Grammar (Reported Speech)

 

English Grammar

(Reported Speech)

There are two types of speech: Direct and Indirect.

Ø Direct Speech: Ram said to Rita, "I will go to Kathmandu tomorrow."

Ø Indirect Speech: Ram told Rita that he would go to Kathmandu the next day.

In Direct speech speaker's real (actual) words are written inside inverted comma but in indirect speech the speaker's words are reported without quoting his/her exact words. Inverted comma, question mark, exclamation mark etc. are not used in indirect speech. The word class like pronouns, verbs, adverbs etc. are changed in indirect speech.

 

Rules of Reported speech

While changing direct speech into indirect speech we have to change the following four things.

1.       Pronoun

2.       Tense

3.       Adverb

4.       Punctuation marks

1.       Pronoun change

The pronouns of direct speech should be changed into indirect speech. This following rule should be applied to change the pronoun.

First person pronouns (I/We) should be changed according to the subject of reporting verb, second person pronoun (you) should be changed according to the object of the reporting verb and third person pronouns remain the same in indirect speech.

1st person (I/We)                                 - Subject.

2nd person (You)                                - Object.

3rd person (He, She, It, They)           - No change

First	Second	Third
Subject	Object	No change

     SON rule is applied to change pronoun.

     List of pronouns

case	Subjective case	Objective case	Possessive (adjective)	Possessive (pronoun)	Reflexive case
1st person	I	me	my	mine	Myself
	we	us	our	ours	Ourselves
2nd person	You	you	your	yours	Yourself/ Yourselves
3rd person	He	him	His	his	Himself
	She	her	Her	hers	Herself
	It	it	Its	´	Itself
	They	them	Their	theirs	Themselves

While changing pronoun, the case of the pronoun should be taken into consideration.

Direct speech:   Nira said to him, "You have told me a lie."

                             Reporting verb(RV)     Reported speech(RS)

(The first part of this sentence is reporting verb (RV) and the second part is reported speech (RS).

Indirect Speech:         Nira told him that he had told her a lie.

 

('You' is the pronoun of second person so it is changed according to object 'him' and me is the pronoun of first person so it is changed according to the subject 'Nira' of reporting verb.

 

2.    Tense Change

If the reporting verb is in past tense, the tense of the reported speech should be changed. In other situations, like if the reporting verb is in present or future, the tense shouldn’t be changed.

Main verb (V₁) after " to" is not changed:

Direct speech:        He said, " I decided to go to Canada."

Indirect speech:     He said that he had decided to go to Canada.

(Here the verb decided is changed into had decided in the indirect speech.)

 

S.No.	Direct speech	Indirect speech
1.	V1/V5	V2
2.	is/am/are+V4	was/were+V4
3.	has/have+V3	had+V3
4.	has/have+been+V4	had+been+V4
5.	V2	had+V3
6.	was/were+V4	had been +V4
7.	had+V3	had+V3 (not changed)
8.	had+been+V4	had+been+V4 (not changed)
9.	will/shall+V1	would/should+V1
10.	will/shall+be+V1	would/should+be+V1
11.	will/shall+have+V3	would/should+have+V3
12.	will/shall+have+been+V4	would/should+have+been+V4
13.	would/could/should/might+…	would/could/should/might+… (not changed)
14.	used to+V1	used to+V1 (not changed)

 

 

Tense is not changed in the following situations:

a.     if there is " general truth" inside inverted comma.

b.    if the reporting verb is in present or future tense.

c.     if there is imperative sentence inside inverted comma.

Direct speech:   The teacher said, "Man is mortal."

Indirect speech: The teacher said that man is mortal.

Direct speech:   Bhupen says, "Our father comes at home."

Indirect speech: Bhupen says that their father comes at home.

Direct speech:   Gita said to Hari," Don't let my sister stay with you." 

Indirect speech: Gita told Hari not to let her sister stay with him.   Or

                               Gita forbade Hari to let her sister stay with him.

Direct speech:   Ravi said, " Are you calling him now?"

Indirect speech: Ravi asked if he/she was calling him then.

Direct speech:   He said to me, " What is your name?"

Indirect speech: He asked me what my name was.

Direct speech:   He said to me, " Do you like apples to eat?"

Indirect speech: He asked me if I liked apples to eat.

 

3.       Adverb change

S. No.	Direct speech	Indirect speech
1.	now	then
2.	here	there
3.	ago	before
4.	today	that day
5.	tonight	that night
6.	hence	thence
7.	thus	so
8.	yesterday	the day before/(the previous day)
9.	last week/month	the week/month before/ (the previous week/month)
10.	tomorrow	the following day/the next day.
11.	next week/month	the following week / month
12.	this	that
13.	these	those

 

     Direct speech:         Apekshya said, "I am reading a book now."

     Indirect speech:       Apekshya said that she was reading a book then.

     Direct speech:         Anupam said, "I cleaned the room two hours ago."

     Indirect speech:       Anupam said that he had cleaned the room two hours before.

     Direct speech:         Roshana said to me, "I go to Lamjung this month."

     Indirect speech:       Roshana told me that she went to Lamjung that month.

     Direct speech:         Anup said, "I read these books."

     Indirect speech:       Anup said that he read those books. 

4.  Punctuation marks change

In indirect speech , (comma) between RV and RS, inverted comma "….." , question mark (?), exclamation mark (!) etc. of direct speech should be removed and full stop should be used at last. Capital letter of RS should be changed into small letter in indirect speech. If there is proper noun, I etc. in direct speech they shouldn’t be changed into small letter.

Direct speech:   Suman said, "My brother broke it last night."

Indirect speech: Suman said that his brother had broken it the previous night.

(Here, the punctuation marks, (comma) " " (inverted comma) etc. are removed in indirect speech.

Types of sentences and the use of reporting verbs and connectives in indirect speech.

1.    Assertive sentence

In assertive sentence said should be changed into said/replied/told and that should be used as connectives.

     Direct speech:         He said, "I am reading a book."

     Indirect speech:       He said that he was reading a book.

     Direct speech:         Jagat said, "I have cleaned the room."

     Indirect speech:       Jagat said that he had cleaned the room.

     Direct speech:         Usha said to me, "I do my homework."

     Indirect speech:       Usha told me that she did her homework.

2.    Imperative sentence

     In imperative sentence said/said to should be changed into told (for general remark)/ requested/asked (for request), advised (for advice), suggested (for suggestion), ordered, commanded, forbade/prohibited, urged etc. and to/not to should be used as connectives.

     Direct speech:         I said to him, "Sit down."

     Indirect speech:       I told him to sit down.

     Direct speech:         My father said to me," Don’t waste money."

     Indirect speech:       My father advised me not to waste money.

     Direct speech:         He said to her, "Please give me your notebook for three days. "

     Indirect speech:       He requested/asked her to give him her notebook for three days.

 

3.    Interrogative sentence

In interrogative sentence said/ said to should be changed into asked /enquired /questioned /wondered /wanted to know etc. and we have to use if/whether for yes/no question and same wh-word for wh-question.

Direct speech:        Rajan said to Mohan, “Are you reading now?”

Indirect speech:     Rajan asked Mohan if he was reading then.

Direct speech:        She said to him, “Will you help me?”

Indirect speech:     She asked him if he would help her.

Direct speech:        The teacher said to him, "Why are you crying?"

Indirect speech:     The teacher wanted to know why he was crying.

 

4.    Exclamatory sentence

     In exclamatory sentence said/said to should be changed into exclaimed/surprised/applauded and that should be used as connective.

Direct speech:         The boy said, "What a beautiful lady you are!"

Indirect speech:       The boy exclaimed that she was a beautiful lady.

Direct speech:         My mother said to me, "Bravo! You have got excellent marks."

Indirect speech:       My mother applauded me that I had got excellent marks.

Direct speech:         They said, "Hurrah! We have won the match."

Indirect speech:       They exclaimed that they had won the match.

Direct speech:         My English teacher said to me, "Congratulations! You have been selected for the final round."

Indirect speech:       My English teacher congratulated me that I had been selected for the final round."

 

5.    Optative sentence

     In optative sentence said/said to should be changed into wished/ blessed/ cursed and that (S+V+O) / to (V+O) should be used as connectives.

Direct speech:         My father said, "May god bless you!"

Indirect speech:       My father wished that god might bless me.

Direct speech:        The saint said to the woman, “May God bless you with a son!”

Indirect speech:     The saint wished the women that God might bless me with a son.

Direct speech:        The old man shouted, “Go to hell”

Indirect speech:      The old man cursed that he/I might go to hell.

                                  Or The old man cursed him/me to go to hell.

 

For testing the competency of students on reported speech visit the blog

https://devprasadpandit.blogspot.com/2021/05/exercise-of-articles.html

For The Use of Connectives CLICK HERE.

For Voice CLICK HERE.

For exercise CLICK HERE