10 examples of direct and indirect speech

Hedieh Najafi Hedi Najafi earned her Ph.D. in Educational Leadership and Policy Studies from Arizona State University. She also has an M.A. and B.A. in English Language and Literature. In addition, she has several certificates and certifications such as Tesol Ontario, Laubach Literacy of Canada Tutor Certificate, and Financial Markets from Yale. In addition to teaching in North America, Dr. Hedi Najafi has taught in many institutions of higher education around the world. She has been teaching ESL, English, General Education, and Educational Leadership courses for the past twenty years. • Instructor When writers write about phrases or sentences a source has said, they can use either direct speech or indirect speech. Direct speech is used to repeat what someone else has said, and indirect speech is used to report on what someone else has said. The following sections cover topics such as direct and indirect speech, direct speech examples, and reported speech examples. Background on Communication Spoken and written communication is like one big game of telephone. Sometimes we hear the original tale, and other times we hear a retelling of the story. In this lesson, we're going to explore what that means by studying the difference between direct and indirect speech and learning proper grammar techniques for both. Indirect speech, also referred to as reported speech, is the interpretation or modification of the words of the original source. Since indirect speech reports on the wo...

Speech is an important feature in factual writing, such as newspaper reports and recounts. It enables the writer to share important information about what people involved in the story had to say. Inverted commas are used to show direct speech in your writing. Recap and get moving with this fun video. Factual writing such as newspaper reports or recounts include two types of speech - direct and indirect/reported speech. Direct speech Direct speech is when the exact words that have been said by a person are written down inside inverted commas. • Inverted commas (speech marks) go before and after direct speech. They surround what was said by the speaker. For example: "I'm pleased to have raised so much money," said Captain Tom. Punctuating direct speech • A new speaker needs a new line. This might not be included in a newspaper report as the speech won’t be part of a conversation between people or characters. • You should use a capital letter at the start of each piece of speech. • Punctuation (question marks, full stops and exclamation marks) go inside the inverted commas. • If the person who is speaking is named before the speech, you must use a comma before the first set of inverted commas. For example: Captain Tom exclaimed, “Let’s go and do some more laps of the garden!” Indirect (reported) speech • When indirect speech is used, the writer will share the main points of what someone has said without writing exactly what they said in full. • No speech punctuation (like inv...

Direct and Indirect Speech Rules In the English language, there are two ways of conveying what someone else has said: direct/quoted speech and indirect/ reported speech. Direct Speech Direct/quoted speech, involves quoting the exact words uttered by the person, within inverted commas or quotation marks. Direct speech examples: • She said, “I won’t be coming home tonight ”. • Tom said, “There’s a tiger outside the window.” • “There’s a fly in my soup!” screamed John. • He said, “What time will you be home?” and I said, “I don’t know! “ Note that in this type of speech, a comma is most often used before starting the exact quote within the inverter commas. Indirect Speech (Reported Speech) Indirect/reported speech, on the other hand, does not have to be within quotes or reported word-to-word. In fact, unless one is relaying the exact words spoken, one should never use quotation marks. Indirect speech examples: • She told us that she wouldn’t be coming home that night. • She told him that she was happy. • He told me that he was tired. • She was speaking on the telephone. Note that the Direct and Indirect Speech Examples DIRECT SPEECH REPORTED SPEECH / INDIRECT SPEECH He said, “I’m fine.” He said that he was fine. He said, “I’ve been married for three years.” He said that he had been married for three years. He said, “I went to the theatre yesterday.” He said that he had gone to the theatre the day before. He said, “The show was already underway when the chief guest arrived.” H...

Spoken and written communication is like one big game of telephone. Sometimes we hear the original tale, and other times we hear a retelling of the story. In this lesson, we're going to explore what that means by studying the difference between direct and indirect speech and learning proper grammar techniques for both. When we use direct speech, we are repeating what was said. When we use indirect speech, we're reporting what was said. Let's now look at some specific examples to learn how to change speech from direct to indirect. These examples will also reinforce the difference between direct and indirect speech. 1. Changing From Present Tense to Past Tense When converting speech from direct to indirect, you must change the present tense verbs to the past tense and remove any quotation marks or commas. Direct Speech (Present Tense) Indirect Speech (Past Tense) Jenn says, ''I love watching TV.'' Jenn said she loved watching TV. 2. Changing From Simple Past Tense to Past Perfect Tense What if the direct speech is already written in the past tense? If the sentence is written in simple past tense, you just remove the punctuation and change the verb to past perfect to make it indirect speech. Direct Speech (Simple Past Tense) Indirect Speech (Past Perfect Tense) Lana said, ''I saw him at the mall.'' Lana said she had seen him at the mall. 3. Changing Speech in the Form of a Question Whether you are repeating or reporting what someone has said, there are grammatical rules for b...

Look at these examples to see how we can tell someone what another person asked. direct speech: 'Do you work from home?' he said. indirect speech: He asked me if I worked from home. direct speech: 'Who did you see?' she asked. indirect speech: She asked me who I'd seen. direct speech: 'Could you write that down for me?' she asked. indirect speech: She asked me to write it down. Try this exercise to test your grammar. Grammar test 1 Read the explanation to learn more. Grammar explanation A reported question is when we tell someone what another person asked. To do this, we can use direct speech or indirect speech. direct speech: 'Do you like working in sales?' he asked. indirect speech: He asked me if I liked working in sales. In indirect speech, we change the question structure (e.g. Do you like) to a statement structure (e.g. I like). We also often make changes to the tenses and other words in the same way as for reported statements (e.g. have done → had done, today → that day). You can learn about these changes on the Yes/ no questions In yes/ no questions, we use if or whether to report the question. If is more common. 'Are you going to the Helsinki conference?' • He asked me if I was going to the Helsinki conference. 'Have you finished the project yet?' • She asked us whether we'd finished the project yet. Questions with a question word In what, where, why, who, when or how questions, we use the question word to report the question. 'What time does the train leave?' • H...

Direct and Indirect Speech Direct And Indirect Speech : Direct and indirect Speeches are used during our day to day life conversations. Generally while speaking in general conversation, we use indirect speech. There are many instances where we need to describe an event or action that happened (while telling about a particular event), and very often that includes repeating what someone said. For example, Payal came in and said, “I’m really hungry.” In this someone is describing the event that happened. Such occasions occur frequently in our daily life. In order to describe what someone said, we use direct and indirect speech frequently. Direct and Indirect speeches are not just important to our daily conversations, but they are also important for our exams. A number of questions are asked from direct and indirect speeches in the exams like, IBPS PO, SBI PO, IBPS Clerk, etc. So, in this blog, we will know everything about direct and indirect speeches like rules, examples, how to convert direct to indirect speech, and practice questions. So, without further ado, let’s get started. Table of Contents • • • • • • • • • Direct Speech When we want to describe what someone said to us, we commonly use direct speech. We simply repeat what someone said, putting the phrase between speech marks. For example; Payal came in and said, “I’m really hungry.” Here in this example, someone is describing what Payal said. We commonly use this type of language in TV news and newspapers. For exampl...

50 Examples of Direct and Indirect Speech Exercises! Whether you’re a student, teacher, or business professional, learning to use direct and indirect speech is essential. Good news: We have 50 examples of both direct and indirect speech for you to study. Here’s what you need to know about direct and indirect speech: Direct speech repeats, or quotes, the exact words spoken by a person. Indirect speech conveys the gist or essence of what was said without using the person’s exact words. When learning a new language, it is important to be able to understand and produce both direct and indirect speech. Direct speech is when we quote someone verbatim, for example, “I’m going to the store,” while indirect speech is a restatement of what was said, for example, “She said she was going to the store.” Both are important in order to be a competent speaker or writer. To better understand the concept of direct versus indirect speech, let’s take a look at 50 different examples of each. 50 Examples of Direct and Indirect Speech Exercises PDF 1- Direct- “I am going to the store,” said Sarah. Indirect- Sarah said that she was going to the store. 2- Direct- “I do not like spinach,” said Billy. Indirect- Billy said that he did not like spinach. 3- Direct- “I will never eat spinach,” said Billy. Indirect- Billy said that he would never eat spinach. 4- Direct- I do not understand, said the student. Indirect- The student said that he did not understand. 5- Direct- I am very hungry, said the litt...