Passive Voice in Reported Speech - Tenses

[McKinney]

Hi Alan, can you confirm that when the passive voice is used in reported speech you go back a tense in exactly the same way as reporting an active voice sentence?

For example:-

The book was written by J.K. Rowling.
Changes to
She said that the book was written by J.K. Rowling.
&
She said that the book had been written by J.K. Rowling.

Am I correct?

Thank you!

[Alan]

Strictly speaking, yes.

However, natives are notoriously lazy in this kind of case, and many would accept an unchanged 'was' .