To transform direct speech statements into reported speech, you often need to change the tense of the verb, pronouns, and sometimes other words. Here are the reported speech versions of the given statements:
1) "I can't swim very well," I said.
- I said (that) I couldn't swim very well.
2) Andrew said, "I don’t want to go swimming."
- Andrew said (that) he didn't want to go swimming.
3) "I’ll phone you later," Sarah said.
- Sarah said (that) she would phone me later.
4) Annie said, "I’m hungry."
- Annie said (that) she was hungry.
5) I told him, "I don’t like tea."
- I told him (that) I didn't like tea.
6) I asked, "Are you cold?"
- I asked him if he was cold.
7) She asked, "Do you want a drink?"
- She asked me if I wanted a drink.
8) They wanted to know, "Can you speak German?"
- They wanted to know if I could speak German.
9) She asked, "Ken, are you on duty?"
- She asked Ken if he was on duty.
10) He asked, "Nelly, did you say that?"
- He asked Nelly if she had said that.
11) She asked, "How is your brother?"
- She asked me how my brother was.
12) The woman asked me, "What do you want?"
- The woman asked me what I wanted.
13) Nick asked, "Why are you carrying a camera?"
- Nick asked me why I was carrying a camera.
14) An officer asked a girl, "What is your name?"
- An officer asked a girl what her name was.
15) I asked the doctor, "How many times a day should I take the medicine?"
- I asked the doctor how many times a day I should take the medicine.
In reported speech:
- Present simple usually changes to past simple.
- Present continuous usually changes to past continuous.
- Will changes to would.
- Can changes to could.
- Questions usually change word order and if/whether is often added for yes/no questions.
Note: Pronouns and time expressions may also need to be changed to fit the context of the sentence.
