D-1

Direct and Indirect

1) There are two different ways in which we can report the words of a
speaker:-
(a)Direct Speech or Direct Narration
(b)Indirect Speech or Indirect Narration
2) (a)Direct Speech contains the actual words of the speaker; as-
Salma said, “My father has a roaring business in Lahore.”
(b) Indirect Speech gives the substance of the speaker’s actual words and
not the exact words spoken by him or her; as-
Salma said that her father had a roaring business in Lahore.
3) Reporting Speech and Reported Speech – The actual words of the
speaker are called the Reported Speech and the introducing Speech is
called the Reporting Speech.
In the sentence above Salma said is the Reporting Speech and ‘My father
has a roaring business in Lahore’ is the Reported Speech.
4) Here are some distinctive points regarding the Direct Speech and Indirect
Speech:-
(a)In the Direct Speech
(i) The Reported Speech is put within Inverted Commas.
(ii) The Reporting Speech is separated from the Reported Speech by a
comma.
(iii) The first word of the Reported Speech begins with a capital letter.

(b) In the Indirect Speech

(i) Inverted Commas are removed.
(ii) The comma separating the Reporting Speech from the Reported
Speech is removed.
(iii) The Reported Speech is introduced by some Conjunction (that, if,
Whether, what, why, to, not to etc.)
(iv)The Reporting verb changes according to the sense of the reported speech.
(v) The Tense of the Reporting speech is never changed.
(vi) All kinds of sentences change into Assertive ones. (Simple Sentence)

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TRANSFORMATION OF DIRECT SPEECH INTO INDIRECT
SPEECH
(A)
5) Rules for the change of Tenses:
Rule I. If the Reporting speech is in the Present or Future Tense, the
Tense of the verb in the Reported Speech does not change.
EXAMPLES
i. Direct: Rahela says, “He has brought a fair name to his
family.”
Indirect: Rahela says that he has brought a fair name to his
family.
Direct: I shall say, “I have read all the books.”
Indirect: I shall say that I have read all the books.

Rule II. If the Reporting speech is in the Past Tense, the Verb in the
Reported Speech must be changed according to the following rules.

i. Direct: I said, “I am speaking the truth.”

Indirect: I said that I was speaking the truth.

Change of Verbs:
i. Is or am Changes into was
Are Changes into were
Has or have Changes into had
ii. Present Indefinite Changes into Past Indefinite
Tell or tells (1st form) Changes into told (2nd form)
Do or does Changes into did
iii. Present Continuous Changes into Past Continuous
Is, am or are telling Changes into Was or were telling
iv. Present Perfect Changes into Past Perfect
Has or have told Changes into had told
v. Present Perfect Changes into Past Perfect
Continuous Continuous
Has or have been telling Changes into had been telling
vi. Past Indefinite Changes into Past Perfect

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Told (did tell) Changes into
had told
vii. Past Continuous Changes into
Past Perfect
Continuous
Was or were telling Changes into had been telling
viii. Will Changes into would
Shall Changes into should/would
ix. May Changes into might
Can Changes into could
x. Past Perfect and Past Perfect Continuous Tenses remain
unchanged.

EXAMPLES
ii. Direct: The teacher said, “The boys fail because they do not
study regularly.”
Indirect: The teacher said that the boys failed because they did not
study regularly.
Direct: We said, “They cannot cross the river unless the
Boat men help them.”
Indirect: We said that they could not cross the river unless the
boat men helped them.
i. Direct: You said, “He is a very good athlete.”
Indirect: You said that he was a very good athlete.
ii. Direct: I said, “I have finished my work.”
Indirect: I said that I had finished my work.
iii. Direct: He said, “Her parents will pay a visit to Murree.”
Indirect: He said that her parents would pay a visit to Murree.
iv. Direct: The doctor said, “If the patient does not take the
medicine, he will not recover.”
Indirect:
Direct: The Headmaster said, “They did not work hard before
the examination.”
Indirect:
v. Direct: I said, “It may take him a year to make up his
deficiency.”
Indirect:

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Direct: You said, “They were busy the whole day.”
Indirect:
vi. Direct: I said, “She was waiting for us at her uncle’s.”
Indirect:
Exception to Rule II (Past Tense Rule)
If there is a Universal Truth or habitual fact in the Reported Speech,
the Tense of the reported speech is never changed; as-
i. Direct: He said, “Face is the index of mind.”
(Proverbial truth)
Indirect: He said that face is the index of mind.
ii. Direct: The teacher said, “The earth rotates round its axis.”
(Geographical truth)
Indirect: The teacher said that the earth rotates round its axis.
iii. Direct: Horatious said, “Death comes sooner or later.”
(Universal truth)
Indirect: Horatious said that death comes sooner or later.
iv. Direct: Her uncle said, “Two and two makes four and not five.”
(Factual truth)
Indirect: Her uncle said that two and two makes four and not
five.
v. Direct: I said, “I am an early bird.”
(Habitual truth)
Indirect: I said that I am an early bird.
(B)
7) Rules for the change of pronouns:
Rule I. Pronouns of the First Person in the Reported Speech are
changed according to the Subject of the Reporting Speech as:
i. Direct: He said to her, “I shall bring my camera with me.”
Indirect: He told her that he would bring his camera with him.
ii. Direct: He said to me, “I haven’t got my glasses with me.”
Indirect: He told me that he had not got his glasses with him.
iii. Direct: You said to him, “I did not give Akbar my book.”
Indirect: You told him that you had not given Akbar your book.
iv. Direct: She said to me, “Shahbaz insulted my brother in my
presence.”

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Indirect: She told me that Shahbaz had insulted her brother in her
presence.
Direct: They said, “We helped our neighbours as much as we
could.”
Indirect: They said that they had helped their neighbours as much
as they could.
Rule II. The Pronouns of the Second Person in the Reported Speech is
changed according to the Object of the Reporting Speech as:
i. Direct: I said to him, “You have taken your turn.”
Indirect: I told him that he had taken his turn.
ii. Direct: He said to me, “You did not admit your mistake.”
Indirect: He told me that I had not admitted my mistake.
iii. Direct: You said to her, “I cannot take you at your word.”
Indirect: You told her that you could not take her at her word.
iv. Direct: I said to you, “Your chances of success are not bright.”
Indirect: I told you that your chances of success were not bright.
v. Direct: We said to them, “You cannot get the posts you aspire
for.”
Indirect: We told them that they could not get the posts they
aspired for.

Rule III. Pronouns of the Third Person undergo no change as:

i. Direct: I said, “He has refused to pay the debt.”
Indirect: I said that he had refused to pay the debt.
ii. Direct: You said to me, “They will carry the day even against
heavy odds.”
Indirect: You told me that they would carry the day even against
heavy odds.

iii. Direct: She said to you, “He will surely come tomorrow.”
Indirect: She told you that he would surely come the next day.

(C)
8) Change of Words Denoting Position:

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While changing Direct Speech into Indirect, words showing
nearness are replaced by corresponding words showing distance
provide it the verb of the Reporting Speech is in the past tense.
We change
Now into then Thus into so
Here into there Just into then
This into that Hither into thither
These into those Hence into thence
Today into that day Yesterday into the previous day
To-night into that night Last night into the previous night
Tomorrow into the next day
Next week into the following
week
The day before yesterday into the day before the previous day.
The day after tomorrow into the day after the next day.

EXAMPLES
Direct Indirect
i. I said to her, “I shall see you I told her that I would see her
here tomorrow.” there the next day.
ii. She said to him, “I bought these She told him that she had
books yesterday.” bought those books the previous
day.
iii. You said to them, “Now I shall You told them that then you
tell you another story.” would tell them another story.
iv. He said to me, “I saw your He told me that he had seen my
brother two years ago.” brother two years back.
v. I said to you, “I intend to start I told you that I had intended to
business next year.” start business the following
year.

9) II. Conversion of Interrogative Sentences from Direct into Indirect:

Rules:
1. The Reporting Verb is changed into ask, enquire, inquire, etc.
2. No Conjunction is used to introduce the Reported Speech if
the question begins with an Interrogative word; such as – who,
whose, whom, which, where, why, when, how etc.

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3. If or whether is used to introduce the Reported Speech if the
question begins with a helping Verb; such as – is, are, am,
was, were, has, have, had, does, do, did, shall, will, can,
could, should, would, may, might, must etc.
4. Questions become statements ending in a Full Stop.
5. We observe the rules for the change of Verbs, Pronouns and
words showing nearness.
EXAMPLES
(a)Questions beginning with a Helping Verb
Direct Indirect
i. Sohail said to Rani, “Are Sohail asked Rani if she was
you not my sister?” not his sister.
ii. She said to me, “Will you She asked me if I would take
take part in games?” part in games.
iii. I said to him, “Have you a I asked him if he had a spare
spare pencil?” pencil.
iv. The teacher said to me, The teacher asked me if I
“Do you intend to go to intended to go to England.
England?”
v. He said to her, “Did you He asked her if she had enjoyed
enjoy the trip to the trip to Rawalpindi.
Rawalpindi”?

(b)Questions beginning with Interrogative Words

Direct Indirect
vi. “Where do you go in the Younis asked Salman where he
evening?” said Younis to went in the evening.
Salman.
vii. Shoaib said to his mother, Shoaib asked his mother who
“Who can disobey you?” could disobey her.
viii. The teacher said to Razia, The teacher asked Razia why
“Why don’t you speak the she did not speak the truth.
truth?”
ix. The patient said to the The patient asked the doctor
doctor, “How often should how often he should take the
I take the medicine?” medicine.

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