## Step 5 - Grammar

Let's look at ... reported speech.

She added that Mensa’s only criterion was you had to be bright.

We use reported speech (or indirect speech) when we say what someone said in the past: You have to be bright. ➨ You had to be bright.
That
You can use that after the reporting verb. It doesn’t change the meaning.

- She added you had to be bright. = She added that you had to be bright.

Change the tense!
When we report what someone said, we often put the main verb back one tense.

- Present simple ➨ past simple
- Present continuous ➨ past continuous
- Present perfect ➨ past perfect
- Will ➨ would
- Can ➨ could
- Past simple ➨ past perfect.

Change in pronoun
You might also need to change the pronoun.

- “I’ve visited London many times”, she said.
- She said she had visited London many times.

Do the exercises.