2015-08-21
943
Say is commonly associated with direct speech in writing:
'It's raining, I said We can also use say with short, ordinary questions in direct speech (not long and complicated ones):
'Are you all right?' he said/asked (Not "told me*)
15 Direct and indirect speech
Say (Not "told him/asked*) can introduce a statement or question / said It s raining I said Is it ready?
Say or tell can be used in direct speech [> 15.2-3] and can also introduce direct commands
Don t touch that1 he said (to them)/told them
Ask is used in direct questions
How are you? she asked (me)/said (Not *told me*)
Say', 'tell' and 'ask' in indirect speech
Say and tell someone + optional that can introduce indirect statements We never use a comma after say or tell someone
He said (that)/told me (that) his life was in danger If we need to mention the listener, tell + indirect object is generally preferable to say + to someone [> 15.7.1]
When the reporting verb comes at the end of the sentence, we cannot use that
His life was in danger he told me/he said
Ask (with or without a personal indirect object) can report a question Ask (someone) is followed by if/whether or a question-word
She asked (me) if/whether I wanted anything
She asked (me) what I wanted We use say/tell to introduce noun clauses [> 1.23.2], not to report questions For the use of ask/tell to report commands [> 15.23-24]
Indirect statements: reporting verb in the present
Form with reporting verb in the present
Actual spoken statements
/ ve read Tony s book and I don t understand it I ve read Tony s book and I didn t understand it
Indirect statements: reporting verb in the present
If the reporting verb in indirect speech is in the present the tenses that follow are usually the same as those used in the original spoken statement This is often the case when we report words that have just been spoken [compare > 952 15 14-16] Jim says tells me (that) he s read Tony s book and doesn t understand it Jim says tells me (that) he s read Tony s book and didn t understand it
