2. REPORTING SPEECH
•The English language has two ways for
conveying the spoken-words of one person to
another person, as follows:
1. Direct speech
2. Indirect speech
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8. Indirect speech is the reporting what someone else
said in your own words but without changing the
meaning or what was said. Indirect speech is also
known as reported speech.
Example : He said that he was going to school.
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9. DIRECT TO INDIRECT
REPORTING VERB
•Direct speech has two parts, the first part of the sentence is
known as reporting verb.
• Reporting verb tells about the person who is speaking.
Examples :
He said, “I need your help”
She says, “I won a prize”
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10. REPORTED SPEECH
The second part (actual words of the speaker) of the sentence
which is enclosed in inverted commas is called reported speech.
Example :
•He said, “I need your help”
•She says, “I won a prize”
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11. RULE 1
If the reporting verb in the direct speech statement is in
present tense or future tense, then it remains same in
indirect speech too i.e. no change in tense.
Example:
My friends say, “He is very handsome.”
My friends say that he is very handsome.
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CHANGE OF TENSE
12. i. She said, “I live in Delhi”
ii. He said, “I like ice cream”
iii. They said, “We spoke Chinese”
iv. You said, “I hate him
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PRACTICE QUESTIONS
13. ANSWERS
i. She said that she lived Delhi.
ii. He said that he liked ice cream.
iii. They said that they spoke
Chinese.
iv. You said that you hated him.
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14. RULE 2
If the reporting verb (first part) of the sentence is in the
past tense, then the tense of reported speech (second
part) is changed for making its indirect speech.
Simple past Past perfect
Example :
He said, “Sara is going to school”
He said that Sara was going to school.
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CHANGE OF TENSE
15. i. She said, “I lived in Delhi”
ii. Guna said, “I got a new job”
iii. The old lady said that, “I have
no money”
iv. Priya said, “I ate your lunch”
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PRACTICE QUESTIONS
16. ANSWERS
i. She said that she had lived in Delhi.
ii. Guna said that he had got a new job.
iii. The old lady said that she had no
money.
iv. Priya said that he had eaten your
lunch.
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18. The pronoun (subject) of the reported is changed according to
the pronoun (subject) of the reporting verb of the sentence.
Example :
He said, “I eat an apple”
He said that he ate an apple.
She said, “I am reading a poem”
She said that she was reading a poem
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CHANGE IN PRONOUN
20. i. He said, “I like music”
ii. They said, “It is
raining:
iii. He said, “She works in
an office”
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PRACTICE QUESTIONS
21. ANSWERS
i. He said that he likes music.
ii. They said that it was
raining.
iii. He said that she worked in
an office
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22. If the mentioned in a sentence, the words for describing the time will be
changed in indirect speech.
CHANGE IN TIME
23. Examples:
He said, “His girlfriend came yesterday.”
He said that his girlfriend had come the day before.
He said that, “Its been raining since this afternoon.
He said that it’d been raining since that afternoon.
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24. CHANGES FOR IMPERATIVE SENTENCES
Imperative sentences consist any of these
four things:
•Order
•Request
•Advice
•Suggestion
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26. Examples
He said to me, “Pick up the bag.”
He ordered me to pick up the bag.
He said to Anu, “Please, help me now.”
He requested Anu to help him then.
She said to him, “Study hard for the exams.”
She advised him to study hard for the exams.
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28. CHANGES FOR EXCLAMATORY
SENTENCE
Sentence that expresses emotion such as sorrow,
joy, wander, pity etc. is called exclamatory
sentence. This type of sentence usually uses
interjection to express the emotion. Interjections
such as – hurrah, alas, sorry, oh/what, bravo
convey certain kind of emotion. Narration change
of exclamatory sentence depends on the mood the
interjection expresses.
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29. Examples :
The teacher said, “What a brilliant student he is!”
The teacher exclaimed in wonder that he was a
very brilliant student.
The old man said, “Alas! I have lost my purse.”
The old man exclaimed with sorrow that he had
lost his purse.
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30. CHANGES IN MODAL AUXILIARY VERBS
In narration change auxiliary verbs are used in
reported clause. This kind of verb is used along
with a main or primary verb. Auxiliary verbs
helps the main verb to express tense, moods
and instruction, intention of the speaker. That
is why auxiliary verbs are also known as
helping verbs.
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32. EXAMPLE :
I said, “I will be late today.”
I said that I would be late that day.
The woman asked me, “Can I help you?”
The woman asked me if she could help me.
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33. PUNCTUATION
In direct speech, the words actually spoken should be
(“) quotes and always begin with a capital letter.
She said, “I am the best.”
Full stop, comma, exclamation or question mark, are
placed inside the closing inverted commas.
They asked, “Can we sing with you?”
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36. Convert the following sentences from direct speech to
indirect speech....
• She said, “I am going to the park.”
• “I have completed my homework,” said Jane.
• Doctor said to the patient, “Change your food habits”.
• Boss said, “Follow me”.
• My uncle said, “Well done! You have done a good
job.”
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37. Answers
• He said that he was going to the park
• He said that she had completed her work.
• Doctor suggested/advised the patient to change
his food habits.
• Boss ordered/instructed to follow him.
• My uncle exclaimed with applause that I had done
a good job
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