Talking About What Others Said: An Introduction to Reported Speech

Abstract

Reported speech, also referred to as indirect speech, is a grammatical mechanism used to convey the content of someone else's statement without quoting them directly. In English, this structure usually requires shifting verb tenses, adjusting pronouns, and modifying time expressions to reflect the change in the reporting context (Yule, 2010). Reported speech is a critical component of discourse competence, as it enables speakers to narrate past events and reproduce others’ utterances accurately and appropriately.

This paper explores the core features of reported speech in English and contrasts them with equivalent structures in Uzbek and Russian. While English requires tense backshifting in most cases (e.g., “He said he was tired”), Uzbek and Russian do not consistently follow such temporal shifts, instead relying on context or maintaining the present tense form (Comrie, 1981; Mustafoqizi, 2022). These cross-linguistic differences can cause confusion for EFL learners and lead to direct translation errors. By analyzing these contrasts, the essay highlights how linguistic transfer influences learner accuracy and suggests ways to address common difficulties in the classroom.