Changing time and place references in reported speech

Typical changes are yesterday → the day before or the previous day; today → that day; tomorrow → the next day or the following day; tonight → that night or that evening; this morning → that morning. All refer back to the day of the original statement.

On can be added: on the next day, on the previous day. However, the expressions the next day and the day before are used without at.

Report periods as follows: last week → the week before or the previous week; this week → that week; next week → the following week or the next week. The same applies to month and year. In a later report, now becomes then or at that time. Ago counts backwards from the moment of speaking, so it is replaced by before or earlier in a shifted report.

These changes apply when enough time has passed for the reference to shift. If you report immediately, for example within the same week, last week or this week may remain unchanged.

Here becomes there when you are no longer in the original speaker's location. This becomes that, and these becomes those, if the object or place is no longer near you. In a neutral report, the is often enough: the coat, the boots.

If the report is made in the same place, here can be retained. There is also sometimes possible when the narrator refers back to a previously mentioned location or chooses a more distant viewpoint. What matters is that the listener identifies the actual location correctly; a simple table does not determine the only possible version.

Replacement depends on the reference point. In the same place and on the same day, today, here, and tomorrow may remain unchanged. Retain now if the relevant state still applies: an interval of five minutes does not itself guarantee this. That day, then, or there can also describe the same episode from another narrative viewpoint.

Mixed situations are possible: the day has changed but the place has not. Then change only the time expressions and retain here. Sometimes the reference even coincides with the present: what someone called tomorrow yesterday is today for you, making today appropriate.

Tomorrow, yesterday, and tonight do not take the; they are replaced by complete expressions such as the next day, the day before, and that night. In the day before, before follows day. Do not use at with the next day, that day, or the following week; on the next day is possible.

Where two usual alternatives exist, both are correct: the next day and the following day, two years before and two years earlier. Choosing between them is a matter of style, not correctness.

Verb forms also shift in reports (will → would, is → was). That is a separate topic. Here the verbs fit the report, but the focus is on time and place expressions. Choosing said or told is a separate topic too.

To apply this rule in speech, briefly check three things before each report: where and when the original words were spoken, where and when you are reporting them, and whether these reference points coincide. Then replace only the words whose reference really has shifted.