Reported speech

We use reported speech to report what another person has said, without quoting their exact words.

Direct speech : reported speech

• "I'm a witness to a crime." : He said that he was a witness to a crime.

In formal language, we use that to begin the clause that contains the reported speech. In informal language, we can omit that.

• "I'm going to call the police," said the man. : The man said (that) he was going to call the police.

Remember that we don't use inverted commas ("...") in reported speech.

• "There has been a burglary," said the police officer. : The police officer said (that) there had been a burglary.