DIRECT AND INDIRECT SPEECH - Lesson Plan Coaches

DIRECT AND INDIRECT SPEECH (NARRATION / REPORTING)

We often need to report messages, speeches, and comments, requests of a person or person to others.

[1] We may quote his actual words. This is called Direct Speech.

[2] We may report what he said without quoting his exact words. This is called Indirect Speech or Reported Speech.

He said to me, “I want new cloths.” [Direct Speech]

He told me that he wanted new clothes. [Indirect Speech]

Punctuation of Direct Speech

The speech which is under Quotation marks or inverted commas in writing is called Direct Speech and the verb by which it is expressed is called Reporting Verb

It will be noticed that in changing the Direct Speech into Indirect, certain grammatical changes have been made:

(i)                 We have used the linker ‘that’ before the reported speech or indirect statement.

(ii)               The pronoun ‘I’ is changed to ‘he’.

(iii)             The verb ‘am’ is changed to ‘was’.

RULES FOR CHANGING DIRECT SPEECH INTO INDIRECT SPEECH

(i)                 We use a linker before the indirect speech:

Direct:    He said, “I am busy.”

Indirect: He said that he was busy.

N. B. The linker that is often omitted in spoken English

       (ii)      The Pronoun is changed according to sense:

                   Direct:   Aslam said, “I do not like milk in my tea.”

                   Indirect: Aslam said that he does n`t like milk in his tea.

                   Direct:   Aslam said to his friend, “You are ill.”

                   Indirect: Aslam told his friend that he was ill.

                   Direct:   Aslam said to me, “You will not play.”

                   Indirect: Aslam told me that I would not play.

                   Direct:   I said to you, “I do not believe you.”

                   Indirect: I said (that) I didn`t believe you.

1. Identify:

What is?

i. Subject ii. Object iii. 1^st, 2^nd, and 3^rd forms (Persons in reported speech tenses)

2. Change of reporting verb:

i. Said to —- told ii. Said —- said, iii. Say to — tell, Says to —-tells

3. Replace “———“in linker ‘that’.

4. Change of Pronouns:

FORMULA
S	O		N
1^st person pronoun		Subject
2^nd person pronoun		Object
3^rd person pronoun		No change

Example:

Reporting Speech		Reported Speech
He said to me, “I want new clothes.”
Subject	Reporting verb	Object	1^st person
He	said	me	I

(iv) First of all pronoun of reported speech changed according to the reporting speech:

Pronoun
	1^st person	2^nd person	3^rd person
Subjective	I, We	You	He, she, it, they
Possessive	My/ mine, our/ours	Yours	His, her, its, their
Objective	Me, us	You	Him, her, it, them

Examples:

(i) 1^stperson in reported speech

Direct	Indirect
i. He said to me, “I want new cloth.”	He told me that he wanted new clothes.
ii. They said to me, “He has done your work.”	They told me that they had done my work.

(ii) 2^ndperson pronoun in reported speech

Direct	Indirect
i. I said to her, “You can`t help me”.	I told her that she could n`t help me.

(iii) 3^rdperson pronoun in reported speech

Direct	Indirect
i. I say to you, “He is honest.”	He tells you that he is honest.
ii. I said to me, “She is a naughty girl”.	He told me that she was a naughty girl.
iii. He said to me, “it is a book”.	He told me that it was a book.
iv. She said to Sherry, “They are students.”	She told Sherry that they were students.

DIRECT AND INDIRECT SPEECH (NARRATION / REPORTING)

Punctuation of Direct Speech

RULES FOR CHANGING DIRECT SPEECH INTO INDIRECT SPEECH

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