1.3 Can I do anything for you?

Icono IDevice Reading activity


By (nz)dave. C. Commons
Paco is packing his clothes and presents in his room. He has already decided where to go. He will go to Saigon, Vietnam. He wants to know more about Asian people and culture. Fortunately, he does not have any problem with money and he does not need to look or wait for a cheaper plane ticket. He was lucky he won the lottery. However, he sometimes wonders why there are so many people dying of hunger and in wars. Money has become so important in people’s life that you need it to survive. In his travel, he has realized there are lots of people who are really happy and are not wealthy. Is it so difficult to “heal the world”? he thought.

While he is putting his last clothes into the suitcase, he remembers an old man he talked to on the street this morning. The man begged him for some money to eat. He did it in perfect English. Paco took a ten-dollar note out of his pocket and gave it to him. The man smiled and thanked him for the money. He said he would have enough money to eat for a whole week. Paco wondered how that was possible. The man told him he had had a job for a long time, but things had gone wrong and he had been fired. He added he had been looking for a job for nine months, but that finding a new job for a fifty-five-year-old man was really difficult. Paco asked him whether he had any children. The man answered he had three sons and four daughters. When Paco heard that, he took a one-hundred-dollar note out of his pocket and handed it to the man. The man got astonished and sprang to his feet. The man asked Paco if he could do something for him. Paco answered it was not necessary and wished him to have a nice term.

He closes his suitcases and starts walking around thoughtfully. He wishes the first person who pronounced the well-known saying “Love does much, money does everything” had changed the order of the nouns: “Money does much, love does everything”.

Read and listen to the passage very carefully. Then answer the following questions.

1. Does Paco believe money is strictly necessary to be happy?

2. How old was the beggar Paco talked to this morning?

3. Why do you think Paco wished the old man to have a nice term?



Icono IDevice Important

Remember that not only tenses do change in direct and reported speech. There are also changes in pronouns and time and place adverbs.

However, if the reporting verb is not in the past simple, but in the present simple, continuous, perfect or in the future, no changes in verb tenses take place, since we don't say that those words were said in the past, but that are said now, are being said at this very moment, have been said, or will be said in the future.

E.g.: "When I see Sonia I will kiss her" → Paco says that when he sees Sonia he will kiss her.


Icono IDevice Further knowledge

 

As always, it is very important that you practice. Click on the picture to download an activity in which you will have to write the exact conversation maintained between Paco, Sonia and John. Come on, you will improve your knowledge of reported or indirect speech.


Icono de iDevice Self-Assessment activity

Now, let's try to write the conversation between Paco and the old man at the street. Remember the passage in the reported speech. Obviously, you need it. It goes from "The man begged him..." to "...wished him to have a nice term".

Try to fill in the conversation they maintained.

Old man: you some money to eat, please? (Paco takes a ten-dollar note out of his pocket and gives it to him). very much! I enough money to eat for a whole week.

Paco wondered: How ?

Old man: I a job for a long time, but things and I . I a job for nine months. However, finding a job for a fifty-year-old man really difficult.

Paco: any children?

Old man: three sons and four daughters.

(When Paco hears this, he takes a one-hundred-dollar note out of his pocket and hands it to the man. Astonished, the man springs to his feet).

Old man: anything for ?

Paco: It . nice term!

  

Icono IDevice Curiosity
When Paco thought whether it was so difficult to "heal the world", a song quickly came to his mind. It was precisely the so famous song by Michael Jackson, "Heal the World". Watch the video below to enjoy it! If you want to get the lyrics of this beautiful and emotional song, click here. Undoubtedly, it sends shivers down people's spine.

 


That's all we have to know about reported speech. Now, let's study some cause-effect sentences that have appeared in the texts you've read and listened to in the topic.
« Anterior | Siguiente »