"Now" in reported / indirect speech. (2025)

Hello everyone,

A reporter was interviewing a celebrity and he wanted to ask another question when the security man said: "Sorry, Maria is leaving now."

Now I'm supposed to use reported speech to report what the security man said. The key provides the following answer:

The security man told the reporter that Maria was leaving at that time and she didn’t answer the question.

To me it sounds a bit odd. That’s why I’d like to make sure if it’s OK to use ‘at that time’ to express ‘now’ when reporting a dialogue in the past tense.

Good question!
I would use 'about to leave' or 'on the point of leaving'.
I might say 'at that very moment', but 'at that time' does sound strange.
What is the source? Is it 'native speaker' origin?

In that text, I would not have written 'and she didn’t answer the question', if that is part of what the security man said. It isn't clear.

Thank you for the suggestions, Hermione.

Hermione Golightly said:

What is the source? Is it 'native speaker' origin?

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No, it was written by Polish authors, and I try to be careful when I use textbooks that were not prepared by native speakers.

Hermione Golightly said:

In that text, I would not have written 'and she didn’t answer the question', if that is part of what the security man said. It isn't clear.

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Actually, you’re just supposed to write ‘Maria was leaving’ in the blank space. The rest of the text is already there. Of course I didn’t write the rest of the report that comes before this extract. I was just wondering about the phrase ‘at that time’ that I saw in the text.

It says in the grammar explanations in my textbook that the word ‘now’ changes to ‘then’ or ‘at that time’ in reported speech in the past tense. Is this a valid rule? Is it ever possible to apply this rule in real English?

In such transformation exercises one is indeed sometimes forced to devise unnatural sentences.

Fredziu said:

It says in the grammar explanations in my textbook that the word ‘now’ changes to ‘then’ or ‘at that time’ in reported speech in the past tense. Is this a valid rule? Is it ever possible to apply this rule in real English?

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As PaulQ would say, it's a useful guideline but doesn't apply to every context.

grassy said:

it's a useful guideline but doesn't apply to every context

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Hi, grassy. Can you think of any context where it does apply?

I agree that 'at that time' sounds a little unnatural, but 'then' works well for me. The thing is that in a standard transformation of direct speech to reported speech, all words indicating proximity to the circumstances of the speech and transformed to words indicating distance: 'today' become 'that day', 'here' becomes 'there' and so on.

If you don't do those transformations, you get a mixed representation, sometimes called free indirect speech. Jane Austen employs it occasionally in her novels.

natkretep said:

but 'then' works well for me

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Thank you, natkretep. Do you mean it would sound natural if I said, 'The security man told the reporter that Maria was leaving then and she didn’t answer the question'?

The security man told the reporter that Maria was leaving at that time and she didn’t answer the question.

This sentence doesn't even need "at that time" (at what other time would it be?).

But in my opinion it reads okay as: The security man told the reporter that Maria was now leaving …

Fredziu said:

Thank you, natkretep. Do you mean it would sound natural if I said, 'The security man told the reporter that Maria was leaving then and she didn’t answer the question'?

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Yes, for me.

Fredziu said:

I’d like to make sure if it’s OK to use ‘at that time’ to express ‘now’ when reporting a dialogue in the past tense.

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It is.

natkretep said:

'then' works well for me.

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lingobingo said:

it reads okay as: The security man told the reporter that Maria was now leaving

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Yes. All the above are good. Here is meaning 4 in the OED:

now
4. At this time; at the time spoken of or referred to; then, next, by that time; at this point.

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In other words, when referring to the past, 'now' can mean 'then'.
Therefore it does not need to change in past reported speech. 'Now', 'then' or 'at that point' etc. are all valid in the present case.

"Immediately" would work well in that situation.

The security man told the reporter that Maria was leaving immediately.

Hello, I thought that maybe my question would fit in this thread. How would you put "now" in the following sentences in reported speech?

1.
The context is a conversation at work. Somebody's just been promoted to senior manager. A colleague jokingly says:

"So, I guess you're my boss now, huh?"

My attempt: He joked that his colleague was/was going to be/would be his boss from then on.

2.
The context is an argument. Two teenagers used to be friends, but then the girl became popular at school and started ignoring the boy. He confronts her, saying:

"So what, you're too cool to talk to me now?"

My attempt: He asked her if she was too cool to talk to him ... <- I have no idea!

I'd say that "then" doesn't sound right to me in either of these examples, because it sounds temporary and doesn't get across the meaning of "there's been a change, things are or will be different". In number two, I guess I could use "all of a sudden", but I'd rather remain as close to the original as possible.

I'd love to hear your thoughts! Thanks for your time!

Your first sentence (was going to be/would be) sounds good.

For your second sentence, I would either just omit the 'now' or make it explicit. As you suggested 'now' packs in a fair amount of implied background knowledge. For instance, you could say, 'He asked her if she was too cook to talk to him, now that she had gained popularity.'

Rudzielec said:

How would you put "now" in the following sentences in reported speech?

"So, I guess you're my boss now, huh?"

My attempt: He joked that his colleague was/was going to be/would be his boss from then on.

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The “was” version doesn’t really work. The other two versions do both work, as what’s usually called “future in the past”.

Rudzielec said:

"So what, you're too cool to talk to me now?"

My attempt: He asked her if she was too cool to talk to him ... <- I have no idea!

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In this one, I think you can only use “now”. It works perfectly well.

Thank you very much natkretep and lingobingo! Just to make sure, would you also keep "now" while reporting the "conversation" Adele has with her ex in "Someone Like You"?

"I heard that (...) you've found a girl and you're married now."

She said she'd heard that he'd found a girl and he was married now.

Rudzielec said:

… would you also keep "now" while reporting the "conversation" Adele has with her ex in "Someone Like You"?

"I heard that (...) you've found a girl and you're married now."

She said she'd heard that he'd found a girl and he was married now.

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It’s very clumsy as reported speech, but it does work. I’d keep that now but move it, and delete the second “he”:

She said she’d heard that he’d found a girl and was now married.​

now
4. At this time; at the time spoken of or referred to; then, next, by that time; at this point.

wandle said:

In other words, when referring to the past, 'now' can mean 'then'.
Therefore it does not need to change in past reported speech.

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If that's the case, wouldn't it be correct and natural to report the first sentence from post 13 ("So, I guess you're my boss now, huh?") like this?

He joked that his colleague was his boss now.

Fredziu said:

… wouldn't it be correct and natural to report the first sentence from post 13 ("So, I guess you're my boss now, huh?") like this?

He joked that his colleague was his boss now.

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Yes, that’s the best way to say it. (But it’s not what you were asking in #13.)

See all the example sentences under definition 1.5 here: now | Definition of now in English by Oxford Dictionaries

Added to previous thread.
Cagey, moderator

Some websites say that "now" changes to "then / at that time / at the moment" in indirect speech.

So for example today someone says:
"I feel great now."

Many years later I can say (without changing the meaning):
Someone said that they felt great then / at that time / at the moment

Is it correct? Do all three work?

I don’t think I could use then in that particular case.

“I feel great now,” he said.

(in which, without context, now implies a positive change for the better)​

He said he felt great then.
He said he felt great after his swim/after getting his exam results, etc.

Kyamond said:

Added to previous thread.
Cagey, moderator

Some websites say that "now" changes to "then / at that time / at the moment" in indirect speech.

So for example today someone says:
"I feel great now."

Many years later I can say (without changing the meaning):
Someone said that they felt great then / at that time / at the moment

Is it correct? Do all three work?

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I think they might, (Also "at the time" and "at that moment", but you haven't really given us any context.

I think it's clearer if you change it around more than that.

Many years later I can say (without changing the meaning):​

- Someone said that they felt great then / at that time / at the moment​

You're not doing a direct quote so there's no need to keep the same word order.

- My brother said that, at that moment, he felt great.

If it was a direct quote it wouldn't change.
- My brother said, "I feel great now."