5. Modal verbs in Reported speech.

Modal verbs also change while transforming the sentence into indirect speech. Here are some examples:

Direct Speech	Indirect Speech
can He said, “I can go to school.”	could He said (that) he could go to school.
could He said, “I could go to school.”	could He said (that) he could go to school.
will He said, “I will go to school.”	would He said (that) he would go to school.
may He said, “I may go to school.”	might He said (that) he might go to school.
might He said, “I might go to school.”	might He said (that) he might go to school.
must He said, “I must go to school.”	had to He said (that) he had to go to school.
have to He said, “I have to go to school.”	had to He said (that) he had to go to school.
shall He said, “I shall go to school.”	should He said (that) he should go to school.”
should He said, “I should go to school.”	should He said (that) he should go to school.”
ought to He said, “I ought to go to school.”	ought to He said (that) he ought to go to school.”

NOTE! Pay attention that while changing direct speech into indirect one such modal verbs as could, would, should, might, ought to do not have any changes.

6. Expressions That Change in Reported Speech

Certain expressions must change in the reported form of speech:

this that

these those

here there

tomorrow the following day or

the next day

next month the following month or

the next month

today that day

tonight that night

this afternoon that afternoon

yesterday the day before or

the previous day

last year the year before or

the previous year

last night the night before or

the previous night

The word now does not have to change, but it can change to then. Most native English speakers don't change now.

He said, "I was sick yesterday, but now I'm all right."

He said that he had been sick the day before but that now he was all right.

He said that he had been sick the day before but that then he was all right.

7. The imperatives in Reported speech

The imperatives is the expression of the order, advice, request, ect. in the sentence.

In the Indirect Speech the imperatives are changed with the infinitive.

He said, “Speak more slowly.” He said to speak more slowly.

With the verb tell there always must be a pronoun, that is the opposite form the verb say.

He said, “Drink a cup of hot tea.” He said to drink a cup of hot tea. He told me to drink a cup of hot tea.

With the imperatives we don’t use the sequence of tenses, because the infinitive replace it.

To make a negative sentence we put not before the infinitive.

He said, “Don’t open the window.” He said not to open the window.