When you quote someone’s exact words, you are using direct discourse: She said, “I’m an editor.” When you report what someone says without repeating the exact words, you are using indirect discourse: She said she was an editor.

In general, the verb introducing the indirect quotation (sometimes called the reporting verb) agrees in tense with the verb in the indirect quotation; there are, however, some exceptions. For example, if the reporting verb is in the past tense but the information that follows holds true in the present, shifting to a present-tense verb is acceptable.

She told me that her work is as exciting as ever.

Shifting between direct and indirect discourse within the same sentence can cause problems, especially when the sentence is a question.

The editing eliminates an awkward shift by reporting Viet’s question indirectly. The sentence could also be edited to quote Viet directly: Viet asked, “What can I do to help?”