The use of correct grammar is highly recommended. It leads the
students to construct sentences which are grammatically correct to convey their
message, so the listeners or readers can understand what students mean in their
speech or writing. It is the core of the skills in mastering English.
Related to the mastering of English, the fact shows that one of the
biggest obstacles in mastering the foreign language (The
foreign language is English or L2) is the interference with the native language (the native language is L1). Although the
teacher has the students construct English sentences both orally or written as
well as the native speakers do, it is still often found that they construct it
with the basic rule of Indonesian. This case will always obstruct the mastering
of English and influence the English grammatical structure that they construct.
I have found similar problem faced by the students,
that is, problem about grammar in indirect speech or reported speech. This
problem was recognized during the researcher’s apprenticeship in a senior high school which started from August, 1st, 2010.
The problem with reported speech was identified in eleventh grade students. The
reported speech that they studied belongs to the one of the language features
in narrative text. Actually, the study of reported speech had been learned by
them in the tenth grade, but the errors were still severe. There were errors
varieties in the construction of reported speech which is made by them.
Constructing reported speech seems complicated since there are some rules which
must be followed. I provide an example of the construction of
reported speech that contains some errors as follows
1.
Tina asked Rudi, “Did you go
to the movie yesterday?” (Direct Speech)
2.
Tina asked Rudi whether yes
or not you went to the movie yesterday. (Reported Speech)
Based on
the utterance comes from number two of reported speech above, it can be
analyzed that there is an interference coming from the Bahasa Indonesia’s structure.
If we observe it in more detail, the initial utterance of the reported speech
in Bahasa Indonesia is Tina bertanya kepada Rudi
apakah iya atau tidak kamu pergi ke bioskop kemarin. It is obvious that
this sentence is incorrect since the student does not apply the rule of
grammatical structure of reported speech in English correctly. When people
observe the kinds of errors on it deeply, they can find the addition error of yes or not. Then, the use of you as the subject pronoun is also
incorrect. It should be changed into he
that represents Rudi as the subject or doer. Besides, the student also made
error in applying the tense. Since the reporting verb or introductory sentence
(Tina asked Rudi) is simple past
tense, the simple past tense in reported clause should be back shifted into
past perfect tense (subject + had + verb3) in the reported speech. The next
error is about the time marker. The time marker of yesterday should be changed into the day before or the
previous day. In order to make a sense and acceptable the meaning of this
utterance, the incorrect reported speech should be revised as following
1.
Tina asked Rudi whether he
had gone to the movie the day before.
2.
Tina asked Rudi whether he
had gone to the movie the previous day.
3.
Tina asked Rudi if he had gone to the movie the day
before.
4.
Tina asked Rudi if he had
gone to the movie the previous day.
Reported Speech
1. Definition of Reported Speech
Reported
speech refers to using a noun clause to report what someone has said. No
quotation marks are used. In reported speech, you report what the person said or wrote
without quotation marks. You usually have to change some of the words,
especially pronouns and verbs. The term of reported
speech is also called indirect speech. Direct speech will alter into reported
speech if the statement or question are imitated by another person. The function of reported
speech is to convey information in two steps: from a source to a reporter, and
from the reporter to a reader. The reporter can use the mechanism of reported
speech to not only reproduce the content of the utterance, but to reproduce and
clarify the whole speech act. Reported speech in the form
of direct and indirect reported speech is an important indicator or
evidentially in traditional newspaper texts, but also increasingly in the new
media that rely heavily on citation and quotation of previous postings, as for
instance in blogs or newsgroups. In addition, the function of direct and
indirect speech is the same, with the distinction that in direct speech the
reporter commits to a literal transcription of the original utterance, given
quotes, whereas he gives a summary interpretation when using indirect speech.
Reported speech usually consists of the reporting clause and the
reported clause. The reporting clause contains information about the source of
the utterance, the circumstances in which it was made, and possibly a
characterization of the manner or force, with which it was made. Meanwhile, the
reported clause can consist of direct speech or indirect speech.
Reporting verb
marker detects and tags verbs that trigger a reported speech interpretation.
Table: reporting verb marker
|
According
|
Accuse
|
Acknowledge
|
Add
|
Admit
|
|
Agree
|
Allege
|
Announce
|
Argue
|
Assert
|
|
Believe
|
Blame
|
Charge
|
Cite
|
Claim
|
|
Complain
|
Concede
|
Conclude
|
Confirm
|
Contend
|
|
Criticize
|
Declare
|
Decline
|
Deny
|
Describe
|
|
Disagree
|
Disclose
|
Estimate
|
Explain
|
Tear
|
|
Hope
|
Insist
|
Maintain
|
Mention
|
Note
|
|
Order
|
Predict
|
Promise
|
Recall
|
Recommend
|
|
Reply
|
Report
|
Say
|
State
|
Stress
|
|
Suggest
|
Tell
|
Testify
|
Think
|
Urge
|
|
Warn
|
Worry
|
Write
|
Observe
|
Urgent Highlight to Remember!
Reported
speech is used for conveying utterances which are said by someone else.
Reported speech is also called as indirect speech. The usage of reported speech
is not only in daily conversation but also in the journalism media (newspaper,
magazine, and website). Besides, there are elements that characterize reported
speech such as, circumstances, source, reporting verb, addressee, reporting
clause, and reported clause.
2.
Classification
and Rules of Reported Speech
There are some categories of English
reported speech. Each category has its rules for conveying the proper context
and meaning of the utterance. In the utterances below, the writing of
abbreviation of DS refers to the term of Direct Speech; otherwise the abbreviation
of RS refers to the term of Reported Speech.
a. Statement
For
constructing a reported speech in the form of statement, the word of “that” has to be inserted after the
introductory sentence. Then, he also clarifies if the reporting verb is simple
past tense, the tense, pronoun, and adverb in the reported clause must be
altered but if the reporting verb of the introductory sentence is present
tense, the tense of the reported clause does not need to be altered but the pronouns
should be adjusted. For example:
DS : Dina and Dudy said to Rita, “We study English here.”
RS : Dina and Dudy said to Rita that they
studied English there.
The verb of “said” in Dina and Dudy said
to Rita above indicates that the reporting verb belongs to simple past
tense, so the subject pronoun of “we”
should be altered into “they” which
represents the subject of “Dina and Dudy”
and the present tense of the reported clause “We study English” should be altered into past tense that resembles
in “We studied English”. Besides, the
word of “that” should be inserted
after the reporting clause and the adverb of “here” is also must be altered into “there”. The second example is:
DS : Naniek says to Ito, “I will always love you.”
RS : Naniek says to Ito that she will always love him.
From the
utterance above, it can be analyzed that the verb of “says” indicates that the reporting verb is present tense, so the
form of tense in the reported clause stays the same but the subject pronoun of
“I” coming from direct speech must be
altered into “She” in reported clause
which represents “Naniek” as the
doer. Still in the same case, the object pronoun of “you” in direct speech also must be altered into “him” in the reported clause. The last
rule that must be applied is the connector “that”
must be inserted after the reporting clause. After all, the utterance of “Naniek says to Ito that she will always him”
makes a sense in the reported speech.
Examples of reported speech that does
not need to insert the connector “that”
after the reporting clause as follows
He said he was old but energetic.
He said he would go but he would be late.
The usage “that” after the reporting clause is optional.
In the sentence which states a general truth,
although the reporting verb belongs to past tense, the tense in the reported
clause does not need to be altered. For example:
DS : The teacher said to
her students, “A cow eats grass.”
RS : The teacher said to
her students that a cow eats grass.
From the
utterance above, it is true that a cow eats grass. A cow never eats beef. Since the context of
the sentence shows a fact or general truth, the tense of the reported speech
stays the same in its initial.
Note: Most students get difficulty on using past tense of reporting verb.
b.
Interrogative (Yes/ No
Questions)
The way in constructing of reported speech in the form
interrogative (yes/ no question) is as follows:
1) The
tense of the reported clause must be back shifted
2) The
reporting verb in reporting clause uses words such as, “ask”, “wonder”, and “want to know”.
3) The
connector “if” and “whether” must be inserted after the
reporting clause.
The
examples are as below:
1) DS :
Darry asked Linda, “Are you happy now?”
RS : Darry asked Linda if she was happy at
that time
2) DS :
Tina asked Rudhy, “Did you go to the movie yesterday?”
RS : Tina asked Rudhy whether he had gone
to the movie the day before.
The
description above indicates that to construct the interrogative of reported
speech, we have to adjust the pronoun and the adverb. Besides, we have to make
a form of statement (noun clause) in the reported clause. If she was happy at that time and whether he had gone to the movie yesterday indicate noun clause
which is formed in the reported clause.
c.
Pronominal Questions (WH
Questions)
There are
some rules that must be followed in constructing pronominal questions of
reported speech:
1) The
reporting verb uses words such as, “ask”, “wonder”, and “want to know”.
2) The
tense must be back shifted
3) The
pronoun must be adjusted
4) The
adverb must be altered
5) The
questions words (when, where, why, how, how many, etc) which come from the
reported clause still must be used to construct the reported speech.
The
example is as following:
1) DS :
Rita asked Dudy, “Why didn’t you attend my birthday party?”
RS : Rita asked Dudy why he had not
attended her birthday party.
2) DS :
Dewi asked Toto, “Who broke my mirror?”
RS : Dewi asked Toto who had broken her
mirror.
From the example above, it can be concluded
that in constructing pronominal question of reported question, we have to make
a statement (noun clause) in the reported clause. Why he had not attended her birthday party and who had broken her mirror are noun clause which is required to form
a pronominal question of reported speech.
d.
Imperative/ command
There are some rules that must be followed in
constructing reported speech in the form of imperative/ command:
1) The
verbs of “asked”, “commanded”, and “told” usually are used in the introductory
sentence.
2) The word
“to” must be inserted after the introductory sentence.
3) The
pronoun must be adjusted.
4) The
adverb must be also adjusted.
For
example:
1) DS :
Dewi asked Surono, “Leave the bag on the table.”
RS : Dewi asked Surono to leave the bag on
the table.
2) DS :
Sari said to Rudhy, “Put your shirt into my cupboard.”
RS : Sari asked Rudhy to put his shirt into
her cupboard.
3) DS :
Dina told Tono, “Come to my house tomorrow.”
RS : Dina told Tono to come to her house
the following day.
From the
example above, it can be concluded that in constructing imperative/ command of
reported speech, it does not require to back shift the tense. People only have
to insert the connector “to” after the reporting clause. It is quite simple and
easy.
e.
Prohibition
In
constructing the prohibition of reported speech is equal to construct
imperative/ command of reported speech. In this case, we just have to change
the word “don’t” into “not to” after the reporting clause. For example:
1) DS :
Iswati said to Budi, “Don’t leave me.”
RS : Iswati asked Budi not to leave her.
2) DS :
Adhita told Toto, “Don’t come here next week.”
RS : Adhita told Toto not to come there the
following week.
From the
explanation above, it can be concluded that the tense must be back shifted in
constructing statement, interrogative (yes/no questions), and pronominal
(wh-questions) when the reporting verb is past tense and it does not show the
general truth. Then, the pronoun and adverb have to be adjusted for
constructing the all various reported speech. It “that the first thing in reported speech is to move our tenses
back one place-‘here’ becomes ‘there’, ‘this’ becomes ‘that’, ‘now’ becomes
‘then’, etc”.
3.
Reported
Speech and Backshift
The notion of
converting from direct to indirect speech has, in traditional grammar, been
concerned with ‘shifting’ or ‘back-shifting’. First and second person pronouns
shift to third person; ‘here’ shifts to ‘there’, ‘this’ and ‘these’ shift to
‘that’ and ‘those’; adverbials of time such as ‘today’, ‘tomorrow’, and
‘yesterday’ shift to ‘that day’, ‘the next/following day’, and ‘the
previous/the day before’ and so on. A list
of the back-shift of adverb as in the table below:
Table : the Shift of
Adverbial Time and Place
|
DIRECT SPEECH
|
REPORTED SPEECH
|
|
Yet
|
by that time
|
|
Today
|
that day
|
|
Tomorrow
|
the next day/ the following day/ a day later
|
|
Yesterday
|
the day before/the previous day
|
|
last week/ month, etc...
|
the previous week/the week before
|
|
this week/month, etc…
|
that week
|
|
next week/month, etc…
|
the following week/the next week/a week later
|
|
Now
|
then/at that time
|
|
This
|
That
|
|
These
|
Those
|
Verbs in
the reported utterance are back-shifted one tense when the reporting verb is in
the past. Change are made because
what is being reported is set in the past; the reporting verb (said/told me) is
in the past, so what follows must change “one tense back”.
DIRECT
SPEECH REPORTED
SPEECH
present perfect past perfect
past past
past perfect past perfect
It is
sometimes unnecessary to change the tense in reported speech (e.g. when
reporting statements that are generally true or still valid)-but it is never
wrong to make the tense change. If we follow their advice, we may end up with a
sentence like: He said he had decided to study English because it had been a
useful language.
future simple ==============>future
simple in the past
future continuous ==============>future continuous in
the past
future perfect ==============>future perfect in the past
future perfect continuous =============>future perfect continuous in the past
Future-in-the-past is
formed the same way as ordinary future tenses but
instead
of will, which is the auxiliary verb of the future, we use would.
In constructing reported speech, when the reporting verb is past tense,
some modals must be turned and some of them must stay same.
Table: Change of Modal Verbs
|
DIRECT SPEECH
|
REPORTED SPEECH
|
|
Can
|
Could
|
|
Will
|
Would
|
|
Must
|
had to
|
Table: Modal Verbs That Stay Same
|
DIRECT SPEECH
|
REPORTED SPEECH
|
|
Would
|
Would
|
|
Should
|
Should
|
|
Could
|
Could
|
|
Might
|
Might
|
|
Must
|
Must
|
For
example:
a. DS : I can speak Spanish.
RS : She said that she could
speak Spanish.
b. DS : You
will be late.
RS : I told her that she would
be late.
c. DS : I must leave at 3 p.m.
RS : He said that he had to
leave at 3 p.m.
d. DS : I would love to come.
RS : She said that she would
love to come.
e. DS : I should go to the dentist’s.
RS : She said that she should
go to dentist’s.
f. DS : I could buy it.
RS : He said that he could
buy it.
g. DS : I might see him.
RS : She said that she might
see him.
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