DIRECT SPEECH AND INDIRECT SPEECH

ASSALAMU’ALAIKUM

• Direct and Indirect Speech

When we change the direct speech into indirect sentences , there are some things that are changing them changes in sentence structure, tense , pronouns ( personal pronouns ) , description of time and place ( Adverbs of time and place ) .

Before going further into sub - discussion above , it is good there is also understood what was meant Reporting Speech and Reported Speech .

Reporting Speech is part of the sentence in direct speech is marked by quotation marks ( " ) and at the end by a quotation mark ( " ) .

    He said , " I have a present for you in my bag . "    He asked me , " why do you come late ?. "

While Reported Speech is part the beginning of a sentence direct speech .

    He said , " I have a present for you in my bag . "    He asked me , " why do you come late ?. "

1 . Structure change of sentence

If we look at the direct speech sentence , there are characteristics that are identical quotation marks ( " ) . Marks learned is a way that is often used to distinguish which

are direct or indirect .

When the changed climates of direct speech into indirect speech sentence , the quotation marks were removed or replaced with the word "that " or " to " ( for

command line ) . for example :

No Direct Speech Indirect Speech

1. He said, "I have a present for you in my bag."

He said that he had a present for me in his bag.

2. He asked me, "why do you come late." He asked me why I came late.

3. He ordered me, "don't bring a bag."

He ordered me to didn't bring a bag.

Sentence structure changes also occur if the direct speech using interrogative sentence , it will be converted into an affirmative

sentence ( news ) .For the use of direct speech sentence interrogative sentence " yes -no

question " it will be changed to if / Whether . For example :

No

Direct Speech Indirect Speech

1. They asked me , " Do you want to join us to play football ? "

They asked me if / Whether I want to join them to play football .

2. He asked me , " Does she want to mary me ? "

He asked me if / Whether she wants to mary her .

For direct speech sentences using 5W1H question ( Why , Who , What , When , Where , How ) , it will be converted into an

affirmative sentence in the following way :

No

Direct Speech Indirect Speech

1. He asked me, "why do you come late?" He asked me why you came late.

2. He asked me, "what does she eat?" He asked me what she ate.

3. He asked me, "when did you come?" He asked me when I came.

4. He asked me, "who are you?" He asked me who I was.

5. He asked me, "who is she?" He asked me who she was.

2 . Tense changes ( tenses )

As explained upfront , the changed from direct to indirect also affects the tense used . Most students difficult to understand change this one .

Below is a table of tenses change direct speech into indirect speech .

No Direct Speech Indirect Speech

1. Simple Present Simple Past2. Present Continuous Past Continuous3. Present Future Past Future4. Present Perfect Past Perfect5. Present Perfect Continuous Past Perfect Continuous6. Simple Past Past Perfect7. Past Continuous Past Perfect Continuous

Or it could be made easier with the following table below, namely :

No Direct Speech Indirect Speech1. V1 V2 2. V2 Had + V33. Am/is/are Was/were4. Do/does Did5. Do/does not Did not6. Did not Had not + V37. Was/were Had been8. Am/is/are + V-ing Was/were + V-ing9. Was/were +V-ing Had been + V-ing10. Has/have + V3 Had + V3

11. Will/shall/can/may/must Would/should/could/might/had to

12. Could/might/should/would + V1/be

Could/might/should/would + have+ V3/been

3. Pronoun changes

And possessive pronouns change depending on subjects and objects used in direct speech ( sentences directly ) that would affect the change pronouns in indirect speech ( sentences not

directly ) .    

*First person pronouns ( I and We ) on speech reporting ( see explanation in the beginning ) change according to the subject

that is in reproted speech .

No Direct Speech Indirect Speech

01 He said, ‘I am busy.’ He said that he was busy.02 She said, ‘I am unwell.’ She said that she was unwell.03 I said, ‘I will be late.’ I said that I would be late.

04 They said, ‘We will not permit this.’

They said that they would not permit that.

05 We said, ‘We need to buy some clothes.’

We said that we needed to buy some clothes.

   * The second person pronoun ( You) in reporting speech in direct speech changes according to object to reported speech .

No Direct Speech Indirect Speech

1. He said to me, ‘You have to come with me.’ He told me that I had to go with him.

2. She said to me, ‘You can go.’ She told me that I could go.

3. She said to him, ‘You can go.’ She told him that he could go.

    *Third person pronoun ( He, she , it and they ) in direct speech did not change when changed into

indirect speech .

No Direct Speech Indirect Speech

01 He said, ‘She is a good girl.’ He said that she was a good girl.

02 She said, ‘They have invited us.’

She said that they had invited them.

03 They said, ‘He does not have the necessary qualifications.’

They said that he did not have the necessary qualifications.

Not only that , the changes from direct speech to indirect speech also affects especially adverbs

adverb of time ( time information ) and adverb of place ( description of place ) . For that you must

understand the table below .No Direct Speech Indirect Speech

01 Now Then

02 To day That day

03 TomorrowThe next dayThe day after

The following dayA day later

04 Next ... The ... afterThe following ...

05 Last ... The ... beforeThe Previous ...

06 ... ago ... before... earlier

07 YesterdayThe day before

The previous dayThe preceeding day

08 The day before yesterday Two day before

09 Here There

10 This That

11 These Those

Below are examples of direct and indirect speech to increase the understanding of the above explanation .

Direct Speech Indirect Speech

(+) He said, “I have a present for you in my bag. here”

He said that he had a present for me in his bag there.

(-) He said, “I do not have a present for you in my bag”

He said that he did not have a present for me in his bag.

(?) He asked, “Do I have a present for you in my bag?”

He asked me if/whether he had a present for me in his bag.

(?) He asked me, “ Why do I have to have a present for you in my bag?

 He asked me why he had to have a present for me in his bag.

(!) He ordered/commanded me, “Bring my bag here now!”

He ordered/commanded me to bring his bag there then.

(!) He ordered me, “Don’t bring your bag here!” He ordered me not to bring my bag there.

Direct and Indirect Speech

consists of 3 types:

I. Statement II.

CommandIII. Question

I. STATEMENT

In the Indirect Statement we use that word ( that ) as a liaison between the introductory sentence ( introduce phrases ) and words that reported (reported words ) . Introductory sentences in indirect statement is :

Example : a. My sister said to me " I do not like tennis "⬄My sister said to me that she did not like tennis .b. Father said " I am going out of town tomorrow "⬄ Father said that he was going out of town the following day .

If the introductory sentence in the form of the Simple Present Tense , the sentence which reported no change .

Example :a. John says "I will go to London tomorrow "⬄John says that he will go to London tomorrowb. Mary says " I have seen that movie "⬄Mary says that she has seen that movie

 II . COMMAND

Command was divided into two (2 ) parts:

1 . positive Command

In the command we add to positive in front of the command line , as a liaison between the introductory sentence and orders were reported . Introductory sentences in this type are :

Example:a. He asked me " Open your book "⬄He asked me to open my book .b. The teacher said to the students " Be quiet while I am talking "⬄The teacher told the students to be quiet while she is talking .

  

to + Infinitive

2 . Negative Command

In negative commands us not to add the commands were reported.

Example :a. Mary told John " Do not wait for me"⬄Mary told John not to wait for her .b. Ira asked Tom " Do not come to my house again"⬄Ira asked tom not to come to her house again .c. Mothers asked John " Do not smoke too much"⬄Mother asked John not to smoke too much .

Not to + Infinitive

III . QUESTION

When the question directly (direct question) use question words such as Where , When , Why , What , Who , How , etc. , then the words are used as intermediaries in reported Speech .

Example :a. The man asked me : " Where do you live ? "⬄The man asked me where I lived .b. John asked Mary : " Why do you get angry with me ? "⬄John asked Mary why she got angry with him .c. I asked him : " When did you get back from your trip ? "⬄I asked him when he had got back from his trip .

When the question was not directly asked to use words , and only the question in the form of " Yes and No Question " , then we use the words if , Whether as a relation between the introductory sentences and questions were reported .

Example :a. The boy asked John : " Does Mary live near here ? "⬄The boy asked John if Mary lived near there .b. The teacher asked her : " Have you finished your homework ? "⬄The teacher asked her if he had finished her homework .c. We asked them : " Will you go to the movies with us tonight ? "⬄We asked them Whether they would go to the movie with us that night .

 

 

Reported SPEECH / MIXED TYPE ( Combined Type )

If the questions and statements are incorporated into Reported Speech then we use the word as ( because ) as a connector on the sentence statement reported . In this case the sentence statement reported later .

Example:a. She asked me : " What is the time ? " , my watch has stopped .⬄She asked me what the time was as her watch had stopped .b. Ira asked John : " what is the matter with you ? " You do not look well .⬄Ira asked John what the matter was with him as he did not look well .c.I asked her : " How long have you been studying English ? " Your accent is very good .⬄I asked her how long she had been studying her English accent as he was very good .

  

When the direct question along with the answer Yes and No , then we use the word but as relation to answer No and words and as a relation to answer Yes .

Example : a. He asked me : " Will you go out with me ? " No , I will not .⬄He asked me if I would go out with him but I said I would not .b. Mother asked John : " Have you had lunch ? " No , I have not .⬄Mother asked John if he had had lunch but he said he had not .c. I asked her : " Do you like vegetables ? " Yes , I do .⬄I asked her if she liked vegetables and she said she did .d. Mary asked John : " Did you phone me last night ? " Yes , I did .⬄Mary asked John if he had phoned her the night before and he said he had .