Direct and Indirect speech

DIRECT AND INDIRECT SPEECH 

            There are many situations in our life that we need to describe an event or a conversation that we need to imitate what someone said. To describe an event or action, we should know about Direct and Indirect Speech. Before we move on to changing the sentence, let's see what direct and indirect speech is.

DIRECT SPEECH : 

        The speaker's actual words are quoted as it is, without any change is called "Direct Speech".

KEY = There is a quotation mark (" ") in the sentence.

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Suji said, "I'm studying" 

Here, Suji describes the exact words. And also the sentence "I'm studying" is within the quotation. 

INDIRECT SPEECH: 

            The actual words of the speaker are transformed into other words. But the meaning of the sentence is constant. 

KEY = There is no quotation mark in the sentence. 

He said that he would call me the next day. 

Here, He said, "I will call you tomorrow". But when she speaks in the phone call, she converts the sentence that is HE SAID THAT HE WOULD CALL ME THE NEXT DAY. 

        There are a lot of changes in the two sentences. But the meaning is same. It's not easy to change the sentence into indirect speech. If we use some rules, then it would be easy for us. 

Direct speech: The first girl said, " I play baseball with my friends" 

Indirect Speech: She told that she played baseball with her friends. 

(told, that, played and her these are changed we seen in the above sentence.)

 Let see how the sentences change with help of some rules. 

Step by step you can see the changes in the following sentence. 

RULE 1: 

            

            Commas and quotations should be removed. 

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Example : 

Direct speech: Raja said to Rani, " I am very happy today"

Indirect speech: Raja said to Rani I am very happy today. 

 (according to rule one commas and quotation only changed ) 

RULE 2 : 

            

            Reporting verb should be change. There are four kinds of sentence. They are 

1. Statement - express a fact, idea or opinion.
2. Interrogative - Wh questions ( ? ) or yes or no questions (verbal questions)
3. Imperative - order, comment, request 
4. Exclamatory - express the feelings (!) 

Changes in reporting verb 

Direct speech	Indirect speech
said to	told
Said/ said to	asked
Said / said to	Ordered, requested, commanded, pleased, etc.,
Said / said to	exclaimed

Raja said to Rani "I am very happy today". Here said to is a reporting verb. 

Direct speech: Raja said to Rani, " I am very happy today." 

Indirect speech: Raja told Rani I am very happy today.

                     Here said to changed into told. 

(According to rule 1 & 2, commas, quotations and reporting verb only changed)

RULE 3:

            

            Include connecting words. 

sentence	Indirect speech
statement	that
interrogative Wh questions yes or no questions	why, when, where, what, How etc., If/whether
imperative don't  request, commend, advice etc.,	Not to to
exclamatory	that

In this image "that" is the connecting word.

Example : 

Direct speech: Raja said to Rani, "I am very happy today"

Indirect speech: Raja told Raji that I am very happy today.

(According to rule 1, 2 & 3, commas, quotations, reporting verb & connecting verb)

 

RULE 4 : 

            Changes in pronoun. 

DIRECT SPEECH	INDIRECT SPEECH
I	He / She
My	His / Her/ Him
Myself	Himself / Herself
We	They
Us	Them
Our	Their

 

In the above image "you" change into "me".

Example:

Direct speech: Raja said to Rani, " I am very happy today." 

Indirect speech : Raja told Rani that he am very happy today.

(According to rule 1,2,3&4, commas, quotation, reporting verb, connecting word and pronoun changed )

RULE 5: 

                Changes in a Tense form. 

DIRECT SPEECH	INDIRECT SPEECH
Simple present tense	Simple past tense
Present continuous tense	Past continuous tense
Present perfect tense	Past perfect tense
Present perfect continuous tense	Past perfect continuous tense
Simple Past tense	Past perfect tense
Past continuous	Past perfect continuous

No changes in Tense forms

Reporting verb/ Reporting speech	Indirect speech
Reporting verb contains “ simple present tense” Example : She says, “ I very happy”	No change   She says that she is very happy
Both reporting verb and reporting speech contains “Past tense” Example : He said, “when the chief guest arrived everyone stood up”.	No change     He said that when the chief guest arrived everyone stood up.
universal truth, historical events, scientific truth or habitual action contains in reporting speech. Example : She said, “The Sun rises in the east”	No change     She said that the Sun rises in the east.
Reporting verb contains “future tense” Example: He will say, "I am singing”.	No change   He will say that he is singing.
Past perfect tense takes place in reporting speech. Example: He said, "I had waited for an hour for the train”.	No change   He said that he had waited for an hour for the bus

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She said, " The Sun rises in the east".

She said that the Sun rises in the east. 

Example : 

Direct speech: Raja said to Rani, "I am very happy today".

Indirect speech: Raja told Rani that he was very happy today.

(According to rule 1,2,3,4&5, commas, quotation, reporting verb, connecting verb and tense changed)

RULE 6:

            Change in adverbial of time. 

Direct speech	Indirect speech
Tomorrow	The next day
Today	That day / the same day
Yesterday	The day before / the previous day
This week/month/year	That / same week / month / year.
Next week/ month/ year	The following week/month/year.
Last week/month/year	The previous week/month/year.
Thus	So
This	that
Now/ just	Then
Here	there
Hence	Thence

In the above image, the word "Tomorrow" change into "the next day".

EXAMPLE:

Direct speech: Raja said to Raji, "I am very happy today".

Indirect speech: Raja told Rani that he was very happy that day.

(From rule 1 to 6, all the rules are implemented and finally we have the correct indirect speech. )

Now, see the difference between direct and indirect speech in the sentence, 

Direct speech: Raja said to Rani," I am very happy today." 

Indirect speech: Raja told Rani that he was very happy that day. 

Now let's see some more examples: 

Statement :

Direct speech: The student said, " I will do my duty sincerely".

Indirect speech: The student told that he would do his duty sincerely.   

told - reporting verb

that - connecting word

he and his - pronoun change 

would - tense form 

                               

Interrogative sentence :

Direct speech: The teacher said," who are you?"

Indirect speech: The teacher asked who he was. 

asked - reporting verb

who - connecting word

he - pronoun 

was - tense formation 

Imperative sentence : 

 

Direct speech: The manager said to him, "Let us change the plan".

Indirect speech: The manager proposed to him that they should change the plan

proposed - reporting verb 

that - connecting verb 

  they should - tense formation 

Exclamatory sentence : 

Direct speech: Lakshmi said," What a nice day! "

Indirect speech : Lakshmi exclaimed with surprise that it was a very nice day. 

exclaimed with surprise - reporting verb 

 that - connecting word

what - it 

present tense - was (past tense)