Reported Speech

Hi,

 Im a french student from Canada and im currently undergoing an english class. I have to give back a work on Reported Speech and to be honest, I'm not really comfortable doing that type of grammar. Could you please double check my work.

 Thank You

 Jean-Francois

• Quote 1: "The oil price has been pulling back because the disruption in the oil pipeline supply in Iraq has been resolved," announced Victor Shum.Reported Speech 1: Victor Shum announced the oil prices had been pulling back because the disruption in the oil pipeline supply in Iraq had been resolved. 
• Quote 2: An official from Iraq's South Oil Co. said that "everything returned to normal as of 10 p.m. Thursday"Reported Speech 2: An official from Iraq’s South Oil Co. said everything returned to normal as of 10 p.m. Thursday. 
• Quote 3: "Canada is becoming a de-industrialized country," Mr. Velan saidReported Speech 3 : Mr Velan said that Canada is becoming a de-industrialized country. 
• Quote 4: "No matter what else you say about Mr. Flaherty, he's not giving away the store. He's been very prudent," said William Anderson.Reported Speech 4: William Anderson said no matter what else you said about Mr. Flaherty, he does not give away the store. He has been very prudent. 
• Quote 5: "If you built Rolls-Royces in China, you'd never get another sale. The product has to be fantastic," stated Brathwaite.Reported Speech  5 : Mr. Brathwaite stated that if you built Rolls-Royces in China, you would never get another sale. The product has to be fantastic. 
• Quote 6: Mr. MacDonald said. "It's just an issue of what Canadian companies will be affected by reductions in demand in the U.S."Reported Speech 6 : Mr. MacDonald said it’s just an issue of what Canadian companies are being affected by reduction in demand in the U.S. 
• Quote 7: ‘’Borrowers with less than stellar credit scores or those trying to finance expensive houses are still struggling to get mortgages,’’ Mr. Gumbel added.Reported Speech 7: Mr Gumbel added that burrowers with less than stellar credit score or those trying to finance expensive will still be struggling to get mortgages. 
• Quote 8: “A year ago, we were told the problems were in subprime, ” said David RosenbergReported Speech 8: David Rosenberg said that a year ago, they were told the problems would be in subprime. 
• Quote 9: "Production capabilities are running behind demand," says Joel Plasco, CEO of Collins StewartReported Speech 9: Ceo of Collins Stewart, Joel Plasco said that production capabilities were running behind demand. 
• Quote 10: "Many of our customers are making money from the price of oil," Cannatelli saysReported Speech 10: Cannatelli said that many of his customers were making money from the prices of oil.

The sentences lack context, which makes it difficult to tell when tense changes are necessary and when they are not (among other things).

There is one sentence that is wrong without a doubt: # 7. The sentence in direct speech uses the present continuous, and the reporting verb (added) is in the past tense, so it really makes no sense to use a construction with "will" to report that statement. You should either keep the same tense (present continuous) or change to past continuous. Sentence #6 has a similar mistake. The decision, however, is sometimes difficult to make since I have no idea when the original statements were made, when they are/were reported, and, also important, whether what was said still applies at the time of reporting or it doesn't.

The rest of the sentences seem OK in general, except for a few details, such as dates and time references, and person changes. For example, in # 8 you retain "a year ago" instead of changing it to some other expression like "the year before" or "the previous year". Again, though, that would depend on several variables, the moment of reporting among them. Also, in #10 you changed "our customers" to "his customers" (why not "their" customers?).

And you're not consistent with verb changes. In # 1, you shifted from the present perfect to the past perfect. But then, in other sentences, such as # 2, you retained the tense from the sentence in direct speech.

I know this isn't much help, but it will -hopefully- point you in the direction of your mistakes and/or inconsistencies.

When we're taught indirect speech, we're told to remember the "golden rule": change verb tenses. But the truth is that it always depends on the context and the content itself, on the people speaking and the time of speaking.

Give these sentences another try, please, and let's see what happens?

Miriam