1. Direct-Indirect Speech
In English Grammar
B C K

2. Direct-Indirect (or Reported) Speech
He said to me, “John is a good boy.”
Direct Speech
He told me that John was a good boy.
Indirect (Reported) Speech
B C K

3. Direct-Indirect Speech
Direct Speech sentences are mostly used in writing; the actual spoken words by somebody else are written as they are, and are placed within a pair of quotation marks “…”.
Mary said, “John is a good boy.”
‘John is a good boy’ – actual spoken words
B C K

4. Direct-Indirect Speech
Mary and Joseph were arguing. Tom heard Mary say to Joseph “I will kill you.”, and then he (Tom) told us what Mary said, in her own words.
(Tom said to us)
Mary said to Joseph, “I will kill you.”
– Direct Speech
B C K

5. Direct-Indirect Speech
Mary and Joseph were arguing. Tom heard Mary say to Joseph “I will kill you.”, and then he (Tom) told us what Mary said – not in her own words but in an indirect way, i.e. he reported Mary’s words. This speech is mostly used in conversation.
(Tom told us)
Mary told Joseph that she would kill him.
-- Indirect Speech
B C K

6. Direct-Indirect Speech
To understand the difference between the direct speech sentence and the indirect (reported) speech sentence, we need to learn the changes that take place – changes in verb tense, in punctuation marks and in personal pronouns.
The changes we see are applied only when the main verb in the introductory clause of the Direct Speech sentence is in Past Tense!
B C K

7. Direct-Indirect Speech
John said to Mary, “I am your friend.”
Direct Speech
introductory clause
actual spoken words
‘said’ = main verb in introductory clause
simple past tense
‘said to’ in direct speech changes to ‘told’ in indirect speech
B C K

8. Direct-Indirect Speech – Changes 1 Tense
Sue said to Peter, “I understand the problem.”
Direct Speech
‘understand’ – main verb – simple present tense
Sue told Peter that she understood the problem.
Indirect Speech
‘understood’ – main verb – simple PAST tense
B C K

9. Direct-Indirect Speech –Changes 2 the other changes – punctuation
Sue said to Peter , “
I understand the problem.
B C K

10. Direct-Indirect Speech – changes 3 Other changes
Sue said to Peter, “I understand the problem.”
Direct Speech
Sue told Peter that she understood the problem.
Indirect Speech
B C K

11. Direct-Indirect Speech -- Changes 4 Tense
She said to him, “They are boxing.” Direct
‘are boxing’ – main verb – present continues tense
She told him that they were boxing. Indirect
‘were boxing’ – main verb – PAST continues tense
B C K

12. Direct-Indirect Speech – Changes 5 Tense
She said to me, “He has given me some medicine.”
Direct Speech
‘has given’ – main verb – present perfect tense
She told me that he had given her some medicine.
Indirect Speech
‘had given’ – main verb – PAST perfect tense
B C K

13. Direct-Indirect Speech -- Changes 6 Tense
Kate said, “I have been waiting here for an hour.”
Direct Speech
‘have been waiting’ - main verb - present perfect continues
Kate said that she had been waiting there for an hour.
Indirect Speech
‘had been waiting’ - main verb - PAST perfect continues
B C K

14. Direct-Indirect Speech – Changes 7 Tense
He said, “She played golf in the morning.”
Direct Speech
‘played’ -- main verb -- simple past tense
He said that she had played golf in the morning.
Indirect speech
‘had played’ -- main verb -- past perfect tense
B C K

15. Direct-Indirect Speech -- note
The simple past tense in the subordinate clause (actual spoken words) in the direct speech sentence, when changed into indirect speech, sometimes changes into past perfect tense and sometimes remains unchanged.
B C K

16. Direct-indirect Speech – note (continued)
He said, “I bought a house.” Direct Speech
‘bought’ – main verb – simple past tense
He said that he had bought a house. Indirect
‘had bought’ – main verb – past perfect tense – changed
(B) He said, “I had a dream last night.” Direct Speech
‘had’ – main verb – simple past tense
He said that he had a dream last night. Indirect Speech
‘had’ – main verb -- simple past tense -- unchanged
B C K

17. Direct-Indirect Speech – Changes 8 Tense
She said to me, “He was swimming in the pool.”
Direct Speech
‘was swimming’ -- main verb -- past continues tense
She told me that he had been swimming in the pool.
Indirect Speech
‘had been swimming’ -- main verb -- past perfect continues tense
Past continues tense becomes PAST PERFECT CONTINUES TENSE
B C K

18. Direct-Indirect Speech – Changes 9 Tense
The Modal Auxiliary (helping) Verbs are changed into their past forms:
can could; may might; will would;
shall should
B C K

19. Direct-Indirect Speech – Changes 10 Tense
She said to me, “They will take their test tomorrow.”
Direct speech
She told me that they would take their test the next day.
Indirect Speech
‘will’ becomes ‘would’!
B C K

20. Direct-Indirect Speech – Changes – Personal Pronouns
1st
2nd
3rd
number
singular
plural
gender
common
Male female Neuter
Male female Neuter
Nominative (subjective) case I We
you
He she it
They they they
Objective
(accusative)
case me us
Him her it
Them them them
Possessive
(genitive) My
mine
Our
ours
Your
yours
His her its
His hers its
Their their their
Theirs theirs theirs
Reflexive
myself
ourselves
yourself
yourselves
Himself herself
itself
themselves
B C K

21. Direct-Indirect Speech – changes – personal pronouns
Personal Pronoun – I =
first person
singular
common gender (male or female)
subjective case
Personal Pronoun – him =
third person
masculine gender (male)
objective case
B C K

22. Direct-Indirect Speech – Changes – Personal Pronouns
He said to her, “I love you.” Direct Speech
He – third person, singular, male, is related to “I” –
first person, singular, male: so, in indirect speech ‘I’ becomes “HE”.
Her – third person, singular, female, is related to “you” – second person, singular, female: so in indirect speech ‘you’ becomes “HER”.
He told her that he loved her. Indirect Speech
B C K

23. Direct-Indirect Speech -- changes -- Personal Pronouns
The girl said to the spider, “You have eaten my pie.” Direct Speech
The girl told the spider that it had eaten her pie.
Indirect Speech
B C K

24. Direct-Indirect speech – changes – Personal Pronouns
Jane said to Paul, “I can’t help you.” Direct Speech
Jane told Paul that she couldn’t help him.
Indirect Speech
B C K

25. Direct-Indirect Speech – changes – personal Pronouns
The boy said to me, “You aren’t my friend.” Direct
The boy told me that I wasn’t his friend. Indirect
B C K

26. Direct-Indirect Speech – Changes – Conjunctions 1
While changing a Direct Speech Sentence into an Indirect Speech Sentence, we use a conjunction to join both the clauses -- the introductory clause and the ‘actual spoken words’, subordinate clause.
To join the two clauses in a statement sentence, we use the conjunction ‘that’.
(The conjunction ‘that’ is normally not mentioned as it is understood.)
B C K

27. Direct-Indirect Speech – changes – Personal Pronouns
The mouse said, “Mother, I am hungry.” Direct
The mouse told its mother that it was hungry.
Indirect
B C K

28. Direct-Indirect Speech – Changes -- Conjunction 2
There are two types of questions: ‘wh’ questions, i.e. questions beginning with any of the wh words, such as ‘who’, ‘which’, ‘what’, ‘how’, etc.
And ‘yes’ or ‘no’ questions, i.e. questions beginning with any of the auxiliary (helping) verbs, such as ‘are’, ‘is’, ‘can’, ‘will’, ‘has’, etc.
B C K

29. Direct-Indirect Speech – Changes – Conjunction 3
When we change an ‘yes’ or ‘no’ question sentence from direct into indirect, we use the conjunction ‘if ’ or ‘whether ’.
Though there is some difference between the conjunctions ‘if’ and ‘whether’, at this basic level, using just ‘if’ for all the ‘yes’ or ‘no’ questions is justified.
B C K

30. Direct-Indirect Speech – Changes – Conjunctions 2
A woman said to me, “Is she really driving?”
Interrogative sentence – ‘yes’ or ‘no’ question – Direct Speech
A woman asked me if she was really driving.
Indirect Speech
B C K

31. Direct-Indirect Speech -- Changes – note 1
The word order of the question sentence is different from that of the statement sentence.
In a statement sentence the subject comes first and the verb comes second, but in interrogative (question) sentence, the verb comes first and the subject comes second:
He is a boy. Statement Sentence
‘He’ – subject – first; ‘is’ – verb – second
Is he a boy? Interrogative (question) sentence
‘Is’ – verb – first; ‘he’ – subject – second.
B C K

32. Direct-Indirect Speech – Changes – note 2
While changing an interrogative sentence from direct to indirect, the main verb in the introductory clause, usually ‘said’, is changed into ‘asked’, ‘enquired’, ‘wanted to know’ etc.
And the word order is inversed:
He said to her, “Is this bag yours?” – Direct
He asked her if that bag was hers. -- Indirect
B C K

33. Direct-Indirect Speech – Changes – conjunction 4
He said to her, “What has he done?” Direct
‘wh’ question – direct speech
He asked her what he had done. Indirect
For ‘wh’ questions, no conjunction is used; the ‘wh’ word in the direct speech sentence is used as it is!
B C K

34. Direct-Indirect Speech -- Changes -- Conjunction 5
She said to them, “Who wants to help me?” Direct Speech
She asked them who wanted to help her.
Indirect Speech
B C K

35. Direct-Indirect Speech – Changes – conjunction 6
He said to her, “Do you like this frog?” Direct
‘Do’ – ‘yes’ or ‘no’ question
He asked her if she liked that frog. Indirect
conjunction ‘if’ for ‘yes’ or ‘no’ question
B C K

36. Direct-Indirect Speech – Changes – conjunction 7
The man said to the boy, “Can you see those stars or not?” Direct Speech
‘can’ – ‘yes’ or ‘no’ question
The man enquired the boy whether he could see those stars or not.
Indirect Speech
“whether… or not”
B C K

37. Direct-Indirect Speech – Changes – conjunctions 8
She said to the students, “Who knows the answer?”
Direct Speech
She asked the students who knew the answer.
Indirect Speech
B C K

38. Direct-Indirect Speech – Changes – conjunctions 9
While changing the Imperative Sentences from direct to indirect, we do not use any conjunctions at all; we change the verb of the subordinate clause (actual spoken words) to its ‘to infinitive’ form, and the main verb in the introductory clause is changed into ‘requested’, ‘ordered’, ‘wanted to know’, ‘warned’, ‘shouted’, etc. depending on the context!
B C K

39. Direct-Indirect Speech – Changes – conjunction 10
The policeman said to the drivers, “Stop!” Direct Speech
The policeman shouted at the drivers to stop Indirect Speech
‘to stop’ – “to infinitive” form of the main verb ‘stop’
B C K

40. Direct-Indirect Speech – Changes – conjunctions 11
He said to the visitors, “Keep quiet, please.”
Direct Speech
He requested the visitors to keep quiet.
Indirect Speech
B C K

41. Direct-Indirect Speech – changes – conjunction 12
The manager said to him, “Don’t postpone your work.”
Direct Speech
‘Don’t’ = ‘do not’ – negative
The manager warned him not to postpone his work.
Indirect Speech
B C K

42. Direct-Indirect Speech -- Changes -- conjunction 13
The mother said, “Don’t cry, baby… Don’t cry.”
Direct Speech
The mother told the baby repeatedly not to cry.
Indirect Speech
B C K

43. Direct-Indirect Speech – changes – conjunctions 14
When the verb “let” in the subordinate clause (actual spoken words) of the direct speech sentence expresses a suggestion, we use the verb word ‘suggested’ in the introductory clause of the indirect speech sentence, and the word ‘let’ is not mentioned in the indirect speech sentence, instead we use the helping verb ‘should’ with the main verb!
B C K

44. Direct-Indirect Speech – changes – conjunctions 15
She said to her friends, “Let’s go for a picnic.” -- Direct
‘Let’ – suggestion
She suggested to her friends that they should go for a picnic.
Indirect
B C K

45. Direct-Indirect Speech – Changes – Exclamatory Sentence
While changing an exclamatory sentence from direct to indirect, we have to rewrite the entire sentence (expression) in order to give the desired emotion!
Therefore, you’ve got to wait until you have mastered the other kinds of sentences!!
Best of Luck!!!
B C K