Pronouns in Reported Speech

When it comes to reporting what someone else has said, it's important to know how to use pronouns correctly in reported speech. Pronouns take the place of nouns, and they can change depending on whether you are reporting something that was said in first person, second person, or third person.

In this reference, we'll explain the rules for pronoun change in reported speech, give examples of pronouns in reported speech, discuss common mistakes, and look at how to use pronouns in different tenses.

Explanation of Pronoun Change in Reported Speech

In reported speech, you are reporting what someone else has said. This means that you need to change the pronouns to reflect the new perspective.

For example, if someone said, "I am going to the store," and you are reporting it, you would say, "He said he was going to the store." The pronoun "I" changes to "he," and "am" changes to "was." This is because you are no longer talking about yourself, but about someone else.

The rules for pronoun change in reported speech are straightforward:

• If the original sentence is in the first person, you change the pronoun to the third person.
• If the original sentence is in the second person, you change the pronoun to the third person.
• If the original sentence is in the third person, you don't need to change the pronoun.

Examples of Pronouns in Reported Speech

Pronouns will often come up in sentences:

• Original sentence: "I love pizza."
• Reported speech: She said she loved pizza.
• Original sentence: "You should come to the party."
• Reported speech: He said I should come to the party.
• Original sentence: "He is going to the movies."
• Reported speech: They said he was going to the movies.

In each of these examples, the pronoun changes to reflect the new perspective. It's important to note that when reporting what someone else has said, you need to be accurate and use the correct pronouns.

Common Mistakes in Pronoun Change

One common mistake people make when changing pronouns in reported speech is forgetting to change the tense. Remember, you need to change both the pronoun and the tense to reflect the new perspective. For example, if someone said, "I will go to the store," and you are reporting it, you would say, "He said he would go to the store." The pronoun "I" changes to "he," and "will go" changes to "would go."

Another common mistake is using the wrong pronoun. This can happen when you're not sure who the pronoun refers to. For example, if someone said, "They love their new car," and you are reporting it, you need to be sure who "they" refers to. Is it a group of people, or is it just one person? If it's a group of people, you would say, "He said they loved their new car." If it's just one person, you would say, "He said he loved his new car."

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Pronoun Usage in Different Tenses in Reported Speech

The rules for pronoun change in reported speech apply to all tenses, including the past, present, and future. Let's take a look at some examples:

• Original sentence (past tense): "I went to the store."
• Reported speech (past tense): She said she had gone to the store.
• Original sentence (present tense): "I am going to the store."
• Reported speech (past tense): He said he was going to the store.
• Original sentence (future tense): "I will go to the store."
• Reported speech (future tense): They said he would go to the store.

In each of these examples, the pronoun changes to reflect the new perspective, and the tense changes to match the original tense.

Summary

When reporting what someone else has said, it's important to handle pronoun change correctly. Remember to change the pronouns to reflect the new perspective, and to change the tense to match the original tense. Be careful not to make common mistakes, such as forgetting to change the tense or using the wrong pronoun. Check out more handy grammar references below!