PERUBAHAN TENSE KETIKA MENGGUNAKAN REPORTING SPEECH
Biasanya, tenses dalam report speech adalah salah satu tense back in time dari tense dalam direct speech:
Juanita said, “I am happy.” = Juniata said that she was happy.
| Phrase in Direct Speech | Equivalent in Reported Speech |
| Simple present | Simple past |
| “Jerry always eat bubble gum”, Tom said | They said that Jerry always eat bubble gum. |
| Present continuous | Past continuous |
| “Somad is walking on the alley”, Nipon argued. | Nipon argued that Somad was walking on the alley |
| Simple past | Past perfect |
| “Many Children sank at the river last month”, Marwan said. | Marwan said that Many children was sunk at the river last month. |
| Present perfect | Past perfect |
| “Jerry has been to Jakarta”, they told me. | They told me that they had been to Jakarta. |
| Past perfect | Past perfect |
| “Geremy had just burned out the paper,” Guramy said. | Guramy said that Geremy had just burned out the paper. |
| Present perfect continuous. | Past perfect continuous |
| Parman told Samsu, “hendi have been playing video game for hours”. | Parman told Samsu that Hendi had been playing video game for hours. |
| Past continuous | Past perfect continuous |
| “Supramono was leaving his mother in jail”, His father told me. | His mother told Sangkuni that Supramono had been leaving his mother in jail. |
| Future | Present conditional |
| “Ikhwan will be in Ulubelu on Sunday”, Mukhlis said. | Mukhlis said that Ikhwan would be in Ulubelu on Sunday. |
| Future continuous. | Conditional continuous |
| Rumano said, “Suty will be cooking the cake tomorrow”. | Rumano said that Suty would be cooking the cake tomorrow. |
Kita tidak perlu mengubah tense jika reporting verbnya ada dalam bentuk present, atau jika pernyataan aslinya adalah tentang sesuatu yang masih benar, misalnya
- Jerry says he has missed the bus but he’ll catch the next one.
- Somebody explained that it is very difficult to find our office.
Might, could, would, should, ought to. Modal verbs ini tidak berubah dalam kalimat bentuk report speech
- Jerry explained, “It could be easy to find Bang Jarwo’s House.” = I explained that it could be easy to find Bang Jarwo’s house.
- Adit said, “I might bring our family to Ulubelu.” = Adit said that he might bring their family to Ulubelu.
