Direct - Indirect Speech

       

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Narration   (Direct and Indirect Speech)

“Narration is the art of expressing what a person has said without using the speaker’s exact words”.

      Study the following sentences:

1. Geeta said to Ram, “I have lost my purse somewhere.”

2. Geeta told Ram that she had lost her purse somewhere. In the first sentence, the actual words of the speaker are given. This is called “Direct Speech.”

In the second sentence, the words of the speaker are reported without using the actual words. This is     called ‘Indirect or (Reported) Speech’.

Note : 

1. The exact words of the speaker are enclosed in inverted commas. 

2. The part of the sentence outside the inverted commas is called 

    the Reporting Speech and its Verb (said) is called the Reporting verb. 

3. Reported Speech is always kept between inverted commas (“…..”)

4. The first word of the Reported Speech is always kept ‘Capital’. 

5. Reported Speech and Reporting Verb is separated from comma.

Points to Remember for Indirect Speech:

1. Inverted commas are replaced with certain appropriate conjunction.

2. Tense of the Reporting Verb is not changed.

3. In Indirect Speech, sentences pertaining to questions and exclamation are changed into Assertive Sentence.

4. The tense of the Verb in the Reported Speech is changed as per rules given below :

RULES FOR CHANGE OF TENSES

Rule 1.

 If the Reporting Verb is in the Present Tense or the Future Tense, the Tense of the Verb in the Reported Speech is not changed.

Examples:

No.	Direct	Indirect
1.	He says, “I shall go to the movie.”	He says that he will go to the movie.
2.	He is saying. “You have deceived your friend.”	He is saying that you have deceived your friend.
3.	He will say to you, “You are not at fault.”	He will tell you that you are not at fault.
4.	Madhu will say, “Mohan has crossed the river.”	Madhu will say that Mohan has crossed the river.
5.	You will say. “I am undone.”	You will say that you are undone.
6.	I have send to you, “ He is my brother.”	I have told you that he is my brother.
7.	He says to me, “I can write in French.”	He tells me that he can write in French.

Rule 2.

 If the ‘Reporting Verb’ is in the past Tense, the tense of the Verbs in the Reported Speech is also change into the corresponding Past Tense. Thus

Present Indefinite Tense Do go, does go, goes, go do not go, does not go	Changes into	Past Indefinite Tense Went did not go
Present continuous Tense Is/am/are going		Past Continuous Tense Was, were going
3.Present Perfect Tense has/have gone		Past Perfect Tense Had gone
Present Perfect Continuous Tense  Has/have gone		Past Perfect Continuous Tense Had been going
Present Perfect Continuous Tense Has/have been going		Past Perfect Continuous Tense Had been going
Past Indefinite Tense Wrote/did write		Past Perfect Tense Had written
Past Continuous Tense Was/were going		Past Perfect Continuous Tense Had been going
Will, Shall		Would
Can		Could
May		Might

CHANGE OF PRONOUNS

First Person	I, my, me, we, our, us	Changes according to the Sub.(S)
Second Person	(You, Your)	Change according to the Obj. (O)
Third  Person	(He, She, It, His, Him, Her, They, Their, Them)	Does not change (N)

                                                       Some Other Changes

Here	Is changed into	There
Now		Then
This		That
These		Those
Today or this day		That day
Last night		The previous night
Last week		The previous week
Yesterday		The previous day
Tomorrow		The next day
Next week/month/year		The following week/month/year
Ago		Before
Thus		So
Hence		Thence
Hither		Thither
Sir/madam		Respectfully
Hereby		there by

Note: These changes are not made if the speech is reported during the same period or at the same place; 

Direct	Indirect
He said, “This is the house where I was born.”	He said that this was the house where he was born.
He said, “This is my book.”	He said that this was his book
You said to me, “I shall meet you here.”	You told me that you would meet me here.

Some more Examples

Direct	Indirect
He said, “I am unwell.”	He said that he was unwell.
Ram said, “I am going away to my house.”	Ram said that he was going away to his house.
She said to me, “I have seen the Taj.”	She told me that she had seen the Taj.
He said to Mohan. “It has been raining since morning.”	He told Mohan that it had been raining since morning.
He said to me, “I saw a stranger in the garden.”	He told me that he had seen a stranger in the garden.
He said to Rekha.“I was listening to the radio.”	He told Rekha that he had been listening to the radio.
I said to Malti, “I will help you.”	I told Malti that I would help her.
He said to Ram,“I will be leaving soon for the station.”	He told Ram that he would be leaving soon for the station.
They said, “We shall have finished our work by sunset.”	They said that they would have finished their work by sunset.
He said to me. “I can swim across the river.”	He told me that he could swim across the river.
He said to me, “I may come in your house.”	He told me that he might come in my house.

Exceptions to the above rule

    (1)    If the Reported Speech contains a Universal Truth or a Habitual Fact, its tense remains unchanged.

Direct	Indirect
The teacher said, “The earth moves round the sun.”	The teacher said that the earth moves round the sun.
My friend said to me, “I write with my left hand.”	My friend told me that he writes with his left hand.
He said, “It takes two to make a quarrel.”	He said that it takes two to make a quarrel.
He said to me, “I go for a walk every morning.”	He told me that he goes for a walk every morning.

(2) If the Reported Speech states a Past Historical Fact, the Simple Past tense remains unchanged.

Direct	Indirect
The teacher said to the boys, “Ashoka renounced war after the conquest of Kalinga.”	The teacher told the boys that Ashoka renounced war after the conquest of Kalinga.
Suresh said, “The plane leaves at midnight.”	Suresh said that the plane leaves at midnight.

     (3)The simple Past or Past Continuous Tense in the Reported Speech remains Unchanged, if it sates two actions that took place at the same time.

Direct	Indirect
He said, “I was swimming in the river when the rain started.”	He said that he was swimming in the river when the rain started.
He said, “My sister was listening to the radio while I was writing letters.”	He said that his sister was listening to the radio while he was writing letters.

(4)  If the Reported Speech expresses an “Imagined Condition”. Its tense remains unchanged.

Direct	Indirect
He said, “If I were you, I would help him.”	He said that if he were you, he would help him.
He said, “I would build a hospital If I won a lottery.”	He said that he would build a hospital if he won a lottery.

       

        (5) The future tense in the Reported speech remains unchanged, if what it says refers to the future at the time of reporting.

Direct	Indirect
He said today, “I am going to build a hospital.”	He said today that he is going to build a hospital.
They said this morning, “ We are going to celebrate prize distribution function in our school in the month of January.”	They said this morning that they are going to celebrate prize distribution function in their school in the month of January.

Click the link for Direct Indirect in ASSERTIVE/SIMPLE SENTENCES OR STATEMENTS