| Dede: Let’s try some examples. |
| Jonathan: OK, "I was playing tennis yesterday when I fell down and hurt my ankle." |
| Dede: Ouch! Hey listeners, Jonathan told me that he was playing tennis yesterday when he fell down and hurt his ankle. |
| Jonathan: That shouldn’t be too hard for our listeners! |
| Dede: Reporting future tense speech is not too difficult either. |
| Jonathan: When we report future tense with backshift, we just have to remember to replace “will” with “would”. |
| Dede: And if they use a “going to” construction we add a “was” or “were” (depending on the pronoun) to report it. |
| Jonathan: Hey, Dede, why don’t you demonstrate some examples this time! |
| Dede: Sure! "Next month, I’m going on a vacation to Tahiti! I will sit under the sun and relax for a whole week." |
| Jonathan: Wow… That’s great! Dede said that she was going on a vacation to Tahiti next month. She told me she would sit under the sun and relax for a whole week. |
| Dede: If only that weren’t an example… |
| Jonathan: I know! |
| Dede: Reported speech looks and sounds more difficult than it actually is. Usually, it makes sense, so just try and use it naturally, soon you will report speech it without even thinking about it! |
Outro |
| Jonathan: And that concludes this lesson of Upper Intermediate Season 1. |
| Dede: Thanks so much for listening! Take care! |
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