GRADE 8

4th Quarter

DIRECT AND
INDIRECT SPEECH
Learning Goals

At the end of this lesson, you are expected to:

1. Identify direct and indirect speech

2. Change statements from direct to indirect speech
3. Create examples of direct and indirect speech
 Direct Speech

Saying exactly what someone has said is called direct speech

(sometimes called quoted speech)
Here what a person says appears within quotation marks ("...") and
should be word for word.
When we use direct speech in writing, we place the words spoken
between quotation marks (" ") and there is no change in these
words. We may be reporting something that's being said NOW (for
example a telephone conversation), or telling someone later about
a previous conversation.
 DIRECT SPEECH
Examples

“I have two brothers and

one sister,” Mary said. “I visited my aunt last
week,” Tom said.
Pat said, “I am going to
watch a movie today.”

 Indirect
Speech
Indirect speech (sometimes called reported speech), DOESN’T use
quotation marks to enclose what the person said, and it DOESN’T
have to be word for word.
In grammar, when you report someone else’s statement in your own
words without any change in the meaning of the statement, it is
called indirect speech.
 Indirect Speech
Example 1

You do not need to change the tense if the

reporting verb is in the present, or if the
1. Mary said that she has two brothers and one sister.
original statement was about something that
is still true

 Indirect Speech
Example 1

Direct Speech tense is in the present

continuous. For Reported Speech,
2. Pat said that she was going to watch a movie yesterday.
change the present continuous to
past continuous.

 Indirect Speech
Example 2

There is also a time change in reported speech. Please refer to the next slides for the discussion.

Direct Speech tense is in the present

continuous. For Reported Speech,
2. Pat said that she was going to watch a movie yesterday.
change the present continuous to
past continuous.

 Indirect Speech
Example 3

There is also a time change in reported speech. Please refer to the next slides for the discussion.

Direct Speech tense is in the simple

past. For Reported Speech, change
3. Tom said that he had visited his aunt the previous week.
the simple past to perfect past.
 KNOW THE DIFFERENCE:

Direct Speech Indirect Speech

A. “What time is the A. Tom asked what time
meeting?” Tom asked. the meeting was.
B. Abdul replied, “It is at B. Abdul said that the
1 o’clock.” meeting was at 1
C. Sue asked Pat, “What o’clock.
did you do on Sunday?” C. Sue asked Pat what
D. “I visited my brother,” she had done on
Pat answered. Sunday.
D. Pat said that she had
visited her brother.
 CHANGES IN PRONOUN
First-person pronouns (I, me, us, we, mine, our) in reported speech
change into third-person pronouns (she, he, it, they, him, his, her, them,
their), if the reporting verb refers to third-person pronouns.
Third-person pronouns (she, he, it, they, him, his, her, them, their) do not
change at all in reported speech.
 CHANGES IN PRONOUN & TENSE

When reporting speech the tense usually changes. This is because when we use reported 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 tense too.
You do not need to change the tense if the reporting verb is in the present, or if the original statement
was about something that is still true.
These modal verbs do not change in reported speech: might, could, would, should, ought to
We explained, "It could be difficult to find our house." = We explained that it could be difficult to
find our house.
She said, "I might bring a friend to the party." = She said that she might bring a friend to the party.
REPORTING VERBS
Said, told, and asked are the most
common verbs used in indirect speech.

We use asked to report questions:

For example: I asked Lynne what time the lesson started.

We use told with an object.

For example: Lynne told me she felt tired.

We usually use said without an object.

For example: Lynne said she was going to teach online.

If said is used with an object we must include to

For example: Lynne said to me that she'd never been to
China.