Reported Speech

The Eiffel Tower One day in1925, Czech man called Victor Lustig invited six French businessmen to a meeting in Paris. Lustig told the men that the Eiffel Tower was becoming too expensive to mantain. He said that the Government had decided to sell it, and he showed them secret official documents to prove it. He told them they couldn’t tell anyone else about it. One of the bussinessmen, André Poisson, agreed to buy the Tower, but his wife was supicious. She said Lustig wasn’t telling them the truth. Lustig met Poisson again in private – and told him he was acting strangely because he expected a bribe. So Poisson said to Lustig that he would give him a large bribe – as well as the money for the Tower. In fact, Lustig was conman and dissapeared with all of Poisson’s money. The “official documents” were forgeries and the whole story was a lie. Poisson never told anybody except his wife that Lustig had tricked him – he was too embarrased! HOAX

Hoax = A humorous or malicious deception. Bribe = A sum of money or other inducement offered or given to bribe someone Conman = A man who cheats or tricks someone by gaining their trust and persuading them to believe something that is not true. Forgery = The action of forging a copy or imitation of a document, signature, banknote, or work of art.

Reported Speech (statements) We use the reported speech to report what someone has said without using their exact words. When we change direct speech to reported speech, we usually change the verb form to go one tense back. “Tom lives in Germany”. Said Claire. Claire said that Tom lived in Germany

Reported Speech (statements)

Reported Speech (statements) The pronouns often change “I´m tired” she said. She said that she was tired. “We’re upset” they said. They said that they were upset.

Reported Speech (statements) Time expressions often change “I saw Tom yesterday” He said he had seen Tom the day before yesterday

In the situations below, the people are telling lies In the situations below, the people are telling lies. In each case, who are they lying to and why?