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    Notes - Reported Speech

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    Notes - Reported Speech

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    13 views7 pages

    Notes - Reported Speech

    Uploaded by

    zackroiteyt

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    © All Rights Reserved
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    Notes - Reported speech

    Direct Speech

     Reporting the message of the speaker in the exact words as spoken by the
    speaker
     Exact words are put within inverted commas.
     The actual words of the speaker are separated by a comma after the reporting
    verb.
     The first word in the quoted section will always begin with a capital letter.
     Punctuation marks like question marks, exclamation marks, commas are used.

    Indirect speech

     Reporting the message of the speaker in our own words without repeating the
    actual words but the substance of the words used by the speaker.
     Inverted commas are removed and the conjunction ‘that’ is used to connect
    both parts of the sentence.
     The punctuation marks like question marks, exclamation marks are removed.

    Reporting Verb

     When we are reporting someone’s words, the reporting verb that we use
    should express the feelings of the speaker.
     Say or tell as a reporting verb: We use say and tell in different ways in reported
    speech. Say focuses on the words someone said and tell focuses more on the
    content or message of what someone said:
     Say' is usually used without an indirect object.
     Tell is used with an indirect object after the reporting verb.
    With 'tell' we NEED the object (e.g. 'me', 'you', 'her').
    With 'say' we CAN'T use the object (e.g. 'me', 'them', 'us').

    Direct : John said ,"I'll be late".


    Indirect :John said (that) he would be late.

    Direct : John told to her ,"I'll be late".


    Indirect :John told to her (that) he would be late.
    Direct and Indirect Speech Rules
    Rules for converting Direct into Indirect speech
     To change a sentence of direct speech into indirect speech there are various
    factors that are considered, such as reporting verbs, modals, time, place,
    pronouns, tenses, etc. We will discuss each of these factors one by one.
     A conjunction, if required is used to join the direct speech with the rest of the
    sentence.

    Rule 1 – Direct To Indirect Speech Conversion – Reporting Verb

    1. The tenses of direct speech do not change if the reporting verb is in the future
    tense or present tense.

    Direct to indirect speech example:


    Direct: She says/will say, ‘I am going’
    Indirect: She says/will say she is going.

    2. When the reporting verb of direct speech is in past tense then all the present
    tenses are changed to the corresponding past tense in indirect speech.

    Direct: She said, ‘I am happy’.


    Indirect: She said (that) she was happy.

    3. In indirect speech, tenses do not change if the words used within the quotes (‘’)
    talk of a habitual action or universal truth.

    Direct: He said, ‘We cannot live without air’.


    Indirect: He said that we cannot live without air.

    Rule 2 – Direct Speech to Indirect Speech conversion – Change of Tenses

    MCB Refer pg no 125

    Direct speech Indirect speech


     Simple Present Changes  to Simple Past
     Eg walk/walks  Eg walked
     Present Continuous Changes  to Past Continuous
     Am / is / are  was / were
     Present Perfect Changes  to Past Perfect.
     Had
     Has / have

     Present Perfect continuous  to Past Perfect continuous


    Changes  had been
     Have been /has been

     Simple Past Changes  to Past Perfect


     had written
     wrote

     Past Continuous Changes to


     to Past Perfect Continuous
    Past Perfect Continuous
     Had been
     Was/were

     Past Perfect  No Change

     Past perfect continuous  No Change

     Would, should, might, could,


     Modals (will,shall, may,can, must)
    had to

     Would,should,might,could,have
     No change
    to,ought to, must not

    Rule 3 – Direct Speech to Indirect Speech Conversion – Change of Pronouns

    MCB Refer pg no 125

    Direct Speech Indirect Speech


     I  He,she

     We  they

     Singular ‘you’ used as subject  I she ,he

     Plural ‘you’ used as subject  We ,they

     He ,she, it ,they (as subject)  No change

     Me  Him .her

     Us  them

     Singular ‘you’ as object  Me,him,her

     Plural ‘you’ as object  us,them

     Him, her it, them  No change

     My  His,her

     Our  their

     Singular ‘your’  My,his,her

     Plural ‘your’  their

     His,her its,their  No change.

    Rule 4 – Direct Speech to Indirect Speech Conversion – Change of time and


    place.

    MCB Refer pg no 125

    Direct Speech Indirect Speech


     This  that
     these  those

     today  that day

     tomorrow  the next day / the following day

     yesterday  the previous day / the day before

     now  then

     ago  before

     last  the previous

     next  the following

     here  there

    Rule 5 – Direct Speech to Indirect Speech Conversion – Interrogative


    Sentences

     No conjunction is used, if a sentence in direct speech begins with a question


    (what/where/when) as the “question-word” itself acts as a joining clause.
    Direct: “Where do you live?” asked the boy.
    Indirect: The boy enquired where I lived.

     If a direct speech sentence begins with an auxiliary verb/helping verb, the


    joining clause should be if or whether.
    Direct: She said, ‘Will you come for the party’?
    Indirect: She asked whether we would come for the party.

     Reporting verbs such as ‘said/ said to’ changes to enquired, asked, or


    demanded.
    Direct: He said to me, ‘What are you wearing’?
    Indirect: He asked me what I was wearing.
    Rule 6 – Direct Speech to Indirect Speech Conversion – Imperative Sentences

     Indirect Speech is supported by some verbs like requested, ordered,


    suggested and advised. Forbid-forbade is used for negative sentences.
    Therefore, the imperative mood in the direct speech changes into the Infinitive
    in indirect speech.
    Direct: She said to her ‘Please complete it’.
    Indirect: She requested her to complete it.
    Direct: Hamid said to Ramid, ‘Sit down’.
    Indirect: Hamid ordered Ramid to sit down.
     When the imperative sentence in the direct speech is with ‘Let’s’ then we have
    to remove let’s and should change into indirect speech as follows.
    Reporting Verb + that + subject +should +rest of the sentence.
    Direct: He said, “let`s sing a song together.”
    Indirect: He suggested that we should sing a song together.

    Rule 7 – Direct Speech to Indirect Speech Conversion – Exclamatory


    Sentences

    1. In Exclamatory sentences that express grief, sorrow, happiness,


    applauds, Interjections are removed and the sentence is changed to an
    assertive sentence.

    Direct: She said, ‘Alas! I am undone’.


    Indirect: She exclaimed sadly that she was broke.

    Rules of converting Indirect Speech into Direct Speech


    The following rules should be followed while converting an indirect speech to direct
    speech:

    1. Use the reporting verb such as (say, said ) in its correct tense.
    2. Put a comma before the statement and the first letter of the statement should
    be in capital letter.
    3. Insert question mark, quotation marks, exclamation mark and full stop, based
    on the mood of the sentence.
    4. Remove the conjunctions like (that, to, if or whether) wherever necessary.
    5. Where the reporting verb is in past tense in indirect, change it to present tense
    in the direct speech.
    6. Change the past perfect tense either into present perfect tense or past tense,
    as necessary.

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