So - what was Finn's tip? Simple: Move the tense back.We're really busy, but hey - six seconds to go, you're looking great - remember my point - move the tense back. Remember that, you won't go far wrong in life. So if the sentence is in the present simple, move it to the past simple. what about that? We moved the tense back. So you say: Finn said he had never smoked a cigarette in his life. Right, if you want to tell your friend what do you do? Using reported speech? You move the tense back. OK, so if I said, 'I've never smoked a cigarette in my life,' what tense is that? I've never smoked is present perfect. How do you tell them? You use reported speech. You come and ask me, 'Finn would you like a cigarette?' And I say, 'No, I don't want a cigarette, in fact, I've never smoked a cigarette in my life.' Wow, that's quite interesting, you think. We're at a party, we're having a great time. Now what does that mean? That means, for example: Reported speech - what's the tip? What is the secret? Just four words: Move the tense back. And we're going to do it in 90 seconds because I know how busy you are. We're going to learn one point that you need to remember when you forget everything else. But we're not going to go through a whole book. Today we're going to look at reported speech. English grammar takes a long time to learn.
