English Gramamar

1. Direct and Indirect Speech
ENGLISH GRAMMAR

2. Direct and Indirect
Speech
There are two ways to report what a personsays:
1. Directspeech
2. Indirect speech

3. Direct Speech
Ahmad said, “I am very busy”.
We have given the exact words used by the speaker. This way of QuotingSpeechNarration is called
Direct Speech. Such words are placed between inverted commas (‘…..’ or “…….”)
CHARACTERISTICS:
• It is original quotation of a talk.
• It is always placed between two quotation marks.
• It is always preceded by Capital letter.

4. Indirect Speech
Ahmad said that he was very busy.
We have reported the idea, indirectly, without quoting the actual words of the
speaker. This method is called indirect speech (sometimescalled reported speech)
CHARACTERISTICS:
• In indirect speech we do not use the exact words of the speaker.
• We sometimes need to change pronouns and verb tenses.
• We don’t use speech marks.

5. He Said to me
Reporting Speech ,
“ I am waiting for my
brother ” . Reported
Speech

6. Reported
Speech
Reported Speech it is the grammar we use when we want to
tell another person about a conversationthattook place in
the past.
We often use reported speech to . . .
1. Give someone a telephone message:
Example: Sana said she couldn’t come today because she
was busy.
2. Tell someone news that we heard from someone else:
Example: Ali told me that he got engaged!
3. To report something that happened:
Example: Sam said that the other driver wasn’t paying
attentionand hit his car.

7. How to use reported speech:
When we use reported speech, we are usually talking about the past.
Therefore, verbs usually change to the past tense in reported speech.
For example:
This Photo by Unknown author is licensed under CC BY-NC.

8. Is/am/are becomes was/were
has/have becomes had
can/can't becomes could/couldn't
will/won't becomes would/wouldn't

9. In addition to the above changes, we have the following:
Direct Speech Reported Speech
This becomes Those
These becomes That
Now becomes Then

10. Change of Pronouns:
All pronouns of 1st person changes according to the subject of reported speech.
e. g :
• She says to me,” I recite the Holy Quran every day.”
• She says to me that she recite the Holy Quran every day.

11. All pronouns of 2nd personare changed according to the object of reporting speech.
e. g :
The teacher says to us , ” You are wasting your precious time. “
The teacher told to us that we are wasting our precious time.

12. All pronouns of 3rd personremain unchanged.
e. g :
Ali says to me , ” She hates you. ”
Ali says to me that she hates me.

13. SimpleSentences:
He said, “I go to school every day.”
He said (that) he went to school every day.
He said, “I live in Paris."
He said that he lived in Paris.
She said, “I am cooking dinner.”
She said that she was cooking dinner.
He said, “I have visited London twice.”
He said that he had visited London twice.

14. Examples of reporting what someone said . . .
Maria said: “I’m not happyat my job now. I thinkI’ll
quit.”
I talked to Maria yesterday.She was tellingme about
her job.Her job is quite stressful.

15. When we want to tell someone else what Maria said. In this
situation, it’s natural to use reported speech:
Maria said to me , “I am not happy at my job now”.
Maria told me that she was not happy at her job then.
However, that is optional.

16. The following table shows other examples of
such changes:
Direct Speech Reported / Indirect Speech
Today → that day / yesterday/ on Wednesday, etc.
Tomorrow
→ the next day /the following day /on Thursday, etc.
Yesterday → the day before / the previousday / on Tuesday,etc.
Next Month → the month after / the following month / in July, etc.
Last Year → the year before / the previousyear etc.

17. When a person told you something in the past tense, you can use either the past tense or the past
perfect after the “said” phrase.
Example:
Ahmad said :“I worked really hard today.”
Ahmad said that he worked really hard that day. past tense OR Ahmad said that he had worked
really hard that day. past perfect tense

18. Types of Sentences:
Simple.
Interrogative.
Imperative.
Exclamatory.

19. InterrogativeSentences:
There are two main kinds of interrogative sentences.
Those which start with a helping verb such as is, am, are.
Those which start with a question word such as what, why, when, where, how etc.
Interrogative sentences beginning with a helping verb are changed into the indirect speech by using
the connective if or whether.

20. The reporting verbsaid (or any other wordused as the reporting verb)changes to asked.
For example:
She said to me, ‘Are you coming with us?
’She asked me if I was going with them.
Question mark ‘?’ is placed at the end of the sentence in Direct speech.
Note that the helping verbs should, could, would, ought to and might do not change in the indirect
speech.

21. Here the object me is understood from the
context
In some sentences the object may be understood from the context and not expressed in the
sentence.
In such cases the object has to be supplied in the indirect speech.
For Example:
• Direct: He said, ‘What do you want?’
• Indirect: He asked me what I wanted.
Here the object me is understood from the context.