DIRECT AND INDIRECT SPEECH

DIRECT AND INDIRECT SPEECH

Direct Speech:

Direct speech, also known as quoted speech, consists of words or phrases that are taken directly from the source. These words are quoted or written exactly as the words were originally spoken.

With regards to direct speech, there is no interpretation or annotation; the words are taken directly from one source and repeated to another. In other words, we take the words directly from the speaker and repeat them exactly as they were originally stated.

Examples of direct speech:

•           Jonah said, ''I don't like your hat.''

•           Jonah said, ''Please take off that Yankees hat.''

•           Jane said, ''It's not my fault that you are a Red Sox fan.''

Indirect Speech:

Indirect speech, also known as reported speech, is when words or phrases are reported in our own words. The original words are modified and/or interpreted as opposed to being quoted.

When talking about indirect speech, we use words that refer to something that has already happened. To do so, we are speaking in the past tense and are summarizing, modifying, or synthesizing what has already been said.

Examples of direct speech:

•           Amy said it was cold.

•           He said he had been on Facebook since 2010.

•           She said she had been teaching college classes for two years.

Changing Direct Speech into Indirect Speech:

General rules for changing direct speech into indirect speech

Omit all inverted commas or quotation marks. End the sentence with a full stop.

If the verb inside the inverted commas/quotation marks is in the present tense, change it into the corresponding past tense. If it is in the simple past tense, change it into the past perfect tense.

-Direct speech: The girl said, ‘I like singing.’

-Indirect speech: The girl said that she liked singing.

-Direct speech: Rahul said, ‘I will have to reach home by 8.30.’

-Indirect speech: Rahul said that he would have to reach home by 8.30.

-Direct speech: Alina said, ‘I met James yesterday.’

-Indirect speech: Alina said that she had met James yesterday.

When the verb inside the quotation marks expresses a universal truth, we do not normally change it into the past tense.

-He said, ‘All people have equal rights.’

-He said that all people have equal rights. (More natural than ‘He said that all people had equal rights.’)

Use pronouns appropriately.

Study the examples given below.

-Direct speech: The boy told the girl, ‘I told you that we were not going on a holiday.’

-Indirect speech: The boy told the girl that he had told her that they were not going on a holiday.

Changing Indirect Speech to Direct Speech:

The conversion of Indirect to Direct Speech generally presents no special difficulties.

Follow all the rules which we learned for changing the Direct to Indirect Speech in reverse for changing Indirect to Direct Speech.

The following examples will show you how simple and easy it is.

Examples:

•           Indirect: He enquired whether his name was Ahmed.

•           Direct: He said to him, “Is not your name Ahmed?"

•           Indirect: Clinton asked John to go with him.

•           Direct: Clinton said to John, “Come with me."

•           Indirect: The stranger asked Alice where he lived.

•           Direct: The stranger said to Alice, ‘where do you live?’

•           Indirect: An old mouse asked who would bell the cat.

•           Direct: An old mouse said, “Who will bell the cat?"

•           Indirect: Ram said to his mother that he would be late that night.

•           Direct: Ram said to his mother, “I will be late today night."

These examples are enough for you to understand how to change an Indirect to Direct Speech.

Statements in Reported Speech:

If you use a statement in Reported Speech, follow the steps described on our page Reported Speech – Summary.

• changing of the person, backshift of tenses, shifting of expressions of time/place

1. The introductory sentence

1.1. The introductory sentence in the Simple Present

If the introductory sentence is in the Simple Present, there is no backshift of tenses.

• Direct Speech → Susan: “Mary works in an office.”
• Reported Speech → Susan says (that)* Mary works in an office.

The introductory sentence is here: Susan says ... → this sentence is in the Simple Present, so there is no backshift of tenses.

1.2. The introductory sentence in the Simple Past

If the introductory sentence is in the Simple Past, there is mostly backshift of tenses.

• Direct Speech → Susan: “Mary works in an office.”
• Reported Speech → Susan said (that)* Mary worked in an office.

The introductory sentence is here: Susan said ... → this sentence is in the Simple Past, so there is backshift of tenses.

1.3. Types of introductory sentences

The word say in introductory sentences can be substituted with other words, e.g.

• add
• decide
• know
• mention
• remark
• tell *
• think

2. Change of persons/pronouns

The person/pronoun used in Direct Speech may be adapted in Reported Speech, depending on the situation.

Emily and John are talking about fashion at school. Emily says to John:

• Emily: “I like your new T-shirt.”

Possibility 1:

John says to his friend Max in the afternoon:

• Emily said (that) she liked my new T-shirt.

Possibility 2:

Emily says to her friend Julia in the afternoon:

• I said (that) I liked his new T-shirt.

3. Backshift of tenses

If the introductory sentence in in the Simple Past, there is backshift of tenses in Reported Speech. We shift the tense used in Direct Speech one step back in Reported Speech. If we use Past Perfect or the modals would, could, should, might, must, ought to and needn't in Direct Speech there is possibility to shift the tense back in Reported Speech.

3.1. Simple Present → Simple Past

Direct Speech	Reported Speech
Peter: “I work in the garden.”	Peter said (that) he worked in the garden.

3.2. Simple Past, Present Perfect, Past Perfect → Past Perfect

Direct Speech	Reported Speech
Peter: “I worked in the garden.”	Peter said (that) he had worked in the garden.
Peter: “I have worked in the garden.”
Peter: “I had worked in the garden.”

3.3. Auxiliaries, Modals

Direct Speech	Reported Speech
Peter: “I will work in the garden.”	Peter said (that) he would work in the garden.
Peter: “I can work in the garden.”	Peter said (that) he could work in the garden.
Peter: “I may work in the garden.”	Peter said (that) he might work in the garden.
Peter: “I would work in the garden.” could might should ought to	Peter said (that) he would work in the garden. could might should ought to

3.4. Present Progressive → Past Progressive

Direct Speech	Reported Speech
Peter: “I'm working in the garden.”	Peter said (that) he was working in the garden.
Peter: “I was working in the garden.”	Peter said (that) he had been working in the garden.
Peter: “I have been working in the garden.”
Peter: “I had been working in the garden.”

3.5. Past Progressive, Present Perfect Progressive, Past Perfect Progressive → Past Perfect Progressive

Direct Speech	Reported Speech
Peter: “I was working in the garden.”	Peter said (that) he had been working in the garden.
Peter: “I have been working in the garden.”
Peter: “I had been working in the garden.”

4. Shifting/Conversion of expressions of time and place

If there is an expression of time/place in the sentence, it my be shifted, depending on the situation.

Emily is at school, writing in her workbook. She misses her red pen at lunchtime. Emily says to John:

• “I lost my red pen here this morning.”

Possibility 1:

John says to his friend Max who is in the same room.

• Emily said (that) she had lost her red pen here this morning.

Possibility 2:

One day later, John sees his friend Gerry at his house. They talk about school.

• John says to Gerry → Emily said (that) she had lost her red pen at our school that morning.
• John says to Gerry → Emily said (that) she had lost her red pen there yesterday morning.

Direct Speech	Reported Speech
this evening	that evening
today/this day	that day
these days	those days
now	Then
a week ago	a week before
last weekend	the weekend before / the previous weekend
next week	the following week
tomorrow	the next/following day
here	There

* Do not forget the person after the word tell:

• She told me (that) ...
• She told George (that) ...

QUESTION FORMS AND REPORTED SPEECH:

WORD ORDER

Normal word order is used in reported questions, that is, the subject comes before the verb, and it is not necessary to use 'do' or 'did':

EXAMPLES:

Direct speech	Indirect speech
"Where does Peter live?"	She asked him where Peter lived.
"Where are you going?"	She asked where I was going.
"Why is she crying?"	He asked why she was crying.

YES / NO QUESTIONS

This type of question is reported by using 'ask' + 'if / whether' + clause:

EXAMPLES:

Direct speech	Indirect speech
"Do you speak English?"	He asked me if I spoke English.
"Are you British or American?"	He asked me whether I was British or American.
"Is it raining?"	She asked if it was raining.
"Have you got a computer?"	He wanted to know whether I had a computer.
"Can you type?"	She asked if I could type.
"Did you come by train?"	He enquired whether I had come by train.
"Have you been to Bristol before?"	She asked if I had been to Bristol before.

QUESTION WORDS

This type of question is reported by using 'ask' (or another verb like 'ask') + question word + clause. The clause contains the question, in normal word order and with the necessary tense change.

EXAMPLES:

Direct speech	Indirect speech
"What is your name?" he asked me.	He asked me what my name was.
"How old is your mother?", he asked.	He asked how old her mother was.
The policman said to the boy, "Where do you live?"	The policeman asked the boy where he lived.
"What time does the train arrive?" she asked.	She asked what time the train arrived.
"When can we have dinner?" she asked.	She asked when they could have dinner.
Peter said to John, "Why are you so late?"	Peter asked John why he was so late.

Imperative:

Imperative sentences do not normally have an expressed subject. This is because the subject ‘you’ is usually understood. As a result of this, imperative sentences begin with a verb in the simple present tense.

An imperative sentence expresses ideas such as advice, order, request, suggestion, instruction, permission, allowance etc.

In order to change an imperative sentence into the indirect speech, we use a to-infinitive. A –that clause is also possible in some cases. Note that instead of ‘said’ we use one of the following reporting verbs.

Advise, command, request, suggest, threaten, order, forbid, decree, propose, entreat, prompt, counsel, pardon, beg, persuade, instruct etc.

Notes:

After suggest, we use a –that clause and not an infinitive.

The verb propose is not followed by an object.

The verb forbid itself conveys a negative sense. Therefore, we do not use not in the following clause.

Study the following examples:

-Direct: The old woman said to the boy, ‘Please help me.’

-Indirect: The old woman requested the boy to help her.

-Direct: I said to him, ‘Love and obey your parents.’

-Indirect: I advised him to love and obey his parents. OR I advised that he should love and obey his parents.

-Direct: The teacher said to the students, ‘Work hard.’

-Indirect: The teacher advised the boys to work hard. OR The teacher suggested that the boys should work hard.

Sources:

https://study.com/academy/lesson/direct-vs-indirect-speech-definition-rules-examples.html

http://www.weblearn.in/direct_speech/

https://www.englishgrammar.org/direct-indirect-speech-general-rules/

http://www.english-for-students.com/IndirecttoDirectSpeech.html

https://www.englisch-hilfen.de/en/grammar/reported_statements.htm

https://www.ef.edu/english-resources/english-grammar/question-forms-and-reported-speech/

https://www.englishpractice.com/improve/changing-imperative-sentence-indirect-speech/