Abstract
Standard characterizations of reported speech in English grammars and ESL textbooks are shown to be incomplete. A more explicit description is proposed emphasizing (a) a clear differentiation between direct and indirect speech using prosodic, syntactic, semantic, and pragmatic criteria; (b) the role of deixis in explaining the internal syntactic adjustments in indirect speech; and (c) the importance of semantic concerns. A checklist based on this more complete analysis of English reported speech is provided for evaluating the presentation of English reported speech, as well as a short critique of the coverage of English reported speech in six current ESL textbooks. Finally, a more explicit characterization of English reported speech-intended for the ESL classroom-is presented.
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