Direct Indirect Speech

  

Direct Indirect Speech

When we reproduce the speech of a speaker using the exact words spoken by him or her, it is called the direct speech. When we report the speech of a speaker without quoting the actual words spoken by him or her, it is called the indirect speech or reported speech.

 

Direct speech

·        The exact words of the speaker are enclosed within quotation marks.

·        Reporting verb say or tell is used.

·        A comma is placed after the reporting verb.

 Indirect speech

• ·        In indirect speech, the statement of the speaker is not enclosed within the quotation marks.
• ·        Conjunction that is used to introduce the reported speech.
• ·        Comma is not used after the reporting verb.
• ·        The pronouns in the reported speech are changed according to the subject or object of the reporting verb. Third person pronouns remain unchanged.
• ·        The verb of reported speech is changed according to the tenses.
• ·         Words denoting nearness of time and place are changed.
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  We do not change the tense of reported speech when the reporting verb is in the present or future tense. For example:

• Direct: She says, “He reads his book.”
  Indirect: She says that he reads his book.
• Direct: Manish will say, “I am a doctor.”
  Indirect: Manish will say that he is a doctor.
•  

  We do not change tense when the speech is a universal truth or a scientific fact.

• Direct: He said, “Man is mortal.”
  Indirect: He said that man is mortal.
• Direct: She said, “Water flows from the higher level to lower level.”
  Indirect: She said that water flows from the higher level to lower leve

 

  Rules for the change of tense

 1. Simple Present → Simple Past

• Direct: Ravi said, “I ride a bicycle.”
  Indirect: Ravi said that he rode a bicycle.
• Direct: He said, “She eats an apple.”
  Indirect: He said that she ate an apple.

2. Present Continuous → Past Continuous

• Direct: You said, “I am going to the market.”
  Indirect: You said that you were going to the market.
• Direct: She said, “They are playing football.”
  Indirect: She said that they were playing football.

3. Present Perfect → Past Perfect

• Direct: Tina said, “We have done the work.”
  Indirect: Tina said that they had done the work.
• Direct: I said, “Mona has gone to school.”
  Indirect: I said that Mona had gone to school.

4. Present Perfect Continuous → Past Perfect Continuous

• Direct: He said, “I have been writing a letter for two hours.”
  Indirect: He said that he had been writing a letter for two hours.
• Direct: She said, “We have been playing since morning.”
  Indirect: She said that they had been playing since morning.

5. Simple Past → Past Perfect

• Direct: Riya said, “She played basketball.”
  Indirect: Riya said that she had played basketball.
• Direct: Mala said, “He wrote a letter.”
  Indirect: Mala said that he had written a letter.

6. Past Continuous → Past Perfect Continuous

• Direct: I said, “He was cleaning the room.”
  Indirect: I said that he had been cleaning the room.
• Direct: You said, “They were shouting.”
  Indirect: You said that they had been shouting.

7. The past perfect tense and past perfect continuous tense remain unchanged.

Examples:

• Direct: He said, “Milan had met her cousin before.”
  Indirect: He said that Milan had met her cousin before.
• Direct: Suman said, “I had been reading the book for two hours.”
  Indirect: Suman said that she had been reading the book for two hours.

8. The future tense changes by replacing shall → should and will → would.

Examples:

• Direct: She said, “I shall take my car.”
  Indirect: She said that she should take her car.
• Direct: Maya said, “Hari will write a letter.”
  Indirect: Maya said that Hari would write a letter.

                                        Changing words indicating time and place

The words showing nearness of time and place in Direct Speech are changed into words showing remoteness in Indirect Speech.

Examples:

• now → then                                                                
• today → that day
• thus → so
• hither → thither
• this → that
• tonight → that night
• these → those
• tomorrow → the next day / the following day
• here → there
• yesterday → the previous day
• hence → thence
• last night → the night before
• come → go
• next week → the following week
• ago → before
• the day before yesterday → the day before the previous day

   

Rules for the Change in Pronouns and Possessive Adjectives

• Second Person Pronouns (you, your, yours, yourself, yourselves):
  Change according to the object of the reporting verb.

Example:

• Direct: He said to me, “You washed your clothes yourself.”
• Indirect: He told me that I had washed my clothes myself.

(Second person pronouns and possessives change according to the object of the verb.)

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• First Person Pronouns (I, we, me, my, mine, myself, us, our, ourselves):
  Change according to the subject of the reporting verb.

Example 1:

• Direct: He said, “I cleaned my room myself.”
• Indirect: He said that he had cleaned his room himself.

Example 2:

• Direct: You said, “I cleaned my room myself.”
• Indirect: You said that you had cleaned your room yourself.

(First person pronouns and possessives change according to the subject of the verb.)

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• Third Person Pronouns (he, him, his, himself, she, her, hers, it, they, them, their, themselves):
  Generally remain unchanged in reported speech.

 Third Person Pronouns and Possessive Adjectives

• Third person pronouns and possessive adjectives (he, him, his, himself, she, her, hers, herself, it, its, itself, they, their, theirs, themselves) generally remain unchanged in reported speech.

Examples:

• Direct: You said, “He talks to his mother.”
  Indirect: You said that he talked to his mother.
• Direct: I said, “She wrote a letter to her mother.”
  Indirect: I said that she had written a letter to her mother.

 Changing Interrogative Sentences

• When we change interrogative sentences into indirect speech, the reporting verb is usually changed to ask, enquire, demand, or query.
• Interrogative sentences are of two types:
1. Yes/No questions
2. Wh-questions (beginning with what, whom, whose, who, when, why, where, how, etc.)

 If the question begins with a wh-word, we use that wh-word as the conjunction instead of that.

  Examples of Changing Interrogative Sentences

 Direct: He said, “Where is my book?”

Indirect: He asked where his book was.

• When we report a Yes/No question, we use if or whether to introduce the indirect speech.
•  

Direct: She said to me, “Are you reading a book?”
Indirect: She enquired of me if I was reading a book.

• All interrogative sentences are changed into assertive form when changed to indirect speech.
•  

Direct: He said to me, “How are you?”
Indirect: He asked me how I was.

 Note: In indirect speech, the subject is placed before the verb and the question mark is replaced with a full stop.

 Changing Imperative Sentences

• When reporting imperative sentences (commands or requests), the reporting verb is changed to a verb like command, request, implore, propose, order, suggest, advise, or forbid.

 Direct: She said to me, “Please give me some water.”

Indirect: She requested me to give her some water.

• We usually use to + verb construction without the conjunction that. However, that can be used, and in that case, we replace to with should.

 Direct: She said to him, “You should work hard.”

Indirect: She suggested to him to work hard.

    or

She suggested to him that he should work hard.

 Changing Exclamatory Sentences

 

• Omit interjections such as hurrah, oh, bravo, alas, wow, pooh, ah, hush, etc.
• Change the reporting verb to phrases like exclaimed with joy / exclaimed with sorrow, depending on the emotion.
•  

Direct: Rajat said, “Hurrah! We have won the match.”
Indirect: Rajat exclaimed with joy that they had won the match.

Direct: She said, “Alas! I have lost everything.”
Indirect: She exclaimed with sorrow that she had lost everything.

 

• Some more examples:

Direct: He said, “Ah! What a beautiful flower.”
Indirect: He exclaimed with delight that it was a beautiful flower.

Direct: Hari said, “How poor the man is.”
Indirect: Hari said that the man was very poor.

 

• Use the conjunction that to introduce reported speech.

Direct: Tina said, “Wow! What a great day it is.”
Indirect: Tina exclaimed joyfully that it was a great day.