Nuala’s Grammar Explanation: When we want to talk about what someone said, we can use the exact words. For example, Agent X said: Agent X: I’m from Spain Or we can use reported speech Diarmuid: She told me she was from Spain. When we report what someone said we usually put the verb in the reporting clause back one tense. So, for example, if the direct speech words are in the present tense, in reported speech the verb is in the past tense. Listen, here’s the direct quote: Agent X: I own a café But when it’s reported, the verb is in the past simple: Diarmuid: She mentioned that she owned a café In reported speech there are a lot of verbs we can use. We can use ‘tell’ with an indirect object, ‘told me’, ‘told him’, ‘told us’ etc. Or we can use verbs such as ‘explain’, ‘admit’ ‘mention’, ‘say’ and so on That’s all from me, good luck with your grammar challenge! ...
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