I. 1. We can report what someone says in two ways: using direct speech and indirect speech. When we use direct speech, we use the exact words that someone says. When we use indirect speech we give the meaning of the words, but not the exact words:
Ruby said 'I love you, Ben.' (direct)
Ruby said (that) she loved Ben. (indirect)
Ruby told Ben that she loved him. (indirect)
2. In indirect speech, we usually use a past reporting verb (e.g. said) and we often change the tense of the original verb:
Toby said, 'We are meeting at my flat.'
Toby said (that) they were meeting at his flat.
Here are examples of some typical tense changes:
present ----à past
am/is/are --àwas/were take ---àtook
is taking --àwas taking
present perfect --àpast perfect
have taken ---àhad taken
past simple ---àpast perfect
took---à had taken or sometimes no change
future simple ----à future simple-in-the-past
will do ---à would do