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the speech act may be reported using the following words: Batman said that he needed a special key for the Batmobile. with the present tense need replaced by the past tense needed, since the main verb of saying (said) is in the past tense. Further examples can be found at Uses of English verb forms § Indirect speech.
Some examples of changes in form in indirect speech in English are given below. See also Sequence of tenses, and Uses of English verb forms § Indirect speech. It is raining hard. She says that it is raining hard. (no change) [4] She said that it was raining hard. (change of tense when the main verb is past tense) I have painted the ceiling blue.
Indirect speech, also known as reported speech, indirect discourse (US), or ōrātiō oblīqua (/ ə ˈ r eɪ ʃ ɪ oʊ ə ˈ b l aɪ k w ə / or / oʊ ˈ r ɑː t ɪ oʊ ɒ ˈ b l iː k w ə /), [1] is the practice, common in all Latin historical writers, of reporting spoken or written words indirectly, using different grammatical forms.
The English subjunctive is realized as a finite but tenseless clause.Subjunctive clauses use a bare or plain verb form, which lacks any inflection.For instance, a subjunctive clause would use the verb form "be" rather than "am/is/are" and "arrive" rather than "arrives", regardless of the person and number of the subject.
A regular English verb has only one principal part, from which all the forms of the verb can be derived.This is the base form or dictionary form.For example, from the base form exist, all the inflected forms of the verb (exist, exists, existed, existing) can be predictably derived.
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For the use of the past tense in indirect speech and similar contexts, see § Indirect speech below. The -ed ending of regular verbs is pronounced as follows: Regular verb endings with voiced consonants + /d/, e.g. hugged /hʌɡd/. Regular verb endings with unvoiced consonants + /t/, stopped /stɒpt/.