Direct & Indirect Speech

                Direct speech is refers to reproducing another person exact word. We use quotation marks (“ “).

Examples:

•          She says to her friend, “I have been writing.”

•          She has told you, “I am reading.”

•          She will say, “The boy wasn’t lazy.”

•          She will say, “You have done wrongly.”

Indirect speech (also called Reported Speech) is used to communicate what someone else said, but without using the exact words.

Examples:

•          Direct speech: “I’m going to the cinema”, she said.

               Indirect speech: He said that he was going to the cinema.

•          Direct speech: She will say, “You have done wrongly.”

               Indirect speech: She will tell you that you have done wrongly.

•          Direct speech: She will say, “The boy wasn’t lazy.”

               Indirect speech: She will tell them that the boy wasn’t lazy.

There are 3 kinds of indirect speech: 

1.       Imperative (command/request) 

2.       Interrogative (question) 

3.       Declarative (statement)

Examples: 

1.       Imperative (command/request)

       Direct: “Don’t worry about it”.

       Indirect: Lucy told Edmund not to worry about it. 

2.       Interrogative (question)

       Direct: Sri asked to Gladys, “Are you a singer?”

       Indirect: Sri asked if/whether she was singer. 

3.       Declarative (statement)

       Direct: Mr. Dion said, “I worked hard yesterday.”

       Indirect: Mr. Dion said that he worked hard the day before.

In “command” sentences direct speech can changed to indirect speech with change “said” to be “ordered”, “told” and “forbade”.

Examples: 

1.       Direct: Edward said, “Open the door!”

       Indirect: Edward ordered to open the door. 

2.       Direct: Lucy said, “Gladys, please come here!”

       Indirect: Lucy told Gladys to come here. 

3.       Direct: Lucy said to Suzan, “Do not disturb me!”

       Indirect: Lucy forbade Suzan to not disturb her.

TENSES CHANGES

As a rule when you report something, someone has said you go back a tense (the tense on the left changes to the tense in the right).

Direct	indirect
Present Simple She said, “It is cold.”	Past Simple She said it was cold.
Present Continuous She said, “I’m teaching English online.”	Past Continuous She said she was teaching English online.
Present Perfect Simple She said, “I’ve been on the web since 1999.”	Past Perfect Simple She said she had been on the web since 1999.
Present Perfect Continuous She said, “I’ve been teaching English for seven years.”	Past Perfect Continuous She said she had been teaching English for seven years.
Past Simple She said, “I taught online yesterday.”	Past Perfect She said she had taught online yesterday.
Past Continuous She said, “I was teaching earlier.”	Past Perfect Continuous She said she had been teaching earlier.
Past Perfect She said, “The lesson had already started when he arrived.”	Past Perfect NO CHANGE – She said the lesson had already started when he arrived.
Past Perfect Continuous She said, “I’d already been teaching for five minutes.”	Past Perfect Continuous NO CHANGE – She said she already been teaching for five minutes.

Modal verb forms also sometimes change.

Direct Speech	Indirect Speech
Will She said, “I’ll teach English online tomorrow.”	Would She said she would teach English online tomorrow.
Can She said, “I can teach English online.”	Could She said she could teach English online.
Must She said, “I must have a computer to teach English.”	Had to She said she had to have a computer to teach English online.
Shall She said, “What shall we learn today?”	Should She asked what we should learn today.
May She said, “May I open a new browser?”	Might She asked if she might open a new browser.

TIME CHANGE

If the reported sentence contains an expression of time, you must change it to fit in with the time reporting.

Expression of time if reported on a different day:

•          This ↔ that

•          Today ↔ yesterday

•          These ↔those

•          Now ↔ then

•          A week ago ↔ a week before

•          Last weekend ↔ the weekend before last/the previous weekend

•          Here ↔ there

•          Next week ↔ the following week

•          Tomorrow ↔ the next

But if “this”, “here”, “now”, etc, on an object, place or time when talking, then it does not change.

Example:

• Andrew said, “This is my pen.”

• Andrew said that this was his pen. (when talking, pen in the hands of the speaker)