Using Analogies in Teaching Indirect Speech to Romanian Students

Turning a dialogue, i.e. direct speech (DS), into a reported text, i.e. indirect speech (IS), implies a series of substantial transformations undergone by the verb, among other parts of speech. Such changes are not difficult to operate by native speakers of English, even though natives also learn gradually how to report what other people say as they develop their communication skills in English. Things are quite challenging in the case of non-native speakers of English whose native languages do not imply such strict transformation rules as English does. Although numerous, the logical changes in the verb form which have to be operated while reporting DS may be made more accessible to adult Romanian learners of English by using analogies with math formulae or with practicalaspects from the real life. The present paper is aimed at enlarging on some of the most original analogies which have been successfully used in order to facilitate the Romanian adult learners’ understanding of the specific grammar rules to be taken into account when turning sentences from direct to IS.