Direct Speech: What is actually spoken by a person word-to- word ( without making any change) is said to be in Direct

Speech.
Indirect Speech: When it is reported or spoken again/ later by someone else it is said to be in Indirect Speech.
Example:
Ram said, “ I am going home.” ( direct speech)
reporting verb reported speech
Ram said that he was going home. ( indirect speech)

Parts of the direct speech

The girl says , “I am eating porridge.”

The girl : Subject says : Reporting Verb “I am eating porridge.” : Reported speech

Note 1: If the reporting verb of the direct speech is in present or future tense, the tense of verb in the indirect speech
remains unchanged.

Examples:
1. My mother says, “ You must pay attention to your studies.”
My mother says that I must pay attention to my studies.
2. My friend will say, “ You are always busy.”
My friend will say that I am always busy.
Note 2: If ‘said’ is followed by any object such as ‘me’, ‘you’, ‘him’, ‘her’, ‘them’, ‘us’ or any proper noun in the reporting
verb, it is changed into ‘told’ in the indirect speech.
Note 3:If the reported verb of the direct speech is in the past tense, the tense of the verb of speaker’s actual words is
changed into corresponding past tense as:

1. Simple Present Tense Changes into Simple Past Tense

Examples: She said, “ Rosy wants to join the hostel.”
She said that Rosy wanted to join the hostel.
2. Present Continuous changes into Past Continuous.
Examples:
The peon said to me, “ The Principal is calling you.”
The peon told me that the Principal was calling me.
3. Present Perfect Tense changes into Past Perfect Tense
Examples:
She said to me, “I have completed my work.”
She told me that she had completed her work.
4.Present Perfect Continuous Tense changes into Past Perfect Continuous Tense:
Examples:
She said, “ I have been messaging her.”
She said that she had been messaging her.
5. Simple Past Tense changes into Past Perfect Tense.
Examples:
Ramesh said, “ You came very early.”
Ramesh said that I had come very early.
6. Past Continuous Tense changes into Past Perfect Continuous tense :
Examples:
He said to me, “ I was doing my duty.”
He told me that he had been doing his duty.
7. Past Perfect Tense and Past Perfect Continuous Tense remain unchanged.
Examples:
My friend said to me, “ The police had caught a thief.”
My friend told me that the police had caught a thief.
Note 4: If the Direct Speech expresses Universal Truth, a Custom, a Proverbial Saying, a Scientific fact or a Habitual fact,
the tense of the verb in the Reported Speech is not changed.
Examples:
The teacher said, “ The Sun rises in the east.”
The teacher said that the sun rises in the east. ( unchanged because it is a scientific truth)
1.The saint said to his disciples, “ God helps those who help themselves.”
The saint told his disciples that God helps those who help themselves. ( unchanged because it is a proverb)
2.“ She hates smoking,” complained the husband.
The husband complained that she hates smoking. ( unchanged because it is a habitual fact)

ASSERTIVE SENTENCES
For further practice read the following sentences of change of narration:
Direct: He says to me, “ I am at your disposal.”
Indirect: He tells me that he is at my disposal.

Direct : You will say, “ I have done my home task.”

Indirect :You will say that you have done your home task.
Direct: I said to him, “I will help you tomorrow.”
Indirect: I told him that I would help him the next day.
Direct: Ashoka said, “ Honesty pays in the long run.”
Indirect: Ashoka said that honesty pays in the long run.
Direct: He said to me, “ They played a friendly cricket match yesterday.”
Indirect: He told me that they had played a friendly cricket match the previous day.
Direct: He said to me, “ I must invite you to tea.”
Indirect: He told me that he had to invite me to tea.
Direct:He said to you, “ You are late today.”
Indirect: He told me that you were late that day
Direct: Hari said, “ I have lost my pen now.”
Indirect: Hari said that he had lost his pen then.
Direct: I said, “ I was painting.”
Indirect: I said that I had been painting.
Direct: He said, “ I had watched three films.”
Indirect: He said that he had watched three films.

RULES FOR THE CHANGE OF PRONOUNS

1.Pronouns of the 1st person are changed according to the
subject of the reporting verb.
Examples: I said, “ I have done my work.”
I said that I had done my work.
2. Pronouns of 2nd person are changed according to the object of the reporting verb.
Example:Vijay said to me, “ You have done your work.”
Vijay told me that I had done my work.
3. Pronouns of 3rd person remain unchanged.
Examples:
He said to me, “ She is suffering from fever.”
He told me she was suffering from fever.

RULES FOR THE CHANGE OF NEARNESS OF TIME AND PLACE

CHANGE OF MODALS
• Modals:
can could
will would
may might
shall should
must had to

INTERROGATIVE SENTENCES

• The reporting verb is usually changed into verbs like ‘ask’, ‘enquire’ and ‘demand’.
• The inverted commas and the mark of interrogation are omitted.
• The structure of the reported speech is changed from interrogative form to assertive form.
• When we have ‘-wh’ interrogative words like ‘who’, ‘what’, ‘whom’, ‘where’, ‘when’, ‘why’, ‘which’ or ‘how’ at the
beginning of a question, no conjunction is used after the reporting verb.
• We use conjunctions ‘whether’ or ‘if’ to introduce the reported speech if the question begins with auxiliary verbs
such as ‘are’, ‘is’, ‘am’, ‘was’, ‘were’, ‘do’,‘does’, ‘did’, ‘have’, ‘had’, ‘will’, ‘can’, or ‘may’.
• .Questions beginning with will/shall and can/may are changed into indirect speech by using whether/if and
will/shall are changed into will/would and can/may are changed into could/might.

EXAMPLES
1.Sana said, “Mother, where have you kept my new shoes?”
Sana asked her mother where she had kept her new shoes.
2. Mridula asked Manisha, “ Did you buy the show tickets?”
Mridula asked Manisha if she had bought the show tickets.
3. Siya said to him, “ Will you play today?”
Siya asked him whether he would play that day.
4. He said to his sister, “ Can you sing like a professional singer?”
He asked his sister whether she could sing like a professional singer.

IMPERATIVE SENTENCES
An imperative sentence may convey a command,request, suggestion, advice or instruction. So, reporting verbs like ‘order’,
‘tell’, ‘instruct’, ‘command’, are used for commands in reported speech. For requests we use reporting verbs like ‘request’,
‘ask’,‘plead’ and ‘beg’. For Advice, we use reporting verbs like ‘suggest’, ‘advise’, ‘warn’, ‘forbid’ in indirect speech.We don’t
use a conjunction (that) to introduce the reported speech. Here we use (To) to introduce the reported speech.

EXAMPLES
1. Command: The chef said to the helper, “ chop the vegetables quickly.”
The chef ordered the helper to chop the vegetables quickly.
2.Request: The student said to the librarian, “ Please allow me to take this book.”
The student requested the librarian to allow him to take that book.
3. Advise: Grandma said to Kiya, “ Avoid drinking chilled water.”
Grandma advises Kiya to avoid drinking chilled water .

When imperatives ‘let’s’, ‘let us’, ‘let him’ are changed into indirect speech we use reporting verbs like ‘suggest’,
‘proposed’, ‘should’, ‘to let’and ‘might’.

EXAMPLES:
1. He said, “Let’s go to the market.”
He suggested that they should go to the market.
2. The chairman said, “ Let us adopt the method of water harvesting.”
The chairman proposed to adopt the method of water harvesting.

When we have ‘do not’ in reporting speech we change it into ‘not to’.
EXAMPLE:
The Gardner said to the children, “Do not pluck the flowers.”
The Gardner advises/ warned the children not to pluck the flowers.
NOTE: Verbs like ‘advised’, ‘commanded’, ‘requested’, ‘ordered’ etc convey the mood, purpose and intention of the
speaker.

EXCLAMATORY SENTENCES
• Exclamatory sentences express a sudden outburst of some emotions such as joy, sorrow, contempt, regret,
surprise etc. Common explanatory phrases are given below:
• Hurrah! Ha! (Express joy)
Alas! Oh! (Express sorrow, regret, or loss)
Bravo! (Express Applause)
What! Oh! How! (Express surprise)
Pooh! Pshaw! (Express contempt)
• An exclamatory sentence has a sign of exclamation after it which changes into a full stop in the indirect speech.
• In indirect speech, the exclamatory phrase or word (interjection) is replaced by ‘exclaimed with joy, sorrow, regret,
surprise, contempt etc.’
• The connective that has to be supplied in the indirect speech.
 EXAMPLES :
• Direct: The boy said, ‘Hurrah! We have won the match.’
Indirect: The boy exclaimed with joy that they had won the match.
• Direct: The old man said, ‘Alas! I have lost my purse.’
Indirect: The old man exclaimed with sorrow that he had lost his purse.
• Direct: The child said, ‘What a beautiful sight!’
Indirect: The child exclaimed with delight that it was a very beautiful sight. OR
• The child exclaimed with delight that the sight was very beautiful.
• Direct: The girl said, ‘How beautiful the girl is!’
Indirect: The girl exclaimed with delight that the rainbow was very beautiful.
• Direct: The students said to the teacher, ‘Good morning, Teacher!’
Indirect: The students respectfully wished their teacher good morning.
• Direct: ‘How glad I am,’ said Alice, ‘to meet my friend here.’
Indirect: Alice exclaimed with delight that she was very glad to meet her friend there.
• Direct: The Emperor said, ‘Alas! Our foes are too strong!’
Indirect: The Emperor exclaimed with sorrow that their foes were too strong.
• Direct: ‘Hurrah!’ cried the boy, ‘I have won a prize.’
Indirect: The boy exclaimed with delight he had done a prize.
• Direct: The candidate said, ‘How difficult the problem is!’
Indirect: The candidate exclaimed with disapproval that the problem was very difficult.