7.24 Reporting in your own words: report structures

When you report what people have said using your own words rather than the words they actually used, you use a report structure.

• The woman said she had seen nothing.
• I replied that I had not read it yet.

You usually use a report structure when you report what someone thinks.

• He thought she was worried.

Report structures are sometimes called indirect speech. A report structure consists of two parts. One part is the reporting clause, which contains the reporting verb.

• I told him that nothing was going to happen to me.
• I have agreed that he should do it.
• I wanted to be alone.

The other part is the reported clause.

• I could have answered that my mind was open.
• He felt that he had to do something.
• He wondered where they could have come from.

You usually put the reporting clause first, in order to make it clear that you are reporting rather than speaking directly yourself.

• Henry said that he wanted to go home.

The exact words that Henry used are unlikely to have been 'I want to go home', although they might have been. It is more likely that he said something like 'I think I should be going now'. You are more likely to report what he meant rather than what he actually said.

There are many reasons why you do not quote a person's exact words. Often you cannot remember exactly what was said. At other times, the exact words are not important or not appropriate in the situation in which you are reporting.