The "Change of Speech" means the way we speak changes depending on who we're talking to, where we are, or when we're repeating someone else's words. It’s about adjusting our language to fit the situation, like speaking more formally at work or casually with friends, quoting someone’s exact words, or summarizing what they said.
Types of speech
1. Direct Speech
If the sentence spoken or written by the speaker is reported without any changes, it is called direct speech.
Example: Ram says, "I work hard".
2. Indirect Speech
If the narrator changes the sentence spoken or written by the speaker according to certain rules, it is called the Indirect Speech.
Example: Ram says that he works hard.
Direct vs Indirect Speech
Below are some key differences between direct and indirect speech:
Parameter | Direct Speech | Indirect Speech |
|---|
Quotation Marks | Always uses quotation marks. | No quotation marks used. |
|---|
Tense Changes | The tense stays the same. | Tenses usually change (for example, present tense in direct speech changes to past tense in indirect speech). |
|---|
Pronouns | Pronouns are used exactly as originally spoken. | Pronouns may change to fit the reporting content. |
|---|
Word Order | The word order stays the same as in the original sentence. | The word order may change to fit the reporting structure. |
|---|
Important Rules for Direct and Indirect Speech
1. Tense Change
- Present simple → Past simple → Past perfect → No change
- Present continuous → Past continuous → Past perfect continuous → No change
- Future → Would
Example:
- Direct: She said, "I am eating lunch."
- Indirect: She said that she was eating lunch.
2. Time Expression
The following words change in indirect speech.
- Today → that day
- Tomorrow → the next day
- Yesterday → the previous day or the day before
- tonight → that night
- Last → the previous
- here → there
- this → that
- these → those
- ago → before
- now → then
Example:
- Direct: "I will meet you tomorrow."
- Indirect: She said that she would meet me the next day.
3. Pronoun change
Pronouns change when we report someone else’s words.
Example:
- Direct: "You are my best friend," she said.
- Indirect: She said that I was her best friend.
Tips and Tricks
Here are some useful tricks to help you solve direct and indirect speech questions smoothly:
1. Change of Pronoun
Change of Pronoun trickPronouns are changed according to the SON rule: Subject Object No change
- First-person pronouns changes to subject of the reporting verb.
- Second-person pronouns changes to the object of the reporting verb.
- Third-person pronouns remains unchanged.
Example:
- Direct: He(sub.) says, "I (1st Person) work hard."
Here, "I" changes to "he" according to subject. - Indirect: He says that he works hard.
- Direct: He says to me(obj.), "You (2nd Person) work hard."
Here, "You" changes to "I" according to the object. - Indirect: He tells me that I work hard.
- Direct: Hesays to me, "She works hard."
Here, "She" is the 3rd person, so there will be "no change." - Indirect: He tells me that he works hard.
2. Remove Quotation Marks in Indirect Speech
3. Adjust the time and place words
- Today → that day
- Tomorrow → the next day
- Yesterday → the previous day or the day before
- tonight → that night
4. Use Reporting Verbs Correctly
- Say/Said remain unchanged in indirect speech.
- Say to change into "tell".
- "Says to" changes into "told".
Note: "To" is not used after "tell" and "told".
5. Change Question and Commands Properly
- Change "said to" into asked, questioned, inquired, or interrogated when reporting questions.
- The question mark(?) should be changed into a " full stop" in indirect speech.
- For yes/no questions, use if or whether in indirect speech.
- For "wh-" questions, do not use auxiliary verbs or change the verb tense unnecessarily.
6. Use Modal Verbs Carefully
- shall/will → should/would
- may → might
- can → could
Also Check:
➣ Change of Speech Solved Question- Refer Here!
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