Explain the concept of reported thoughts and beliefs.

Reported thoughts and beliefs refer to the act of reporting or conveying someone else's thoughts or beliefs in indirect speech. It involves paraphrasing or summarizing what someone has said or expressed in their mind. This concept is commonly used in storytelling, interviews, or when relaying information about someone's thoughts or beliefs.

When reporting thoughts and beliefs, there are certain changes that occur in the sentence structure and verb tense. The reporting verb, such as "say," "think," "believe," or "feel," is used to introduce the reported thought or belief. The tense of the reporting verb is usually changed to match the time of the reported thought or belief. For example, if the original thought or belief was expressed in the present tense, the reporting verb would be in the present tense as well.

Additionally, pronouns and time expressions may also need to be adjusted when reporting thoughts and beliefs. Pronouns referring to the person's thoughts or beliefs are changed to reflect the perspective of the reporter. For example, "I think" becomes "he/she thinks." Time expressions may also need to be adjusted to reflect the time of the reported thought or belief.

Here is an example to illustrate the concept of reported thoughts and beliefs:

Original thought: "I believe that education is the key to success."

Reported thought: He/she said that he/she believed that education was the key to success.

In this example, the original thought is reported using the reporting verb "said" in the past tense. The pronouns "I" and "that" are changed to "he/she" to reflect the perspective of the reporter. The verb "believe" is changed from present tense to past tense, and the time expression "is" is changed to "was" to match the time of the reported thought.

Overall, reported thoughts and beliefs allow us to convey what someone else has said or expressed in their mind. It is important to pay attention to the changes in verb tense, pronouns, and time expressions when reporting thoughts and beliefs accurately.