Short Notes on Direct and Indirect Speech

 

Short Notes on Direct and Indirect Speech

Direct Speech : The actual words of the speaker are written or spoken without any change. 

He said, “I love to visit hill stations.”

Indirect Speech : The actual words of the speaker are modified and reported in his own language by the reporter. 

He said that he loved to visit hill stations.  

Rules

A. If the reporting verb is in present tense or future tense then the tense of the reported speech does not change, only the pronouns are changed according to need. 

Riya says, “I have already written a letter to my father.”

Riya says that she has already written a letter to her father. 

In the direct sentence, the reporting verb (says) is in present tense and the reported speech (I have already written a letter to my father.) is in present perfect tense. 

In the indirect speech, the tense of the reported speech is same (present perfect)as in the direct speech, only pronoun ‘I' has been changed into 'she' and possessive adjective ‘my' has been changed into ‘her' according to the speaker ‘Riya'.

B. If the reporting verb is in past tense then the tense of the reported speech is changed as follows:

1. Present indefinite changes into Past indefinite tense

V¹(s/es)        changes  into                V²

Rohit said, “He plays chess. “

Rohit said that he played chess. 

V¹                  changes into                    V²

Mohan said, “We attend all classes. “

Mohan said that they attended all classes. 

Do/does           changes into              did

Mohan said, “We do not attend all classes. “

Mohan said that they did not attend all classes. 

2. Present continuous changes into past continuous tense

Is/am/are        changes into        was/were

He said, “I am going to sleep. “

He said that he was going to sleep.

3. Present perfect changes into past perfect tense

Has/have        changes into        had

The teacher said to me, “Have you finished your work? “

The teacher asked me if I had finished my work. 

4. Present perfect continuous changes into past perfect continuous tense

Has been/have been  changes into  had been

She said to her brother, “I have been waiting for you for one hour.”

She told her brother that she had been waiting for him for one hour. 

5. Past indefinite changes into past perfect tense

V²         changes into             had + V³

Anup said, “We reached school on time. “

Anup said that they had reached school on time. 

6. Past continuous changes into past perfect continuous tense

Was/were     changes into           had been

Had            remains               had

Had been      remains           had been

Will        changes into            would

Shall      changes into             should/would

Can        changes into             could

May       changes into             might

Must      changes into             had to

Would       remains                 would 

Should      remains                 should

Could         remains                 could

Might         remains                 might

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Now     — then

This    — that

Here   — there

These   — those

Hence   — thence

Hither    — thither

Thus      — so

Ago       —  before

Come    — go

Today   — that day

Yesterday — the previous day

Tonight  — that night

Last night — the previous night

Tomorrow — the next day/the following day