[Grammar] Reported speech

[aivirina]

Hello, everybody! I need a help concerning indirect speech, will you help me to change this sentence, please?
" Take these two letters to the postffice today" says Ann.
The question is: do we change today in indirect speech if we have present tense of say.
Thanks

 

[Khosro]

Hello, everybody! I need a help concerning indirect speech, will you help me to change this sentence, please?
" Take these two letters to the postffice today" says Ann.
The question is: do we change today in indirect speech if we have present tense of say.
Thanks

No, for this sentence we don't. But:

Everyday Ann says:"Take these two letters to the post office"
for this sentence, in indirect speech we may say:
"Everyday Ann asks Micheal to take two letters to the post office the same day"

But note aivirina that we usually do not use reported speech for "she says", we use it for "she said". We do not usually report what is said, we report what was said.

 

[ratóncolorao]

Hello, everybody! I need a help concerning indirect speech, will you help me to change this sentence, please?
" Take these two letters to the postffice today" says Ann.
The question is: do we change today in indirect speech if we have present tense of say.
Thanks

Hello,

When the introductory verb is in a present, present perfect or future tense, we can report the direct speech without any change of tense.

Nevertheless, the sentence you propose seems to be an order or request and in such cases "say" is not usually possible as introductory verb.

What about: He/she advises/ orders me to take these two letters to the post office today.
He/she suggests my taking these two letters to the post office today.

 

[ratóncolorao]

Concerning the the word "today": according to Swan: words like here, there, this, that, today, tomorrow, yesterday, next, last, now, and then can be called "here-and-now words". Their exact meaning depends on where and when they are used, and they may have to be changed in reported speech ( unless the words are reported immediately, and in the same place where they were spoken). There are not exact rules for changing these words: we use whatever expressions will make the meaning clear in the situation.

 

[aivirina]

Thanks a lot, your opinions helped me a lot!:-D

 

[engee30]

No, for this sentence we don't. But:

Every day Ann says, "Take these two letters to the post office"
for this sentence, in indirect speech we may say:
"Every day Ann asks Micheal to take two letters to the post office the same day"

But note aivirina that we usually do not use reported speech for "she says", we use it for "she said". We do not usually report what is said, we report what was said.

♥♦♣♠ NOT A TEACHER ♥♦♣♠
Please don't get me wrong, Khosro, but I disagree with you on what you say about the verb say and its relationship to reporting. Even if you say:
She says she dislikes you.
you're still reporting somebody else's words, which is similar to saying:
She said she dislikes you.
or
She said she disliked you.