Direct and Indirect Speech-SS

Direct and Indirect Speech
There are two ways of reporting what

another person has said:
1. We may quote the actual words used by the

speaker:
He said, ”I am tired”
This is called as Direct Speech
2. We may give an account of what another
person has said:
He said that he was tired.
This is called as Indirect or Reported Speech.
Transformation of sentences include
converting direct speech to indirect
speech and vice versa.
Let us revise the

rules to change a direct sentence into
indirect and vice versa.
Rules Rulez!
She said, “I am hungry.”
She says, “I am hungry.”
She will say, “I am hungry.”
The word in bold in the sentences above is

called as the reporting verb. The
reporting verb can be in any of the
three tenses –past, present and future.
1. When the reporting verb is in present or
future tense then the tense of the verb
in the “” (direct verb) is not changed.
She says, “I am hungry.”

She says that she is hungry.
She will say, “I am hungry.”

She will say that she is hungry.
2. The direct tense doesn’t change in case the direct sentence
contains some General, Universal or Habitual fact, Proverb
or Historical event in the past. (even when the reporting
verb is in past tense)
My ma’am said, “Honesty is the best policy.”

My ma’am said that honesty is the best policy.
She said, “I am an early riser.”

She said that she is an early riser.
He said, “The earth moves around the sun.”

He said that the earth moves around the sun.
The teacher said, “Akbar died in 1605 AD.”

The teacher said that Akbar died in 1605 AD.
3. Time and Place references will often change:
4. If the direct sentence has a pronoun, its persons is
changed when necessary to refer in the indirect to
the same individual as it does in the direct.
He said, “I can cross this river.”

He said that he could cross that river.
I said, “I can cross this river.”

I said that I could cross that river.
Maria said, “I can cross this river.”

Maria said that she could cross that river.
The students said, “We can cross this river.”

The students said that they could cross that river.
5. The tenses in the direct sentence undergoes the
following transformations (said):
• Rules: (Interrogative sentences)
• 1. The Reporting Verb 'said' is changed into ‘asked,
enquired, inquired or demanded
• 2. No conjunction (that) is used to introduce the Reported
Speech if the question begins with (an interrogative) word
; such as—what, who, whose, which, when, where, why,
how, whom etc.
• 3. If or whether is used to introduce the Reported Speech
if the reported speech has no question word and starts
with Do, did, will, would, could, can etc
• 4. Change the questions into statements. Put Full stop in
place of mark of interrogation (?).
• 5. In the reported speech subject is put first than the
verb/helping verb.
6. Interrogative Sentences: When the direct sentence is a question
then the reporting verb ‘said’ is changed to ‘asked, demanded,
ordered, enquired’ according to the nature of the sentence.
while converting into indirect the subject comes before the verb in
the sentence and we do not put ‘that’ in front of the reporting verb
If the direct sentence starts with an interrogative word – What, when,

how etc then we have to omit ‘that’ after the reporting verb and
convert the question into a statement.
He said to me, “What are you doing?”
He asked me what I was doing.
Ravi asked me, “Where do you stay?”

Ravi enquired of me where I stayed.
Eha said, “How are you?”

Eha asked how I was.
6. Interrogative sentences continued: When the question
is asked using a verb (not using an interrogative word)
then the reporting verb is followed by whether or if:
Esha said, “Will she come for lunch now?”

Esha asked whether she would come for lunch then.
Rekha said, “Do you live here?”

Rekha asked whether I/he/she/they lived there.
She asked, “Is Heena here?”

She asked whether Henna was there.
Rahul asked, “Am I late?”

Rahul asked whether he was late.
7. Exclamatory sentences: Sentence that express strong
feeling or emotions (like joy, sorrow, surprise, hatred, contempt,
etc) are called exclamatory sentences.
Exclamatory sentence ends with exclamation mark (!).
While converting the direct sentences the ‘said' of Reporting
Verb is changed according to the emotion of the 'Exclamatory
Word (Interjection)' of Reporting Speech.
• Wow!/Hurrah!/Aha! exclaimed with joy

• What! exclaimed with surprise
• Well done!/Bravo! applauded saying that
• Sorry! exclaimed with regret
• Pooh!/Nonsense! exclaimed with contempt
• Oh! exclaimed with surprise/
sorrow/grief
• How! exclaimed with surprise / regret
• Alas! Exclaimed with grief
He said, “Alas! I am finished.”
He exclaimed with grief that he was finished.
He said,”Bravo! You have done well!”

He applauded him saying that he had done well.
“So help me Heaven!” he cried, “I will never steal again.”

He called upon Heaven and resolved that he would never steal again.
She said.”Oh! I have lost my mobile.”

She exclaimed with sorrow that she had lost her mobile.
“Pooh!” said the Principal,”Ramesh, you have failed again.”

The principal exclaimed with contempt that Ramesh had failed again.
He said,”Oh! Ravi came from Brazil today.”

He exclaimed with surprise that Ravi had come from Brazil that day.
7. Exclamatory sentences continued: The exclamatory
sentence in the direct speech (starting with ‘what’ and
‘how’ has to be converted into a declaratory sentence.
He said, “How foolish you are!”

He exclaimed with contempt that she was very foolish.
She said,”What a beautiful painting!”

She exclaimed with happiness that it was a very beautiful
painting.
He said, “What a lovely dress this is!”

He exclaimed with joy that that was a very lovely dress.
9. Imperative Sentences: In reporting commands and requests,
the indirect sentence is introduced by some verb expressing
command or request (commanded, requested, ordered,
begged, urged) and the Imperative mood is changed using
infinitives.
Rama said to Arjun, “Go away.”

Rama ordered Arjun to go away.
The teacher said to the children, "Work hard”

The teacher told the children to work hard.
He said to Raj, “Please pass the spoon.”

He requested Raj to pass the spoon.
He said to the soldiers, ”Please let me go.”

He begged the soldiers to let him go.
9. Imperative Sentences ‘Let’: Imperative sentences
beginning with let are different from other imperative
sentences. Sentences beginning with let express ideas
such as a suggestion, proposal, request, wish,
determination, desire etc
He said, ‘Let me go.’

He requested to let him go.
He said, ‘Let’s take him to the doctor.’

Indirect: He suggested that they should take him to the
doctor.
The police inspector said, ‘Let no one leave this room.’

The police inspector ordered that no one should leave the
room.
They said to us, ‘Let’s go for a walk.’
They proposed (or suggested) that we should go for a
walk.
She said, ‘Let the child go home.’

She permitted the child to go home.
The child said to us, ‘Let me go home.’

The child requested us to let him go home. OR The child
requested us to allow him to go home. OR The child
requested that he should be allowed to go home.
The girl said, ‘Let me have another helping of the pudding.’

The girl expressed her desire to have another helping of
the pudding. OR The girl requested that she should be
allowed to have another helping of the pudding.
Phew!
That’s all
folks!

Direct and Indirect Speech-SS

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Direct and Indirect Speech-SS

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Direct and Indirect Speech

There are two ways of reporting what

1. We may quote the actual words used by the

Let us revise the

The word in bold in the sentences above is

She says, “I am hungry.”

She will say, “I am hungry.”

My ma’am said, “Honesty is the best policy.”

She said, “I am an early riser.”

He said, “The earth moves around the sun.”

The teacher said, “Akbar died in 1605 AD.”

He said, “I can cross this river.”

I said, “I can cross this river.”

Maria said, “I can cross this river.”

The students said, “We can cross this river.”

If the direct sentence starts with an interrogative word – What, when,

Ravi asked me, “Where do you stay?”

Eha said, “How are you?”

Esha said, “Will she come for lunch now?”

Rekha said, “Do you live here?”

She asked, “Is Heena here?”

Rahul asked, “Am I late?”

• Wow!/Hurrah!/Aha! exclaimed with joy

He said,”Bravo! You have done well!”

“So help me Heaven!” he cried, “I will never steal again.”

She said.”Oh! I have lost my mobile.”

“Pooh!” said the Principal,”Ramesh, you have failed again.”

He said,”Oh! Ravi came from Brazil today.”

He said, “How foolish you are!”

She said,”What a beautiful painting!”

He said, “What a lovely dress this is!”

Rama said to Arjun, “Go away.”

The teacher said to the children, "Work hard”

He said to Raj, “Please pass the spoon.”

He said to the soldiers, ”Please let me go.”

He said, ‘Let me go.’

He said, ‘Let’s take him to the doctor.’

The police inspector said, ‘Let no one leave this room.’

She said, ‘Let the child go home.’

The child said to us, ‘Let me go home.’

The girl said, ‘Let me have another helping of the pudding.’

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