Direct indirect speech rules

Competition is getting harder day by day in every competitive exam like Here, we have tried to cover Direct and Indirect Speech through this blog. We are providing rules, example and exercise to help you with this topic. Reported Speech is also known as Direct and Indirect Speech or Narration. In Indirect Speech, we convey the speaker’s message in our own words. Thus, the message can be conveyed in 2 ways. • Direct Speech • Indirect Speech Direct speech is known as repeating the exact words spoken and Indirect speech is known as reporting the words. But the question occurs how to report or how to use Indirect speech? There are certain rules to make changes in a sentence from Direct to Indirect speech. Read the complete blog to know more. Direct and Indirect Speech Rules Below, we are sharing the rules to make changes from Direct to Indirect speech. The changes of Direct and Indirect speech depend on some factors like modals, reporting verb, place, time, tense, pronoun etc. You can check the complete information of changes in Direct and Indirect speech. Direct Speech Indirect Speech Can Could May Might Must Had to/ Would have to Should Should Might Might Could Could Would Would Ought to Ought to Direct and Indirect Speech Exercises for Modals: Look to the Direct and Indirect Speech examples with answers using modals. • He said, “I can cook food.” He said that he could cook food. • They said, “We may go to Canada.” They said that they might go to Canada. • She said, “I must ...

direct indirect reported clause statement ‘I’m tired,’ I said. I told them ( that) I was tired. that-clause question ‘Are you ready?’ the nurse asked Joel. ‘Who are you?’ she asked. The nurse asked Joel if/whether he was ready. She asked me who I was. if-clause /whether-clause wh-clause command ‘Leave at once!’ they ordered. They ordered us to leave at once. to-infinitive clause Indirect speech: reporting statements Indirect reports of statements consist of a reporting clause and a that-clause. We often omit that, especially in informal situations: The pilot commented that the weather had been extremely bad as the plane came in to land. (The pilot’s words were: ‘The weather was extremely bad as the plane came in to land.’) I told my wife I didn’t want a party on my 50th birthday. ( that-clause without that) (or I told my wife that I didn’t want a party on my 50th birthday.) Reporting yes-no questions and alternative questions Indirect reports of yes-no questions and questions with or consist of a reporting clause and a reported clause introduced by if or whether. If is more common than whether. The reported clause is in statement form (subject + verb), not question form: She asked if [S] [V] I was Scottish. (original yes-no question: ‘Are you Scottish?’) The waiter asked whether [S] we [V] wanted a table near the window. (original yes-no question: ‘Do you want a table near the window?) He asked me if [S] [V] I had come by train or by bus. (original alternative question: ‘D...

A direct speech can be transformed into an indirect speech and vice versa using a suitable reporting verb and a linker depending on the sentence. Let’s have an example first. • Tina said to me, “Are you busy now?” [direct speech] • Tina asked me whether I was busy then. [indirect speech] Direct Speech Advertisements Speaker Reporting verb Direct speech Tina said “Are you busy now?” Indirect Speech Speaker Reporting verb Linker Reported Speech Tina asked whether I was busy then. • Look, if the reporting verb in direct speech (said) is in past tense, the reporting verb in indirect speech (asked) would also be in past tense. ‘Whether’ is the linker added here as it is a ‘yes-no’ type question (Refer to list 1 below). • ‘Are’ changes to ‘was’. As the reporting verb was in past tense, the verb in the reported speech will also be in past. (Refer to list 2 below) • ‘Now’ has become ‘then’. Time and place expressions change if the reporting verb is in past tense. (Refer to list 3 below) • The question mark (?) has changed to a full stop(.). • Another important thing, the format of question (v + s + o) has changed to the format of a statement (s + v + o). In indirect speech the pattern always comes to subject + verb + object. List of Reporting verbs and linkers (list 1) Sentence Reporting verb (past) Linker Assertive Said, told That Interrogative 1. Yes-no question 2. Wh-question Asked, wanted to know, enquired If / whether Asked, wanted to know, enquired wh-word Imperative 1. With...

Direct and Indirect Speech Rules In our day-to-day life we use direct and Indirect speech on a regular basis. Before digging in the rules let us have a look at their meaning and definition. Direct speech is pretty self-explanatory, like statements that report an individual's thoughts precisely in their natural form. It is frequently surrounded by quotation marks to make it clear to the reader that the quoted statement is the presenter's original narration. Indirect speech is often termed to as reported speech, indirect narrative, or indirect discourse. In grammar, indirect speaking occurs when you recount someone else's remark in your own language without changing the statement's meaning. It is reported speech to quote someone's comments without using his own words and change the message's meaning. Rules For Direct and Indirect Speech Direct to Indirect Speech Conversion Rules A variety of criteria are evaluated when converting a direct speech sentence to indirect speech, including reporting verbs, modals, time, place, pronouns, tenses, and so on. Read on to understand each of these elements individually. Rule 1 - Direct to Reported Speech Transformation- Reporting Verb Whenever the reporting verb in direct speech is in the past tense. Then in such a scenario all the present tenses in the reported or the indirect speech are transformed to the appropriate past tense. Example of direct to indirect speech: Direct: Helen said, 'I am glad'. Indirect: Helen said (that) she was g...

SHARES Reported speech is a very common thing in the English language. We do it almost every day, in conversation and in writing. The problem is, sometimes there can be some confusion around the topic. So today we’ll take a look at reported speech: what it is, how to use it, and we’ll look at some good examples of reported speech too, so you can see how it looks in everyday conversations or writing. Table of Contents • • • • • • • • • • • • • • Reported Speech When we use reported speech, we are referring to something that was said either by ourselves or by someone else in the past. An example of this might be ‘he said that he was going shopping. This type of speech is used very frequently during both spoken and written examples of English and it is an important part of the language which any English student will find useful to learn. In this section, we are going to look at types of reported speech as well as how we can use it. What is Reported Speech? Reported speech is simply when we tell somebody what someone else said. You can do this in your writing, or in speech. Reported speech is very different from in the exact way that they said it. In reported speech though, you do not need to quote somebody directly. Instead, we use a reporting verb, such as ‘say’ or ‘ask’. These reporting verbs are used to report the speech to someone else. There are many different reporting verbs that can be used, and we’ll try to use different ones throughout this article to show you some e...