DIRECT AND
INDIRECT SPEECH
By : INTAN DWI LESTARI, S.Pd
OVERVIEW
In communication we often have to give
information about what people say or think.
In order to do this we can use direct / quoted
speech, or indirect / reported speech.
Direct and indirect speech is a term that
describes a form of speech by someone.
Direct Speech
Direct Speech (quoted speech) are sentence words that
are spoken directly by the speaker.
When we say about ourselves information directly to
someone, it is called direct speech (sometimes called
quoted speech). And when we use direct speech in
writing, we place the words spoken between quotation
marks (” “) and there is no change in these words.
Examples
She says, “What time will you be home?”
She said, “What time will you be home?”
and I said, “I don’t know!”
“There’s a fly on my soup!” screamed Rita.
Bandi said, “There’s a goat outside the window.”
Indirect Speech
Indirect Speech (Reported Speech) is a
sentence spoken to report the speaker's words to
others or when we say to someone about what
another person has said to us.
So, Indirect Speech (Reported Speech) is used
when we want to report someone's words to
others indirectly.
And when we use indirect speech in writing, we
don’t use quotation marks to enclose what the
person said.
When reporting speech (indirect
speech), the tense usually changes. This is
because when we use indirect speech, we
are usually talking about a time in the past
(because obviously the person who spoke
originally spoke in the past). The verbs
therefore usually have to be in the past too.
Examples
Direct Speech
She said, “I saw him.”
Indirect Speech
She said that she had seen him.
Direct & Indirect Speech consists of
3 types, namely:
I. II. III.
Statement Command Question
I. Statement
In the Indirect Statement we use the word
“that” as a liaison between the introductory
sentence and the words that are reported
(reported words). The introductory
sentences in the indirect statement are:
He said
He said to me that + reported words
He told me
Example :
a. Mary told her friends “I have been to Bali twice.”
➢ Mary told her friends that she had been to Bali
twice.
b. Father said “I am going out of town tomorrow
➢ Father said that he was going out of town the
following day.
c. Tom said “I didn’t go to school this morning”
➢ Tom said that he hadn’t gone to school that
morning.
II. COMMAND
Command is divided into 2 (two) parts,
namely:
1. Positive Command
In a positive command we add to in front of the
command sentence, as a liaison between the
introductory sentence and the reported
command. Introductory sentences in this type
are:
He asked me
He told me
to + infinitive
Example
a. Mother asked John “Pay attention to what I say”
- Mother asked John to pay attention to what she
says.
b. John told Mary “Wait until I come”
- John told Mary to wait until he comes.
c. The teacher said to the students “Be quiet while I
am talking”
- The teacher told the students to be quiet while she
is talking.
2. Negative Command
In the negative command we add not to in front
of the reported command.
Example :
a. Mary told John “Don’t wait for me”
- Mary told John not to wait for her.
b. Father asked her “Don’t go there alone”
- Father asked her not to go there alone.
c. Mothers asked John “Don’t smoke too much”
- Mother asked John not to smoke too much.
III. QUESTION
➢ If direct questions use question words such as; Where, When, Why,
What, Who, How, etc., then these words are used as a liaison in the
reported Speech. The reported questions took a positive shape. The
introductory sentence is: Positive Form
He asked me where
when etc.
Example :
a. I asked him : “When did you get back from your trip ?”
- I asked him when he had got back from his trip.
b. John asked the girl : “What is your name ?”
- John asked the girl what her name was.
➢ If the direct question does not use question words,
and is only a question in the form of "Yes & No
Question", then we use the words if, whether (if,
what) as a link between the introductory sentence
and the question being reported.
Example:
a. The boy asked John : “Does Mary live near here?
- The boy asked John if Mary lived near there.
b. The teacher asked her : “Have you finish your
homework ?”
- The teacher asked her if he had finished her
homework.
Rule of changing from Direct
Speech to Indirect Speech
To be & Auxiliary
Verbs
Change of tenses
Time & Place
1.To be & Auxiliary Verbs
Direct Indirect
Am/is/are was/were
Shall/will should/would
Can could
May might
Must had to
Have/has to had to
Ought to Ought to
Example :
a. He said, “I can cook food.”
He said that he could cook food.
b. They said, “We may go to Canada.”
They said that they might go to Canada.
c. She said, “I must finish the work on time.”
She said that she had to finish the work on time.
Modals that remain unchanged are: Should, might,
could, would, ought to.
◦ Kanika said, “I ought to avoid junk food.”
Kanika said that she ought to avoid junk food.
2. Change of tenses
Direct Indirect
Simple Present Simple Past
Present continuous Past continuous
Present perfect Past perfect
Present perfect continuous Past perfect continuous
Simple Past Past perfect
Past continuous Past perfect continuous
Past perfect Past perfect
Past perfect continuous Past perfect continuous
Example
She said, “It’s cold.” (Simple Present)
She said it was cold. (Simple Past)
3. Time & Place
Expressions of time if reported on a different day
this (evening) > that (evening)
today > yesterday …
yesterday > the day before.
these (days) > those (days)
now > then
(a week) ago > (a week) before
last weekend > the previous weekend
here > there
next (week) > the following (week)
tomorrow > the next/following day
Example :
➢ Direct Speech : She said, “I want to bring my children tomorrow.”
Indirect Speech: She said she wanted to bring her children the next
day.
➢ Direct Speech: Jack said, “My wife went with me to the show
yesterday.”
Indirect Speech: Jack said his wife had gone with him to the show the
day before.
CONCLUSION
The main difference that you can guess
from these two speeches is that direct
speech always uses a quote mark like
(“). The speaker's direct words are
always also separated by a comma.
Meanwhile, in indirect speech, the
comma punctuation mark and the
missing quote are replaced by the word
"that."
EXERCISE
Example :
Direct Speech : She said, “I will go to the market”.
Indirect Speech : She said that she would go to the market.
1) Direct Speech : Ray said, “I have completed the series.”
Indirect Speech : _________________________
2) Direct Speech : He said, “I work from 9 to 10”.
Indirect Speech : _________________________
3) Direct Speech : They said, “We have been living in the forest for 4
years”.
Indirect Speech : __________________________
4) Direct Speech : My brother said, “We were playing at the park”.
Indirect Speech : __________________________
5) Direct Speech : “Who do you want to talk to”, she said
Indirect Speech : __________________________
6) Direct Speech : “I’m going to the cinema, she said”.
Indirect Speech : ____________________________________
7) Direct Speech : “I can’t speak any foreign language,
he said”.
Indirect Speech : ____________________________________
8) Direct Speech : “ I met her about three month ago, he
said”.
Indirect Speech : ____________________________________
9) Direct Speech : “We’ll see her next week, they said”.
Indirect Speech : ___________________________________
10) Direct Speech : “ Why are you so late? the teacher
said”.
Indirect Speech : ___________________________________
