Message de speedjo905 posté le 2004-11-12 22:43:25 (S | E | F | I)
bonjour j'ai trouvé une explication pour rapporter des paroles de quelqu'un, c'est très intéressant:

There are two ways of relating what someone has said: direct and indirect.

DIRECT SPEECH:
A direct speech gives the words of a speaker exactly as spoken.

Ex: She said, “I don’t like horror movies”

The actress said, “after this scene, I will need a rest”.
Direct speech is mainly used in conversation in books, quotations, and plays.

INDIRECT SPEECH:
An indirect speech gives the same meaning without using the speaker’s exact words.
Ex: She said that she didn’t like horror movies.
The actress said that after this scene, she would need a rest.

*NOTE: Indirect speech is usually introduced by a verb in the past tense. So the verbs in direct speech have to be changed into a corresponding past tense.

Ex: simple present, ex: “I never watch TV he said
simple past, ex: He said that he never watched TV.
Present continuous = past continuous
Present perfect = past perfect
Present perfect continuous = past perfect continuous
*Simple past = past perfect (It is often left unchanged: past = past )
future = conditional
future continuous = conditional continuous

Reporting questions:
When reporting questions, you have to change the verb and the word order. (there is no question mark)

Ex: Tom ( to Sue) What are you doing tonight?
Sue (to John) He asked me what I was doing tonight.