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Indirect Speech: Tense and Structure Changes

Indirect speech is a way of reporting what someone said without using their exact words. When reporting a statement in indirect speech, tenses may need to be changed depending on whether the introductory verb is in the past or present tense. Questions in indirect speech change the word order and interrogative form to an affirmative statement. Requests and commands reported in indirect speech use "to" or "not to" plus the base verb form.

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467 views5 pages

Indirect Speech: Tense and Structure Changes

Indirect speech is a way of reporting what someone said without using their exact words. When reporting a statement in indirect speech, tenses may need to be changed depending on whether the introductory verb is in the past or present tense. Questions in indirect speech change the word order and interrogative form to an affirmative statement. Requests and commands reported in indirect speech use "to" or "not to" plus the base verb form.

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  • Introduction to Direct and Indirect Speech
  • Tense Changes in Indirect Speech
  • Place, Demonstratives, and Time Expressions
  • Reporting Requests and Commands
  • Summary of Negative Requests

Indirect speech

DIRECT AND INDIRECT (OR REPORTED) SPEECH. INTRODUCTION


There are two ways of relating what a person has said: direct and indirect. In direct speech we
repeat the original speaker’s exact words:
He said, “I have lost my umbrella.”
Remarks thus repeated are placed between inverted commas, and a comma is placed
immediately before the remark. Direct speech is found in conversations in books, in plays and in
quotations.
In indirect speech we give the exact meaning of a remark or a speech, without necessarily using
the speaker’s exact words:
He said (that) he had lost his umbrella.
There is no comma after say in indirect speech. that can usually be omitted after say and tell +
object. But it should be kept after other verbs: complain, explain, object, point out, protest etc.
Indirect speech is normally used when conversation is reported verbally, though direct speech is
sometimes here to give a more dramatic effect.
When we turn direct speech into indirect, some changes are usually necessary.

STATEMENTS IN INDIRECT SPEECH: TENSE CHANGES NECESSARY


A. Indirect speech can be introduced by a verb in a present tense: He says that ... This is usual
when we are:
a. reporting a conversation that is still going on
b. reading a letter and reporting what it says
c. reading instructions and reporting them
When the introductory verb is in a present, present perfect or future tense we can report the direct
speech without any change of tense:
PAUL (phoning from the station): I’m trying to get a taxi.
ANN (to Mary, who is standing beside her): Paul says he is trying to get
a taxi.

B. But indirect speech is usually introduced by a verb in the past tense. Verbs in the direct speech
have then to be changed into a corresponding past tense. The changes are shown in the
following table.

DIRECT INDIRECT
Present Simple Past Simple

He said, “I write a letter.” He said that he wrote a letter.


Present Continuous Past Continuous

He said, “I am writing a letter.” He said that he was writing a letter.

Present Perfect Simple Past Perfect Simple

He said, “I have written a letter.” He said that he had written a letter.

Present Perfect Continuous Past Perfect Continuous

He said, “I have been writing a He said that he had been writing a


letter.” letter.

Past Simple Past Perfect Simple

He said, “I wrote a letter.” He said that he had written a letter.

Past Continuous Past Perfect Continuous

He said, “I was writing a letter.” He said that he had been writing a


letter.

Conditional
Future Simple

He said, “I will write a letter.” He said that he would write a letter.

Future Continuous Conditional Continuous

He said, “I will be writing a letter.” He said that he would be writing a


letter.

Modals
He said that he could write a letter.
He said, “I can write a letter.” He said that he might write a letter.
He said, “I may write a letter.” He said that he had to write a letter.
He said, “I have to / must write a
letter.”
Note:
1. The Past perfect Simple and Past Perfect Continuous do not change in reported
speech.
2. The modals should, could, would, might and ought to do not change.

3- Place, demonstratives and time expressions

Place, demonstratives and time expressions change if the context of the reported
statement (i.e. the location and/or the period of time) is different from that of the direct
speech.

In the following table, you will find the different changes of place; demonstratives and
time expressions.

Direct Speech Reported Speech


Time Expressions
today that day
now then
yesterday the day before
… days ago … days before
last week the week before
next year the following year
tomorrow the next day / the following day
Place
here there
Demonstratives
this that
these those

QUESTIONS IN INDIRECT SPEECH


Direct question: He said, “Where is she going?”

Indirect question: He asked where she was going.

A. When we turn direct questions into indirect speech, the following changes are necessary:
a. tenses, pronouns and possessive adjectives, and adverbs of time and place change as in statements.
b. the interrogative form of the verb changes to the affirmative form.
c. the question mark is omitted in indirect questions.
B. If the introductory verb is say, it must be changed to a verb of inquiry, e.g. ask, wonder, want to know etc.
He said, “Where is the station?”  He asked where the station was.

C. ask can be followed by the person addressed (indirect object):


He asked, “What have you got in your bag?”  He asked (me) what I had got in my bag.

But wonder and want to know cannot take an indirect object, so if we wish to report a question where the
person addressed is mentioned, we must use ask.
He said, ”Mary, when is the next train?”  He asked Mary when the next train was.

D. If the direct question begins with a question word (when, where, who, how, why etc.) the question word is
repeated in the indirect question:
He said, “Why didn’t you put on the brake?”  He asked (her) why she hadn’t put on the brake.

She said, “What do you want?”  She asked (them) what they wanted.

E. If there is no question word, if or whether must be used:


“Is anyone there?” he asked  He asked if/whether anyone was there.

Reporting requests / commands

When transforming requests and commands, check whether you have to change:

 pronouns
 place and time expressions

Direct speech Reported speech


“Nancy,do the exercise.“ He told Nancy to do the exercise.
"Nancy, give me your pen, please." He asked Nancy to give him her pen.

Tenses are not relevant for requests – simply use to  / not to + verb (infinitive without
"to")

Example:

She said, “Sit down." - She asked me to sit down.

She said, "don't be lazy" - She asked me not to be lazy

For affirmative use to + infinitive (without to)


For negative requests, use not to + infinitive (without to).

Common questions

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Modals such as should, could, would, might, and ought to do not change in reported speech. For instance, 'He said that he could write a letter' remains the same in reported speech .

When converting direct speech to indirect speech, a statement given in the present simple tense changes to the past simple tense. For example, 'He said, "I write a letter"' becomes 'He said that he wrote a letter' .

To convert a present perfect continuous tense statement in direct speech to indirect speech, it is changed to the past perfect continuous tense. For example, 'He said, "I have been writing a letter"' becomes 'He said that he had been writing a letter' .

When converting direct questions beginning with a question word to indirect speech, the question word is repeated in the indirect question, the interrogative form of the verb changes to the affirmative form, and the question mark is omitted. For example, 'He said, "Why didn’t you put on the brake?"' becomes 'He asked why she hadn’t put on the brake.' Also, the introductory verb 'say' is changed to a verb of inquiry like 'ask.' .

When converting the future simple tense from direct to indirect speech, 'will' changes to 'would'. For example, 'He said, "I will write a letter"' becomes 'He said that he would write a letter' .

To report a request from direct speech in indirect speech, verbs such as 'ask' or 'tell' are used followed by 'to' or 'not to' + verb. For an affirmative request, 'She said, "Sit down"' becomes 'She asked me to sit down.' For a negative request, 'She said, "Don't be lazy"' becomes 'She asked me not to be lazy' .

For direct questions without a question word, 'if' or 'whether' is used in indirect speech. For example, 'Is anyone there?' becomes 'He asked if/whether anyone was there.' The interrogative form changes to the affirmative, and the question mark is omitted .

When converting direct speech to indirect speech, pronouns are modified to fit the new narrative context. For instance, 'He said, "I am going to the store"' becomes 'He said that he was going to the store', where 'I' changes to 'he' to align with the speaker's identity in indirect speech .

Place and time expressions in direct speech change in indirect speech to reflect the context shift. For example, 'today' becomes 'that day', 'now' becomes 'then', and 'here' becomes 'there'. These changes depend on the context of the reported statement in relation to the original speech .

Using 'ask' instead of 'say' is significant because 'ask' can introduce questions more appropriately in indirect speech by aligning with the sought information tone. 'Say' is used for statements and must be replaced with a verb of inquiry such as 'ask' in the indirect speech format to properly reflect the interrogative intent .

Indirect speech DIRECT AND INDIRECT (OR REPORTED) SPEECH. INTRODUCTION There are two ways of relating
Present Continuous He said, “I am writing a letter.” Present Perfect Simple He said, “I have written a letter.” Present Perfe
Note: 1. The Past perfect Simple and Past Perfect Continuous do not change in reported speech. 2. The modals should, could,
b. the interrogative form of the verb changes to the affirmative form. c. the question mark is omitted in indirect questions.
For negative requests, use not to + infinitive (without to).  

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