Reported speech

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fatbananas
Posts: 1411
Joined: Mon Mar 08, 2010 2:03 pm

Reported speech

Post by fatbananas »

Hello,

Can anyone recommend to me a website/ book etc. that can help my DC understand reported speech. As far as I can tell, Year 5 and 6 DC are not taught present simple, past simple, present continuous or past continuous tenses, so how does a DC know quite how to phrase it?

For eg, my DS, last night, was doing Bond 10 mins 10-11 Test 4 (mixed) and he had to change (question 10)

Beth enquired, "Is this the way to the toilets?"

into reported speech.

He wrote

Beth enquired if this was the way to the toilets.

The answer sheet's answer was: Beth enquired whether that was the way to the toilets.

I tried, in, no doubt, a very tortuous way, to explain the different tenses etc. but he just got really angry, feeling bad that somehow he hadn't got the right answer.

Can anyone help? :? :roll:
Seize the day ... before it seizes you.
mystery
Posts: 8927
Joined: Tue Jul 21, 2009 10:56 pm

Re: Reported speech

Post by mystery »

My grammar is no good. Is this a whether versus if conundrum? Would you choose whether because the more formal answer is required. How to explain this versus that .... Sorry I am not helping. This just sounds wrong to me because this sounds so here and now.

Could there be questions like this (that) in the kent test? Yikes.
Y
Posts: 463
Joined: Mon Mar 12, 2007 12:49 pm

Re: Reported speech

Post by Y »

I can't see anything wrong with your son's version. Both his version and the answer sheet seem valid. To describe either as wrong would seem artificial to me - there isn't enough context to decide on one over the other.
southbucks3
Posts: 3579
Joined: Tue Dec 18, 2012 11:59 am

Re: Reported speech

Post by southbucks3 »

He could get away with the if, but in reported speech this turns to that, and these turn to those,. Reading simple newspaper reports should help, but it is a year 6 element in our school, and they spend a long time studying and creating reports, I think they even did a little play being news readers. The reason behind the change is very tricky for a 10 year old, so I would just pull out the, 'because that is just how it is', mum device.
The trouble with helping our children with english grammar, is that most of us have spent the last 20 years getting sloppy, a bit like driving the car. I got in a real pickle with auxillary verbs recently, and left my boys looking at me with blank faces, and my husband rubbing his brow in despair. Next time I will just ask on here.
fatbananas
Posts: 1411
Joined: Mon Mar 08, 2010 2:03 pm

Re: Reported speech

Post by fatbananas »

southbucks3 wrote:He could get away with the if, but in reported speech this turns to that, and these turn to those,.
It is explaining why this is the case and how to do this that is causing me headaches. Even the 'do as mum says; I'm OBVIOUSLY right' approach, (which was used last night ... :oops:), doesn't help him be consistently correct.

Mystery: I don't know if this would be in the Kent Test (has it been in previous years, previous Kent Tester parents?), it just came up in the 10 minute Bond Tests. Let's face it: who knows what on earth will be in the next Kent Test :roll: :wink:
Seize the day ... before it seizes you.
Y
Posts: 463
Joined: Mon Mar 12, 2007 12:49 pm

Re: Reported speech

Post by Y »

southbucks3 wrote:He could get away with the if, but in reported speech this turns to that, and these turn to those,.
This assumes that the person reporting the speech is in a different place from the person who made the speech. 'We are now lost.' 'But I asked her if this was the way to the toilets, and she said it was.'
southbucks3
Posts: 3579
Joined: Tue Dec 18, 2012 11:59 am

Re: Reported speech

Post by southbucks3 »

Hi fatbananas, i have pm'd you.
mystery
Posts: 8927
Joined: Tue Jul 21, 2009 10:56 pm

Re: Reported speech

Post by mystery »

Y wrote:
southbucks3 wrote:He could get away with the if, but in reported speech this turns to that, and these turn to those,.
This assumes that the person reporting the speech is in a different place from the person who made the speech. 'We are now lost.' 'But I asked her if this was the way to the toilets, and she said it was.'
That makes sense to me. Is there really a rule that "this" turns to "that" in indirect (reported) speech without exception?
scarlett
Posts: 3664
Joined: Fri Jul 16, 2010 10:22 am

Re: Reported speech

Post by scarlett »

I don't think anything like that has come up in the Kent test...agree with you Mystery..yikes ...where are those books....
fatbananas
Posts: 1411
Joined: Mon Mar 08, 2010 2:03 pm

Re: Reported speech

Post by fatbananas »

Thank you Southbucks.

Thanks Scarlett.

:D :D
Seize the day ... before it seizes you.
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