DIRECT AND INDIRECT

SPEECH
Direct & Indirect Speech

In the English language, there are two

ways of conveying what someone else
has said:
direct/quoted speech and
indirect/reported speech.

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Direct Speech
Direct/quoted speech, involves quoting the exact
words uttered by the person, within inverted
commas or quotation marks.

 2nd September 2012 Anne said, “I will

be coming home
tonight”.

statement

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Indirect Speech
Indirect/reported speech, on the other hand, does
not have to be within quotes or reported word-to-
word. In fact, unless one is relaying the exact words
spoken, one should never use quotation marks.

 5th September 2012 Annie said that she

would be coming
home that night.

statement

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How to Use Reported Speech
When we use reported speech, we are usually
talking about the past.
Therefore, verbs usually change to the past tense
in reported speech.

For example:

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am / is become was

are becomewere

have/has become had

can/can’t become could/couldn’t

will/won’t become would/wouldn’t

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Tense Change in Indirect Speech
Present simple tense Past simple
Present Continuous tense Past continuous
Present Perfect tense Past perfect
Present Perfect Past perfect continuous
Continuous
Past Simple INTO Past Perfect
Past Continuous  Past Perfect Continuous
Future simple, will would
Future Continuous, will would be
be
Future Perfect, will have would have

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Changes in Time and Adverbs in
Indirect Speech
Changes to
Today that day/the same day
Tomorrow the next day/the following day
Yesterday the day before/the previous day
Next week/month/year the following week/month/year
Last week/month/year the previous week/month/year
Now/just then
Ago before
Here there
This that

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 Changes in Personal Pronouns
Person 1st 2nd 3rd
Number singular plural singular plural singular Plural

Gender common common common common Male female Neuter Male female Neuter

Nominative
(subjective) I We you you He she it They they they
case
Objective
(accusative) me us you you Him her it Them them them
case
Their their
Possessive
My Our Your Your His her its their
(genitive)
mine ours yours yours His hers its Theirs theirs
case
theirs
yourselve Himself herself
Reflexive myself ourselves yourself
s
themselves
itself

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Indirect Speech for Interrogative (Question)
Sentence
For changing interrogative (question) sentence into indirect
speech we have to observe the nature of question and then
change it into indirect speech according to it rules for indirect
speech.

A question can be of two types:

One type which can be answered in only YES or NO and

The second type which cannot be answered in only YES or
NO.

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The word order of the question sentence is different from
that of the statement sentence.

In a statement sentence the subject comes first and the

verb comes second, but in interrogative (question)
sentence, the verb comes first and the subject comes
second:

He is a boy. Statement Sentence

‘He’ – subject – first; ‘is’ – verb – second
Is he a boy? Interrogative (question) sentence
‘Is’ – verb – first; ‘he’ – subject – second

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Two Types of Question
‘wh’ questions, i.e. questions beginning with any of
the wh words, such as ‘who’, ‘which’, ‘what’, ‘how’, etc.

And ‘yes’ or ‘no’ questions, i.e. questions beginning

with any of the auxiliary (helping) verbs, such as ‘are’,
‘is’, ‘can’, ‘will’, ‘has’, etc.

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Rule # 1
When we change a ‘YES’ or ‘NO’ question sentence
from direct into indirect, we use the conjunction ‘if ’
or ‘whether ’.

Though there is some difference between the

conjunctions ‘if’ and ‘whether’, at this basic level,
using just ‘if’ for all the ‘yes’ or ‘no’ questions is
justified.

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While changing an interrogative sentence from direct
to indirect, the main verb in the introductory clause,
usually ‘said’, is changed into ‘asked’, ‘enquired’,
‘wanted to know’ etc.

And the word order is inversed:

He said to her, “Is this bag yours?” – Direct

He asked her if that bag was hers. -- Indirect

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For example:

Direct speech: They said to me, “did u go to school?”

Indirect Speech: They asked me if I had gone to school.

Direct speech: A woman said to me, “Is she really driving?”

Indirect speech: A woman asked me if she was really driving.

Direct speech: The man said to the boy, “Can you see those stars
or not?”
Indirect speech: The man enquired the boy whether he could see
those stars or not.

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Rule # 2
For ‘wh’ questions, no conjunction is used; the
‘wh’ word in the direct speech sentence is used as it
is!

For example:
He said to her, “What has he done?” Direct
‘wh’ question – direct speech

He asked her what he had done. Indirect

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Indirect Speech of Exclamatory Sentences

Sentence which expresses state of joy or sorrow or

wonder is called exclamatory sentence.
For example.
Hurrah! We won the match.
Alas! I failed the test.
Wow! What a nice shirt it is.

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To change such sentences, the words “exclaimed with
joy” or “exclaimed with sorrow” or “exclaimed with
wonder” is added in the reporting verb depending upon
the nature of exclamatory sentence in indirect speech.
Direct speech Indirect Speech
He said, “Hurrah! I won a He exclaimed with joy that
prize” he had won a prize.
She exclaimed with sorrow
She said, “Alas! I failed in that she had failed in the
exam”
exam.
John said, “Wow! What a nice John exclaimed with
shirt it is” wonder that it was a nice
shirt
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Indirect Speech of Imperative Sentence
A sentence which expresses command, request, advice or
suggestion is called imperative sentence.
For example,
     •  Open the door.
     •  Please help me.
     •  Learn your lesson.

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To change such sentences into indirect speech, the word
“ordered” or “requested” or “advised” or “suggested” or
“forbade” or “not to do” is added to reporting verb
depending upon nature of imperative sentence in reported
speech.
Examples
Direct speech Indirect Speech
He said to me, “please help me”. He requested me to help him.
She said to him, “you should work She suggested him to work hard
hard for exam”. for exam.
They said to him, “do not tell a lie”. They said to him not to tell a lie.
He said, “open the door”. He ordered to open the door.
The teacher said to students, “do The teacher advised the students
not waste time”. not to waste time.

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Indirect Speech for Sentences having
MODALS

Can, May and Must are the Modals that are converted
to their Past forms in the indirect speech

Would, Should, Could, Might and Ought to are the

form of Modals that are not changed in the indirect
speech.

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 Indirect speech for sentences having MODALS
“Can, May, Must”
Direct Speech Indirect Speech
CAN changes into COULD
He said, “I can drive a car” He said that he could drive a car.

She said, “he can play a violin.” She said that he could play a violin.

They said, “we can climb on a hill” They said that they could climb on a hill.
MAY changes into MIGHT
He said, “I may buy a computer” He said that he might buy a computer.

She said, “he may visit a doctor.” She said that he might visit a doctor.

They said, “they may go to zoo” They said that they might go to zoo.
MUST changes into HAD TO
He said that he had to work hard.
He said, “I must work hard”
She said that they had to carry on their work.
She said, “they must carry on their work”
I said to him that he had to learn the test-taking
I said to him, “you must learn the test-taking strategies”
strategies.

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 Indirect Speech for Sentences having Modals
“Would, could, might,  should, ought to”
Direct Speech Indirect Speech
Would

They said, “we would apply for a visa” They said that they would apply for visa.

He said, “I would start a business. He said that he would start a business.

She said, “I would appear in exam” She said that she would appear in the exam.

Could

She said, “she could play a piano” She said that she could play a piano.

They said, “we couldn’t learn the lesson” They said they couldn’t learn the lesson.

He said, “I could run faster” He said that he could run faster.

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 Might
He said, “guests might come” He said that guest might come.

She said, “it might rain” She said that it might rain.

John said, “I might meet him” John said that he might meet him.
Should
He said, “I should avail the opportunity” He said that he should avail the opportunity.

She said, “I should help him” She said that she should help him.

They said, “we should take the exam” They said that they should take the exam.
Ought to
He said to me, “you ought to wait for him” He said to me that I ought to wait for him.

She said, “I ought to learn method of study” She said that she ought to learn method of study.

They said, we ought to attend our classes” They said that they ought to attend their classes.

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Thank You

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