Quaid-e-Azam Law College Lahore

Direct and Indirect Speech

What is Direct Speech?

Direct speech repeats, or quotes, the exact words spoken.
When we use direct speech in writing, we place the words
spoken between quotation marks (" ") and there is no change in
these words. We may be reporting something that's being said
NOW (for example a telephone conversation) or telling
someone later about a previous conversation.
For example:
 She says, "What time will you be home?"
 She said, "What time will you be home?" and I said, "I
don't know! "
 "There's a fly in my soup!" screamed Ali.
 Ahmed said, "There's an elephant outside the window."
What is Indirect Speech?
Indirect speech is also known as reported speech, indirect
narration, or indirect discourse. In grammar, when you report
someone else’s statement in your own words without any
change in the meaning of the statement, it is called indirect
speech. Quoting a person’s words without using his own word
and bringing about any change in the meaning of the statement
is a reported speech. Look at the following sentences:
Direct Speech: She says, “I am a little bit nervous.”
Indirect Speech: She says that she is a little bit nervous.
In the first sentence, the reporter conveys the message of the
girl using her actual words (e.g., “I am a little bit nervous.”) In
the second sentence, the reporter conveys her message but in
his own words without any change in the meaning. Thus, both
direct and indirect speeches are two different ways of reporting
a statement of person. In simple words, quoting a person using
your own words is called an indirect speech.

Key Terminology:
During the process, you will come across many important terms
that you need to know better so that you can convert any direct
speech into indirect speech easily and without any hassle.
Consider the following sentences:
 Direct Speech: She says, “I am a little bit nervous.”
 Indirect Speech: She says that she is a little bit nervous.
Now consider the different grammatical aspects of both.
 Reporting Speech: The first part in the direct speech is
called reporting speech.
  Reported Speech: The second part of the sentence, which
is closed in inverted commas or quotation marks, is called
reported speech.
 Reporting Verb: The verb of the reporting speech is called
the reporting verb.
 Reported Verb: The verb of the reported speech is called
the reported verb.
Basic Rules:
Changes in Person of Pronouns:
 1st Person pronouns in reported speech are always
changed according to the subject of the reporting speech.
 (I, me, we, us, mine, myself)
 2nd Person pronouns in reported speech are always
changed according to the object of the reporting speech.
 (you, your, yours)
 3rd Person pronouns in reported speech are not changed.
 (he, him, his, himself, she, her, hers, herself, it, its, itself,
they, them, their, theirs, and themselves)
Changes in Verbs:
 If the reporting speech is in present tense or future tense,
then no change is required to be made in the verb of
reported speech. This verb could be in any tense i.e.,
present, past, or future. For example:
Direct Speech: He says, “I am ill.”
Indirect Speech: He says that he is ill.
Direct Speech: She says, “She sang a song.”
Indirect Speech: She says that she sang a song.
Direct Speech: You say, “I shall visit London.”
Indirect Speech: You say that you will visit London.

 If the reporting verb is in past tense, then reported verb

will be changed as per the following criterion:
 Present indefinite tense is changed into past indefinite
tense. For example:
Direct Speech: They said, “They take exercise every day.”
Indirect Speech: They said that they took exercise every day.
 Present continuous is changed into past continuous
tense.
Direct Speech: They said, “They are taking  exercise every day.”
Indirect Speech: They said that they were taking exercise every
day.
 Present perfect is changed into the past perfect tense.
Direct Speech: They said, “They have taken exercise.”
Indirect Speech: They said that they had taken  exercise.
  Present perfect continuous tense is changed into past
perfect continuous tense.
Direct Speech: They said, “They have been taking  exercise since
morning.”
Indirect Speech: They said that they had been taking exercise
since morning.
 Past indefinite is changed into past perfect tense.
Direct Speech: They said, “They took  exercise.”
Indirect Speech: They said that they had taken exercise.
 Past continuous tense is changed into past perfect
continuous tense.
Direct Speech: They said, “They were taking  exercise.”
Indirect Speech: They said that they had been taking  exercise.
 No changes are required to be made into past perfect
and past perfect continuous tenses.
Direct Speech: They said, “They had taken exercise.”
Indirect Speech: They said that they had taken  exercise.
 In Future Tense, while no changes are made except shall
and will are changed into would.
Direct Speech: They said, “They will take exercise.”
Indirect Speech: They said that they would take exercise.
Assertive Sentences:
Sentences that make a statement are called assertive
sentences. These sentences may be positive, negative, false, or
true statements. To convert such sentences into indirect
narration, use the rules as mentioned above except said is
sometimes replaced with told. Look at the following examples:
Direct Speech: She says, “I am writing a letter to my brother.”
Indirect Speech: She says that she is writing a letter to her
brother.
Direct Speech: She says, “I was not writing a letter to my
brother.”
Indirect Speech: She says that she was not writing a letter to
her brother.
Direct Speech: She said to me, “I am writing a letter to my
brother.”
Indirect Speech: She told me that she was writing a letter to
her brother.
Imperative Sentences:
Imperative sentences are sentences that give an order or a
direct command. These sentences may be in the shape of
advice, entreaty, request, or order. Mostly, it depends upon the
forcefulness of the speaker. Thus, a full stop or sign of
exclamation is used at the end of the sentence. For example:
  Shut the door!
 Please shut the door.
 Repair the door by tomorrow!
To convert these types of sentences into indirect speech, follow
the following rules along with the above-mentioned rules:
 The reporting verb is changed according to reported
speech into order in case the sentence gives a direct
command. For example:
Direct Speech: The teacher said to me, “Shut the door.”
Indirect Speech: The teacher ordered me to shut the door.
 The reporting verb is changed according to reported
speech into a request in case the sentence makes a
request. For example:
Direct Speech: He said to me, “Shut the door.”
Indirect Speech: He requested me to shut the door.
 The reporting verb is changed according to reported
speech into advise in case the sentence gives a piece of
advice. For example:
Direct Speech: He said to me, “You should work hard to pass
the exam.”
Indirect Speech: He advised me that I should work hard to pass
the exam.
  The reporting verb is changed according to reported
speech into forbade in case the sentence prevents
someone from doing something. For example:
Direct Speech: He said to me, “Not to smoke.”
Indirect Speech: He forbade me to smoke.

Examples

Direct Speech Indirect Speech

We said to him, “Mind We urged him to mind

your own business.” his own business.

She said to him, “Consult She suggested him to

a doctor.” consult a doctor.

He said to me, “Write it He asked me to write it

again.” again.

You said to your father, You requested your

“Please grant him leave father to grant him leave
for some time.” for some time.

My mother said to me, My mother forbade me

“Never tell a lie.” to tell a lie.
Interrogative Sentences:
Those sentences, which ask questions, are called interrogative
sentences. Every interrogative sentence ends at a sign of
interrogation. For example:
 Do you live here?
 Have you ever watched Terminator III movie?
 Is it raining?
To convert interrogative sentences into indirect speech, follow
the following rules along with the above-mentioned rules:
 The reporting verb said to  is changed into asked.
 If the reporting speech is having the reporting verb at it its
start, then if  is used in place of that.
 If the reporting speech is having interrogative words
like who, when, how, why, when then neither if is used nor
any other word is added.
 A full stop is placed at the end of the sentence instead of a
mark of interrogation.
Examples:

Direct Speech Indirect Speech

I said to her, “When do

I asked her when she did
you do your
her homework.
homework?”

We said to him, “Are you We asked him if he was

ill?” ill.

You said to me, “Have You asked me if I had

you read the article?” read the article.

He said to her, “Will you He asked her if she

go to the Peshawar would go to the
Radio Station?” Peshawar Radio Station.

She says, “Who is he?” She says who he was.

Rashid said to me, “Why Rashid asked me why I

are you late?” was late.
Exclamatory Sentences:
Those sentences, which express our feelings and emotions, are
called exclamatory sentences. Mark of exclamation is used at
the end of an exclamatory sentence. For example:
 Hurray! We have won the match.
 Alas! He failed in the test.
 How beautiful that dog is!
 What a marvelous personality you are!
To change exclamatory sentences into indirect speech, follow
the following rules along with the above-mentioned rules:
 In case, there is an interjection, i.e., alas, aha, hurray, etc.
in the reported speech, then they are omitted along with
sign of exclamation.
 Reporting verb, i.e., said is always replaced with exclaimed
with joy, exclaimed with sorrow, exclaimed joyfully,
exclaimed sorrowfully or exclaimed with great wonder or
sorrow.
 In case, there is what or how at the beginning of the
reported speech, then they are replaced with very or very
great.
 In an indirect sentence, the exclamatory sentence
becomes an assertive sentence.
Examples

Direct Speech Indirect Speech

He exclaimed with great

He said, “Hurray! I have
joy that he had won the
won the match.”
match.

She said, “Alas! My She exclaimed with great

brother failed in the sorrow that her brother
test.” had failed in the test.

They exclaimed that that

They said, “What a
house was very
beautiful house this is!”
beautiful.

I said in great wonder

I said, “How lucky I am!”
that I was very lucky.

You said to him in great

You said to him, “What a
wonder that he was
beautiful drama you are
writing a beautiful
writing!
drama.
Optative Sentences:
Those sentences, which express hope, prayer, or wish, are
called optative sentences. Usually, there is a mark of
exclamation at the end of optative sentence. For example:
 May you succeed in the test!
 May you get well soon!
 Would that I was rich!
To change optative sentences into indirect speech, follow the
following rules along with the above-mentioned rules:
 In case, the reported speech starts with the
word may, then the reporting verb said is replaced with
the word prayed.
 In case, the reported speech starts with the
word would, then the reporting verb said is replaced with
the word wished.
 May is changed in might.
 Mark of exclamation is omitted.
 In indirect speech, the optative sentences become
assertive sentences.
Examples

Direct Speech Indirect Speech

He said to me, “May you He prayed that I might

live long!” live long.

My mother said to me, My mother prayed that I

“May you succeed in the might succeed in the
test!” test.

She said, “Would that I She wished she had been

was rich!” rich.

I said to him, “Would

I wished he had been
that you were here on
there on Sunday.
Sunday!”

You said to me, “May

You prayed that I might
you find your lost
find my lost camera.
camera.”
Important Word Changes

Changed Direct Indirect

Words
Into Speech Speech

He says
He says,
that he
“He wants
This That wants to
to buy this
buy that
book.”
book.

He says, He says
“He wants that he
These Those to buy wants to
these buy those
books.” books.

She says
She says,
that
Here There “Everybody
everybody
was here.”
was there.

They say, They say

“It’s ten that it’s ten
Now Then
o’clock o’clock
now.” then.

Sir Respectfully They said, They said

 Changed Direct Indirect
Words
Into Speech Speech

respectfully
“Sir, the
that the
time is
time was
over.”
over.

They said
They said,
respectfully
"Madam,
Madam Respectfully that the
the time is
time was
over."
over.

She said
She said, “I
that she
am going to
Today That Day was going
London
to London
today.”
that day.

Yesterday The She said, “I She said

Previous visited that she
Day Oxford had visited
University Oxford
yesterday.” University
the
previous
 Changed Direct Indirect
Words
Into Speech Speech

day.

She said
She said, “I that she
Following
am going to was going
Tomorrow Day or Next
London to London
Day
tomorrow.” the next
day.

She said
She said, “I
that she
am going to
Tonight That Night was going
see him
to see him
tonight.”
that night.

Good
She said,
Morning,
“Good She greeted
Good Greeted
morning, Sir Sir David.
Evening,
David.”
Good Day

The rules above are mandatory for converting direct speech

into indirect speech. Hence, they should be memorized
thoroughly.
The following examples cover all the rules. So, focus on every
sentence to know how the above-mentioned rules have been
used here.
Examples of Indirect Speech

Direct Speech Indirect Speech

She says, “I eat an apple She says that she eats an

a day.” apple a day.

He will say, “My brother He will say that his

will help her.” brother will help her.

We said, “We go for a We said that we went

walk every day.” for a walk every day.

You say that you went to

You say, “I went to
London the previous
London yesterday.”
day.

He said that his father

He said, “My father is
was playing cricket with
playing cricket with me.”
him.

They said, “We have They said that they had

completed our completed their
homework.” homework.
Direct Speech Indirect Speech

She said, “I have been She said that she had

waiting for him since last been waiting for him
morning.” since last morning.

She said, “I bought a She said that she had

book.” bought a book.

They said, “We were They said that they had

celebrating Eid been celebrating Eid the
yesterday.” previous day.

We said that we had

We said, “We had been
been waiting since
waiting since morning.”
morning.

He said to me that he
He said to me, “I will not
would not give me any
give you any medicine
medicine without a
without prescription.”
prescription.

Rafiq said that he would

Rafiq said, “I shall leave
leave for London the
for London tomorrow.”
next day.

She said, “I shall be She said that she would

visiting my college be visiting her college
Direct Speech Indirect Speech

tomorrow.” the following day.

They said, “It will have They said that it would

been snowing since have been snowing since
morning.” morning.

Prepared by:
Nida Alam
MPhil English