4.2 Direct & Indirect Speech

 

DIRECT AND INDIRECT SPEECH

   1. the actual words spoken by a person are called Direct Speech. Direct Speech is usually  put within inverted commas. When the words spoken by a person are reported by another  person, without quoting his exact words, it is called Reported or Indirect Speech.

e.g.   He said : “I am late today.” (Direct speech)

   He said that he was late that day. (Indirect speech)

  2. Rules for changing from direct to indirect speech :

(1) The use of the reporting verb, like said, will depend on the meaning of the Direct Speech. If it is a Question, Statement, Explanation or Order/Request, we would use reporting verbs like told, asked, said, exclaimed or ordered/requested respectively.

(2) When the reporting verb is in the Past Tense, the tenses of the reported verbs (in the direct speech passage) will change in the following ways:

(a) Simple Present-Simple Past

(b) Present Continuous-Past Continuous

(c) Present Perfect -Past Perfect

(d) Present Perfect Continuous-Past Perfect Continuous

(e) Simple Past -Past Perfect

(f) Future Tense 'will/shall' become 'would/should'.

However, if the sentence in direct speech is a universal truth, its tense will not change.

e.g. He said, "All mothers love their children."

    He said that all mothers love their children.

 3. First Person Possessive Pronouns and Adjectives become Third Person Possessive Pronouns and Adjectives, 

  e.g. 'my' and 'our' become 'his/her' and 'their'.

 4. Inverted commas are used in Direct Speech. These should be dropped in Indirect Speech.

 5. Words referring to time in the Direct Speech passage will change in this way :

(a) today becomes that day

(b) yesterday becomes the day before or the previous day.

(c) tomorrow becomes the next day or the following day.

(d) now becomes then.

6. Where the Reporting Verb is in the Present or Future Tenses, the principal verb tenses in the Direct Speech remain unchanged. Only the Pronouns will change.

e.g. (1) He said, “Switch off the light.”

He asked me to switch off the light.

(2) He asked, "When is your mother coming ?"

He asked me when my mother was coming.

(3) She said, “Oh! What a beautiful scene!”

She exclaimed with delight that it was a very beautiful scene.

(4) He says, "The sun never rises in the west."

He says that the sun never rises in the west.

 7. When changing from the Question form to the Assertive form, the subject should be placed before the verb.

e.g. He asked him, “Who is your father?"

He asked who his father was.

Sample Questions

 1. Select the correct indirect speech form of the given direct speech :

The teacher said to Ashok, “Go away."

(1) The teacher said to Ashok that he could go away.

(2) The teacher ordered Ashok to go away.

(3) The teacher asked Ashok if he could go away.

(4) The teacher requested Ashok to go away.

Explanation : The teacher has clearly ordered Ashok to go away. Hence option (2) is the answer

2. Select two incorrect indirect speech sentences :

(1) The teacher said that the flower will be dead by tomorrow.

(2) He asked Vijaya how she could change it.

(3) The Principal ordered us to clean the ground just now.

(4) Maria asked her husband to pack the bag.

Explanation : In Option (1), the second verb should be 'would be dead'. The words “just now' in Option (3) should be right then.' Hence options (1) and (3) are the answers.

4. Identify the correct direct speech for the given indirect speech : (2017).

Dick says that he has once been to Spain.

(1) Dick says, "He has once been to Spain".

(2) Dick says, “I have once been to Spain."

(3) Dick says, "He have once been to Spain."

(4) Dick says, "I has once been to Spain."

5.  Choose one alternative to complete the sentence in Indirect speech :

He asked them ......... they would listen to such a man. (2018)

(1) that    (2) whether    (3) to    (4) what