MEDIO.

UNIDAD 9

UNIT 9. REPORTED SPEECH

y MISCELLANEA

y Verbos vocabulario cotidiano

1. ¿Podrías relacionar el verbo que suele acompañar a las siguientes

expresiones?
get catch win know make leave
have do meet take miss lose

1. ______________ the train, a friend, a class.

2. ______________ an appointment, the beds, a mistake.
3. ______________ homework, exercise, a favour.
4. ______________ an aspirin, a taxi, somebody to the station.
5. ______________ a cold, the train, the bus.
6. ______________ a match, some money, your keys.
7. ______________ breakfast, a shower, a drink.
8. ______________ home, up, ready.
9. ______________ a message, home, your boyfriend.
10. ______________ a match, the lottery, a prize.
11. ______________ a friend, at the cinema, someone for the first time.
12. ______________ someone for a long time, something, the answer.

y TEXT

y Reported Speech (Estilo Indirecto)

Llamamos estilo indirecto a la manera de reproducir personalmente una conversación

que ocurrió en otro momento. Las palabras textuales constituyen lo que se conoce como
estilo directo.

Cuando explicamos cualquier cosa con el estilo indirecto se producen una serie de
cambios en los tiempos verbales así como en los adverbios de tiempo.

He said: "I'm not coming to the barbecue tomorrow. I have to work."

Éstas son las palabras originales. Ahora bien, si nosotros explicamos qué ocurrió con
nuestras propias palabras; es decir, con el estilo indirecto, será de la siguiente manera:

He said that he wasn't coming to the barbecue the following day because he had to work.

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Como puedes observar en el ejemplo, los cambios que afectan a los tiempos verbales
consisten en poner en un tiempo anterior (estilo indirecto) el tiempo del verbo en estilo
directo. Así pues, podríamos hacer el siguiente esquema de cambios:

ESTILO DIRECTO ESTILO INDIRECTO

Present simple Î Past simple
He said: "I don't like dogs." He said that he didn't like dogs.
Present continuous Î Past continuous
She said: "We aren't working at the
She said they weren't working at that moment.
moment”
Present perfect Î Past perfect
They said: "We have finished our
They said they had finished their homework.
homework
Past simple Î Past perfect
He said: "He showed us his new car." He said that he had showed them his new car.
Past continuous Î Past perfect continuous
He said: "I was writing letters all day He said he had been writing letter all day the day
yesterday." before.
Future simple Î Conditional
She said: "I won't say anything." He said he wouldn't say anything.
Can Î Could
He said: "I can't do it." He said he couldn't do it.
Today Î That day

He said: "It's my birthday today." He said it was his birthday that day.

Tomorrow Î The following day / the next day

He said: "I'll give it to you tomorrow." He said he would give it to me the following day.
Yesterday Î The previous day / the day before

He said: "I saw you in town

He said he had seen me in town the previous day.
yesterday."

y Las formas interrogativas en el estilo indirecto

- Cuando tenemos que pasar una pregunta del estilo directo al indirecto, además del
cambio en el tiempo verbal, se producen otros cambios.

- Hay dos tipos de preguntas: cerradas (yes/no questions) y abiertas (when / what
/ who / where / why…?).

Ejemplos:

He asked: "Are you ready?" Î He asked if I was ready. CERRADA

He asked: "Where did you buy that CD?" Î He asked where I had bought that CD. ABIERTA

Preguntas cerradas: introducimos la conjunción if para pasarlas al estilo indirecto.

Preguntas abiertas: mantenemos el pronombre interrogativo.

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- Estudia lo que pasa cuando ponemos una pregunta en estilo indirecto.

1. ‘What time do you start work?’ he asked. > He asked me what time I started work.

2. He asked, ‘Have you ever been to Germany?’ > He asked if we had ever been to Germany.

3. My mother asked my father, ‘Why did you give up your job?’ > My mother asked my father
why he had given up his job.

- En ambos tipos de preguntas desaparece la inversión entre el sujeto y el

verbo.

He asked: "Can you tell me the time?" Î He asked if I could tell him the time.

He asked: "Why are you crying, Helen?" Î He asked Helen why she was crying.

- Direct statement / question

Lidia asked Richard the following:

1. Have you noticed any significant changes in the last few years in the Australian tourist
market?

and said:

2. If they want to achieve this, they will have to go abroad and establish contacts by means of
conferences, travel trade fairs, press and so on.

- Reported statement / question

Lidia cuenta su conversación con Richard:

1. I asked him if he had noticed any significant changes in the past few years in the Australian
tourist market.

2. This is exactly what I said! If they wanted to achieve this, they would have to go abroad and
open new markets by means of conferences, travel trade fairs, press coverage and so on.

2. Escribe los siguientes ‘statements’ y ‘questions’ en estilo indirecto.

1. The girl said to her mum: ‘I don’t want to go to school’.

2. Karen said: ‘I’ve met a wonderful boy’.

3. The teacher said: ‘you have to study harder’.

4. She said: ‘I’m afraid I won’t come to work tomorrow’.

5. The child asked: ‘what are we having for lunch?’

6. Sonia asked her husband: ‘can you help me with the housework?’

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7. The man explained: ‘we went fishing but we didn’t get any fish’.

8. ‘I have something to tell you’. I said to her.

9. ‘What country do you come from? The boy wanted to know.

y Vocabulary

3. Listening. Lee la conversación de Lidia con su marido y a continuación

complétala con la forma correcta de los verbos (past simple o past perfect). Una
vez rellena, escucha el sonido y corrígela.

do – realize – make – accept – not want (2) – have – drive – think – invite – see
promise – explain – find – leave – not have – go – happen – drop – phone – change

James: So, tell me honey, how was the conference? And (1) you
a nice trip home?
Lidia: Well, the conference was quite profitable but the trip home was a bit of a mess!
James: How come? Tell me all about it.
Lidia: Well, when the conference was over, I (2) John home over the
weekend.
James: (3) he your invitation?
Lidia: Yes, but only until Thursday. Before leaving for Sydney, he (4) his
children to take them camping when he got back. So we (5) to the travel
agency and (6) John’s ticket.
James: Everything sounds fine so far. So what happened?
Lidia: When we were about to check in, he (7) he (8)
his passport on him. We (9) that he (10) it at the hotel
so we (11) to ask if John’s passport was there, but it wasn’t.
James: And what (12) you then?
Lidia: To tell you the truth, we didn’t know what to do. We went to the police and (13)
what (14) . They told us that John couldn’t leave
until they (15) some inquiries. I was starting to get very nervous because
the flight was due in about 40 minutes... and I (16) to miss it but I (17)
to leave John there, either. I really couldn’t make up my mind!
James: What a dilemma!
Lidia: You’re telling me! But then, all of a sudden, we (18) a man
coming into the police station saying that he (19) a passport. It was
the taxi driver who (20) us from the hotel to the airport. I suppose John
(21) his passport when he was paying him.
James: I’m happy to hear that. Darling, are you going to join us here in Disneyworld, as
we agreed? We miss you a lot.

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Lidia: You bet! I wouldn’t miss that on any account. I’m flying there the day after
tomorrow so you’d better be at the airport.

4. En el diálogo del ejercicio anterior hay numerosas expresiones coloquiales o

‘idioms’. Búscalos y escríbelos junto a las definiciones correspondientes.

1. Come to a decision.

2. You can be sure.

3. Be in a state of confusion or disorder.

4. Until now.

5. Under no circumstances.

6. How did it happen?

7. I fully agree with you.

8. Worry or annoy.

9. Unexpectedly.

y SELF-EVALUATION EXERCISES
5. Escribe los verbos que se encuentran entre paréntesis en las formas correctas
del Past simple, Past perfect o Past continuous.

1. Someone __________ (knock) on the door while I _____________ (sleep).

2. When we ___________ (get) to the station, the train ___________ (already depart).

3. Just after he _____________ (close) the door, he _____________ (realise) he (leave) the
keys inside.

4. The boy _____________ (fall) off the tree when he _____________ (try) to pick up a cuckoo’s
nest.

6. Escoge un elemento de cada columna y construye frases con ‘because’.

We looked nice they had been playing all afternoon.

The room didn’t go on holiday we hadn’t tidied up after the party.
The passengers didn’t get a table he had been driving overnight.
The guests fell fast asleep we had painted it only a week before.
My parents stopped at a motel they had forgotten to reserve one.
The driver got angry we hadn’t saved enough money.
The children were disappointed Nobody had told us there was overbooking.

1.

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2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

6. Lee las siguientes frases en estilo directo. Completa las frases equivalentes en
estilo indirecto con los ‘reporting verbs’ del cuadro.

warn recommend agree suggest

offer suggest ask advise deny

1. He said, ‘Yes, of course’

He agreed.
2. He said, ‘Let’s go to the cinema tonight’.

3. He said, ‘I didn’t break the window’

4. He said, ‘Children, don’t get any closer to the river bank’

5. He said: ‘What’s happening?’

6. He said: ‘You should give up smoking’.

7. He said: ‘All right, I’ll do the shopping’.

8. He said: ‘Why don’t you take the underground? It’s much faster’.

9. He said: ‘Would you like some more wine?’

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y OPEN EXERCISES EVALUATION

7. Rellena los huecos con la forma correcta de Present o Past (negativa o
afirmativa) de los auxiliares ‘be’, ‘have’, o ‘do’.

1. I ______________ working tomorrow. It’s my day off.

2. ____________ you ever read Macbeth? It __________ written by Shakespeare.

3. Why __________ you phone to tell us you __________ going to come at all? We waited for
you all afternoon and you _________turn up!

4. Paper __________ made from wood.

5. When I phoned John, his wife told me he __________ already left for the office.

6. Oh dear! Someone __________ broken into our house while we _________ out.

7. ____________ your sister still live in Sweden?

- Yes, she been living in Malmö for seven months now but she’ll stay there for
very long. She says she _________ want to spend another winter in Sweden!

8. What _________ the children doing? I ___________ know. I’ll go and have a look.

9. When we ___________ paying for our meal, a gang of robbers came into the restaurant and
stole all the guests’ wallets.

10. We ___________ bring our camera because nobody _________ told us to bring it.

8. Escribe las siguientes oraciones en estilo indirecto (reported speech).

1. ‘I’m going out but I’ll be back by nine,’ he said.

2. ‘My brother wants to be an actor and I wonder why. Nobody in our family has ever been an
actor,’ she said.

3. ‘Is Liz in?’ she asked ‘A man on the phone is asking for her’.

4. ‘Can I have a sweet, mom?’ the little boy asked.

5. ‘I’m having a History exam tomorrow and I haven’t started studying yet’, the boy said.

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9. Escribe una redacción de aproximadamente 150 palabras acerca de alguno de

los temas que te proponemos.

1. A present you didn’t like.

2. A present which was special for some reason.

3. The most unusual present you have ever been given.

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