Direct and Indirect speech
Notes for reference
Statements and Imperative Recap
Learning objectives:
• Distinguish between direct and indirect speech
• Define direct speech and indirect speech
• Convert direct speech to indirect speech and indirect speech to direct speech
General rule:
1. When the introductory verb (say, tell, inform, state,
claim…) is in the present, present perfect or future tense, no change in tense or adverbs of time and
place is necessary
Direct speech:
He says: “I don’t understand this question”.
Reported speech:
He says that he doesn’t understand this question.
Rule 2: If the reporting verb is in the Past Tense the verb in the reported speech is also changed to the
corresponding past tense.
Rule 3: (exception to Rule 2). If the Reported Speech contains some universal truth or habitual action,
then the Simple present in the Reported Speech is not changed into the corresponding Simple Past,
but remains unchanged.
Direct: The teacher said, “Honesty is the best policy.”
The teacher said that honest is the best policy.
Direct: “I play basketball every day,” said Joshua.
Indirect: Joshua said that he plays basketball every day.
Rule: 4-First person pronouns in the direct speech change according to the subject of the reporting
verb in the indirect speech.
Direct: John said, “I am busy.”
Indirect: John said that he was busy.
Direct: I said, “I will be late.”
Indirect: I said that I would be late.
Rule: 5–Second person pronouns in the direct speech change according to the object of the reporting
verb in the indirect speech.
Direct: Harish said to me, “You are wrong.”
Indirect: Harish told me that I was wrong.
Direct: John said to him, “You have not done your work.’’
Indirect: John told him that he had not done his work.
Rule: 6- Third person pronouns in the direct speech will not change in the indirect speech.
Direct: Harish said to me, ‘‘He is ill.’’
Indirect: Harish told me that he was ill.
Words indicating time, place and position change as follows:
Rule 7: When turning a sentence from Direct into Indirect Speech
words showing nearness are changed into words showing distance. Thus-
Rule 8: Modal verb forms also sometimes change:
Rule9: When converting a statement into indirect speech, the connective ‘that’ is used.
Ex: Rahul said to his mother, “I am going to the park”
Rahul told his mother that he was going to the park.
More examples:
Direct Speech Indirect Speech
She says, “I eat an apple a day.” She says that she eats an apple a day.
He will say, “My brother will help her.” He will say that his brother will help her.
We said, “We go for a walk every day.” We said that we went for a walk every day.
You say, “I went to London yesterday.” You say that you went to London the previous
day.
He said, “My father is playing cricket with me.” He said that his father was playing cricket with
him.
They said, “We have completed our homework.” They said that they had completed their
homework.
She said, “I have been waiting for him since last She said that she had been waiting for him since
morning.” last morning.
She said, “I bought a book.” She said that she had bought a book.
They said, “We were celebrating Eid yesterday.” They said that they had been celebrating Eid the
previous day.
We said, “We had been waiting since morning.” We said that we had been waiting since morning.
He said to me, “I will not give you any medicine He said to me that he would not give me any
without prescription.” medicine without a prescription.
Rafiq said, “I shall leave for London tomorrow.” Rafiq said that he would leave for London the
next day.
She said, “I shall be visiting my college tomorrow.” She said that she would be visiting her college
the following day.
They said, “It will have been snowing since They said that it would have been snowing since
morning.” morning.
Imperative
CONVERSION OF IMPERATIVE SENTENCES INTO INDIRECT SPEECH
An imperative sentence may convey a command, request, suggestion, advice or instruction. So reporting
verbs like order, tell, instruct, command are all used for command in reported speech. For requests we
use reporting verbs like request, ask, plead and beg,. For advice, we use reporting verbs like suggest,
advice, warn, forbid in indirect speech.
1. We do not use a connective (eg. That) to introduce the reported speech, instead the connective
‘to’ is added to the verb in the imperative sentence.. Here are examples for different type of
imperative sentences.
a. Command: The chef said to the helper, “Chop the vegetables quickly.” (direct)
The chef ordered the helper to chop the vegetables quickly. (indirect)
a. Request: The student said to the librarian, “Please allow me to go to the library.” (direct)
The student requested the librarian to allow him to go to the library. (indirect)
c. Advise: Grandma said to Raju, “Avoid drinking chilled water as it will further harm your sore throat.”
Grandma advised Raju to avoid drinking chilled water as it would further harm his sore throat.
When imperatives ‘let’s’, ‘let us’, ‘let him’ are changed into indirect speech we use reporting verbs like
‘suggest’, ‘proposes’, ‘should’, ‘to let’ and ‘might’.
e.g.
a. He said, “Let’s go to the market.”
He suggested that they should go to the market.
b. The chairman of the water board said, “Let us adopt the method of water harvesting and try to
solve the water crisis.”
The chairman of the water board proposed to adopt the method of water harvesting and tried to solve
the water crisis.
Direct Speech Indirect Speech
We said to him, “Mind your own business.” We urged him to mind his own business.
She said to him, “Consult a doctor.” She suggested him to consult a doctor.
He said to me, “Write it again.” He asked me to write it again.
You said to your father, “Please grant him leave for You requested your father to grant him leave for some time.
some time.”
My mother said to me, “Never tell a lie.” My mother forbade me to tell a lie.
Exercise 1:
• She asked me, “Please lend me your atlas”.
• The conductor said to the man, “Give the old lady your seat”.
• The teacher said to Raj, "Stand up on the bench."
• The gardener said to children, "Don't pluck the flowers again."
• Harshad Bhai said to me, "Do have a cup of tea please".
Link for practice:
• [Link]
INTERROGATIVE
Those sentences, which ask questions, are called interrogative sentences. Every interrogative sentence
ends at a sign of interrogation. For example:
Do you live here?
Have you ever watched Terminator III movie?
Where are you going?
Types: There are two types of interrogative sentences. They are
>YES/NO questions
>WH- questions
To convert the YES/NO interrogative sentences into indirect speech, follow the following rules .
The reporting verb said to is changed into asked.
Join the two parts of the sentences using “TO” in place of that.
Other changes you should as in statements
To convert the WH questions, interrogative words like who, when, how, why, when etc, is used in place of
that.
A full stop is placed at the end of the sentence instead of a mark of interrogation.
Examples:
Direct Speech Indirect Speech
I said to her, “When do you do your homework?” I asked her when she did her homework.
We said to him, “Are you ill?” We asked him if he was ill.
You said to me, “Have you read the article?” You asked me if I had read the article.
He said to her, “Will you go to the Peshawar Radio He asked her if she would go to the Peshawar Radio Station.
Station?”
She says, “Who is he?” She says who he is.
Rashid said to me, “Why are you late?” Rashid asked me why I was late.
Watch this video for more understanding
[Link]