Abstract:News discourse is, to a large degree, about what people say and how they say. Reported speech accounts for a large portion in news reports. And there is a relationship between tense and reported speech. This thesis tends to study the use of reported speech in the news discourse and its influence on readers. Many experts find that the change of tense in English Indirect Reported Speech can help authors to fix their voices in the news discourse. On the basis of previous research, this paper is from the perspective of the news discourse to combine the indirect speech and tense. Hope to provide some reference for the indirect speech used by journalists and provide the readers better understanding of the news discourse to convey meaning.

Key words: indirect speech; tense; news discourse

CONTENTS

Abstract

中文摘要

1. Introduction of Indirect Reported Speech..1

1.1 Indirect Reported Speech (IRS)

1.2 Definition of IRS

1.3 Classification of IRS

1.4 Tense in Indirect Reported Speech

2. The Use of Tense in Indiredct Speech in News Discourse3

2.1 Definition of Tense

2.2 The Subcategories of Tense

2.2.1 The Present Tense

2.2.2 The Past Tense

2.3 The Analysis of Tense Use in Indirect Speech

2.4 The Importance of Tense in Indirect Speech

3. The Function and Influence of the Change of Tense in Reported Speech.7

3.1 The Limitations of Direct Speech

3.2 The Function and Influence of Reported Speech

3.3 The Analysis of Irregular Tense in Reported Speech

3.3.1 The Common Situation in Using Irregular Tense

3.3.2 The Reasons for Using Irregular Tense

3.3.3 The Importance of Using Irregular Tense

4. Conclusion..11

Bibliography.12

Acknowledgements13