Reported Speech(2)

Tell or say

The main difference is that when we use told we normally say who is spoken to, 
so we have to use it with a direct personal object. When we use say, we don’t 
normally indicate who is spoken to, or, if we do, we must put to before the object.

Direct speech:       Tom: "I'll be late".

Reported speech:  Tom said (that) he would be late.   OR

                              Tom told me (that) he was going to be late.

With 'tell' we NEED the object (e.g. 'me', 'you', 'her').

With 'say' we CAN'T use the object (e.g. 'me', 'them', 'us').

Sarah told me that you were in hospital. (not Sarah said me)

Sarah said that you were in hospital. (not Sarah told that ... )

He told me (that) he was going into hospital for a major operation.

He said (that) he expected to be kept in for about six weeks.

She told me (that) she loved living in Paris.

She said (that) she loved living in Paris.

 Changes in reported speech

I	à	he/she
my	à	his/her
here	à	there
now	à	then, at the time
today	à	that day
tonight	à	that night
yesterday	à	the day before, the previous day/ the 6th of December
tomorrow	à	the next day/ the following day
this week	à	that week
last week	à	the week before, the previous week
last night	à	the night before, Thursday night
an hour ago	à	an hour before

"I saw him today", she said.

She said that she had seen him that day.

"I'll see you tomorrow", he said

He said that he would see me the next day.

"I saw her a week ago," he said.

He said he had seen her a week before.

Direct:     Jessica  ‘I went to the cinema yesterday.’

Reported speech: Jessica said (that) she went to the cinema yesterday.

Jessica said (that) she had gone to the cinema the previous day.

He said, "I live here".

He told me he lived there.