We often convey a message or give information about what someone said, thought or felt to somebody else. In order to do this you can use the grammar structure named direct or quoted speech, or indirect or reported speech. Indeed this structure can be a source of confusion for ESL learners because they mix it with active and passive voice. Read the whole article to know about direct and indirect speech rules.
To learn more about direct and indirect speech click here.
Initially we will look at direct and indirect speech, then look at how to convert speech from direct to indirect or vice-versa.
Direct Speech / Quoted Speech
Saying or quoting exactly what someone has said is called direct speech (sometimes called quoted speech)
Here what a person says appears within quotation marks (“…”) and should be word for word.
Indirect Speech / Reported Speech
Saying or reporting what someone said without quoting his exact words is called indirect speech.
Here we don’t use quotation marks to enclose what the person said and does not have to be word for word.
Reporting Verb
The verb in the first part of sentence (i.e. say, said, tell, admit, complain, explain remind, reply think, hope, offer, refuse etc.) before the statement of a person in sentence is called reporting verb.
How to Change Direct Speech into Indirect Speech?
If the reported sentence contains an expression of time, you must change it to fit in with the time of reporting, and adverb of nearness should be put into those of distance.
Note: If something is said and reported at the same time, then the time expression can remain the same.
A) If the reporting verb is in present or future (i.e say, says or will say) then don’t change the tense that you can find within the quotation marks.
B) If reporting verb is in the past tense. the tense of the verbs in the reported speech or indirect speech must be generally changed. This is because when we use reported speech, we are usually talking about a time in the past (because obviously the person who spoke originally spoke in the past). The verbs therefore usually have to be in the past too.
Tense Change
As a rule when you report something someone has said you go back a tense.
Present Simple › Past simple
Present continuous › Past continuous
Present perfect › Past perfect
Present perfect continuous › Past perfect continuous
Past simple › Past perfect
Past perfect › Past perfect
Past perfect continuous › Past perfect continuous
Modal verb forms also sometimes change:
Will › would
Can › could
Must › had to
May › might
Note – There is no change to; could, would, should, might and ought to.
If indirect speech the words within quotation marks talk of a universal truth or habitual action or when a sentence is made and reported at the same time and the fact is still true then the tense inside the quotation marks is not changed at all.
You can also use the present tense if you are talking about a future event.
We have to change the pronouns to keep the same meaning of a sentence.
Note: Sometimes we have to use a noun instead of a pronoun, otherwise the new sentence is confusing consider the examples below:
(If we only make mechanical changes, then the new sentence can have different meaning)
Rule 9. Reported Speech of Interrogative Sentences
1. Remove the quotation marks and question mark in the interrogative sentence.
2. Use ‘if’ or ‘whether’ if the sentence inside the quotation marks begins with a helping verb (Auxiliary verb).
3. Use the given interrogative word (what, when, where, why, who, whom, whose, which, now etc.) if it does not begin with the helping verb.
4. Don‘t use ‘that’
5. Changing the reporting verb (say, said) into ‘ask, want to know wonder or inquire’ in its correct tense.
6. Omit helping verb like ‘do, does, did’. But don’t omit them when they are with ‘not’.
In yes/no questions we use if or whether in questions. If is more common and whether is more formal.
1. Remove the quotation mark in an Imperative sentence.
2. Use ‘to’ if it is an affirmative sentence. (without don‘t)
3. Use ‘not to’ if the sentence begins without Don‘t.
4. Don‘t use ‘that’
5. Omit the word ‘please’. Use the word ‘request’ instead of ‘say’.
6. If the direct speech contains a request or a command, the reporting verb (say, said) change to tell, request, order, command etc. in its correct tense.
7. The commands, requests and advice mostly have the same form in English: verb + object + infinitive (advise, ask, beg, forbid, order, persuade, recommend, tell, urge, warn etc.).
Negative: + object + not + infinitive.
Rule 12. Reported Speech of Advice
If it contains advice the reporting verb changes into advised.
1. Change the exclamatory sentence into statement or assertive
2. Remove the quotation marks and exclamatory mark.
3. Use the conjunction ‘that’
4. Omit the interjections such as Oh, O, Alas, how, what, hurrah.
5. Add the word ‘very’ to the adjective or adverb if necessary.
6. If the verb is not given, use ‘Be’ form verb (is, was, are, were, am) in its correct tense according to the subject.
7. Change the reporting verb (say, said) to ‘exclaim joyfully’
8. Use ‘exclaim’ sorrowfully for sorrowful incidents.
In reported speech, the word that is often used, however it is optional. We recommend you no to use it because in some cases we don’t use ‘That’ in reported speech like: question, command request and order, so its better not to use it.
In direct speech, various punctuation conventions are used to separate the quoted words from the rest of the text: this allows a reader to follow what’s going on. Here are the basic rules:
A)We use inverted commas (also called quotation marks, quotes or speech marks) to indicate direct speech. Double quotes (“) are preferred in American English, while single quotes (‘) are more common in British English:
B) Every time a new speakers says something, you should start a new paragraph:
C) There should be a comma, full stop, question mark, or exclamation mark at the end of a piece of speech. This is placed inside the closing inverted comma or commas.
D) If the direct speech is broken up by information about who is speaking, you need a comma (or a question mark or exclamation mark) to end the first piece of speech and a full stop or another comma before the second piece (before the inverted comma or commas):
Conclusion:
I hope that the points that I have mentioned above about direct and indirect speech may prove beneficial for people learning English. All you need to do is to understand the crucial rules of direct and indirect speech, and don’t mix it with passive and active voice.
If you would like to know more about direct or quoted speech, or indirect or reported speech, check out more in the book below.
