Reported Speech
The art of reporting the words of a speaker is called narration.
The mode of narration is of 2 types.
→ Direct Speech
→ Indirect Speech
Direct Speech: The actual words of speaker. The exact words of the speaker are enclosed in inverted commas or quotation marks and is called quote. The verb used outside the quotation mark is called the reporting verb. There is always a comma after the reporting verb. Example: He said, “I am going to school”.
Indirect Speech: The actual words of the speaker are changed, because they have been spoken by the speaker in the past, hence narrating it in the present will require change in the tense. The words of the speaker are not enclosed in inverted commas or quotation marks. The word ‘that’ is used before the spoken words of the speaker. Example: He said that he was going to school.
Steps to change Direct Speech to Indirect Speech
• Identifying Subject and object
• Change of reporting verb
• Replace inverted comma with ‘that’
• Identifying Personal persons - 1st person, 2nd person and 3rd person and change of pronouns.
• Update time and place
• Change of tense
→ Identifying subject and object
Example: Lata said to John, “Roy is a good friend of mine”.
Here, speaker (doer of the action)
Lata is a subject
Listener (receiver of action) John is the object.
→ Change of reporting verb:
Example: Manuj said, “I study hard”.
When both speaker (Manuj) and listener (Sanjay) are present then the direct speech is stated as follows
Example: Manuj said to Sanjay, “I study hard”.
Said - Said
Said to - Told
Say to - Tell
Says to - Tells
→ Replace inverted comma with conjunction ‘ that’
Example: Mary said, “She ate the pie”
Mary said that she ate the pie.
→ Change of pronouns:
|
|
Subjective case |
Objective case |
Possessive case |
|
1st person |
I |
Me |
My |
|
2nd person |
You |
You |
Your |
|
3rd person |
He |
Him |
His |
1st person changes to 3rd person
2nd person changes to 1st person or 3rd person
S O N
1st person changes 2nd person changes 3rd person no change
according to the according to the
subject object
→ Change of place and time
|
Direct speech |
Indirect speech |
|
Here |
There |
|
This |
That |
|
These |
Those |
|
Today |
That day |
|
Tomorrow |
The next day |
|
Yesterday |
The previous day |
|
Ago |
Before |
|
Now |
Then |
|
Tonight |
That night |
|
Next week |
The following week |
|
Next month |
The following month |
→ Change of Tenses:
- Simple present → Simple past
Example: He said, “I do not like computers”.
He said that he did not like computers.
- Present continuous tense - Past continuous tense
Example: He said, “It is raining heavily”.
He said that it was raining heavily.
- Present perfect tense - Past perfect
Example: He said, “He has finished his homework”.
He said that he had finished his homework.
- Present perfect continuous - Past perfect continuous
Example: He said, “I have been studying since 3’0 clock”.
He said that he had been studying since 3’0 clock.
- Simple past - Past perfect
Example: My teacher said to me, “You answered correctly”.
My teacher told me that I had answered correctly.
- Past continuous - Past perfect continuous
Example: They said, “We were enjoying the weather”.
They said that they had been enjoying the weather.
- Past perfect - No Change
Example: He said, “I had started a business”.
He said that he had started a business.
- Future tense
Will - would/will be - would be/will have - would have
Can - could
May - might
Must - had to
Example: He said, “I will read the story book”.
He said that he would read the story book.
Interrogative sentences in the Reported Speech
Interrogative sentence definition: Sentences that are used to ask questions are called interrogative sentences. They end with a question mark.
There are two types of interrogative sentences:
• Ones that can be answered in YES or NO.
• Ones that can’t be answered in YES or NO. They need to be explained.
Steps to change Interrogative sentences (reported speech) into indirect speech:
• Remove the quotation marks and the comma from the reported speech.
• Put the question word (WH family word) at the beginning of the reported speech when the question can’t be answered in YES or NO. If the question can be answered in YES/NO, replace the helping verb (auxiliary) with IF or WHETHER.
• Put the subject of the reported speech after it.
• Put the verb after the subject.
• Replace the question mark with a period/full stop.
• The reporting verb SAY in the direct speech is changed into ASK/INQUIRE.
Direct speech structure:
Auxiliary verb + subject + main verb + subject complement?
Indirect speech structure:
If/whether + subject + main verb + subject complement.
Examples:
Direct speech: I asked her, “Will you go out with me?”
Indirect speech: I asked her if/whether she would go out with me.
Direct speech: The guy on the street said to me, “Do you know whom you are messing with?”
Indirect speech: The guy on the street asked me if I knew whom I was messing with.
All these questions can be answered in YES/NO. If the questions can’t be answered in YES/NO, don’t use if/whether. Let’s look at the following examples:
Direct speech structure:
WH family word + auxiliary verb + subject + main verb + object/modifier (optional)?
Indirect speech structure:
WH family word + subject + main verb + object/modifier.
Examples:
Direct speech: He said, “What can I do for you?”
Indirect speech: He asked what he could for me.
Direct speech: My brother asked, “Who is that girl?”
Indirect speech: My brother asked who that girl was
Indirect Speech (Exclamatory sentences)
Sentence which expresses state of joy or sorrow or wonder is called exclamatory sentence. Example:
• Hurrah! We won the match.
• Alas! I failed the test.
• Wow! What a nice shirt it is.
To change such sentences, the words “exclaimed with joy” or “exclaimed with sorrow” or “exclaimed with wonder” is added in the reporting verb depending upon the nature of exclamatory sentence in indirect speech.
Examples:
Direct speech: He said, “Hurrah! I won a prize”
Indirect Speech: He exclaimed with joy that he had won a prize.
Direct speech: She said, “Alas! I failed in exam”
Indirect Speech: She exclaimed with sorrow that she failed in the exam.
Direct speech: John said, “Wow! What a nice shirt it is”
Indirect Speech: John exclaimed with wonder that it was a nice shirt.
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