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    Direct and Indirect Speech

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    Yevit Rodríguez
    Direct speech repeats the exact words spoken between quotation marks, while indirect or reported speech reports the words spoken without quotation marks. When transforming direct speech into indirect speech, pronouns and verb tenses may need to be changed depending on the context. Place, time, and demonstrative expressions also require adjustment if the context has changed. Requests and commands transformed to indirect speech use "to" or "not to" plus the base verb form.

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    Direct and Indirect Speech

    Uploaded by

    Yevit Rodríguez
    27 views9 pages
    Direct speech repeats the exact words spoken between quotation marks, while indirect or reported speech reports the words spoken without quotation marks. When transforming direct speech into indirect speech, pronouns and verb tenses may need to be changed depending on the context. Place, time, and demonstrative expressions also require adjustment if the context has changed. Requests and commands transformed to indirect speech use "to" or "not to" plus the base verb form.

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    Reported speech

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    Direct speech repeats the exact words spoken between quotation marks, while indirect or reported speech reports the words spoken without quotation marks. When transforming direct speech into indirect speech, pronouns and verb tenses may need to be changed depending on the context. Place, time, and demonstrative expressions also require adjustment if the context has changed. Requests and commands transformed to indirect speech use "to" or "not to" plus the base verb form.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    27 views9 pages

    Direct and Indirect Speech

    Uploaded by

    Yevit Rodríguez
    Direct speech repeats the exact words spoken between quotation marks, while indirect or reported speech reports the words spoken without quotation marks. When transforming direct speech into indirect speech, pronouns and verb tenses may need to be changed depending on the context. Place, time, and demonstrative expressions also require adjustment if the context has changed. Requests and commands transformed to indirect speech use "to" or "not to" plus the base verb form.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    of 9

    Direct and indirect speech

    You can answer the question What did he say? in two ways:

    ● by repeating the words spoken (direct speech)


    ● by reporting the words spoken (indirect or reported speech).

    Direct Speech
    Direct speech repeats, or quotes, the exact words spoken. When we use direct speech in writing, we place the words spoken
    between quotation marks (" ") and there is no change in these words. We may be reporting something that's being said NOW
    (for example a telephone conversation), or telling someone later about a previous conversation.

    Examples

    ● She says, "What time will you be home?"


    ● She said, "What time will you be home?" and I said, "I don't know! "
    ● "There's a fly in my soup!" screamed Simone.
    ● John said, "There's an elephant outside the window."
    Indirect speech
    Reported or indirect speech is usually used to talk about the past, so we normally change the tense of the words spoken.
    We use reporting verbs like 'say', 'tell', 'ask', and we may use the word 'that' to introduce the reported words. Inverted
    commas are not used.

    She said, "I saw him." (direct speech) = She said that she had seen him. (indirect speech)

    "That" may be omitted:

    She told him that she was happy. = She told him she was happy.

    "Say" and "tell"


    Use 'say' when there is no indirect object:

    He said that he was tired.

    Always use 'tell' when you say who was being spoken to (i.e. with an indirect object):

    He told me that he was tired.


    A. Reporting Statements
    When transforming statements, check whether you have to change:

    ■ pronouns
    ■ tense
    ■ place and time expression

    1- Pronouns
    In reported speech, you often have to change the pronoun depending on who says what.

    Example:

    She said, “My dad likes roast chicken.” – She said that her dad liked roast chicken.

    They said, “Our car is much faster”. -


    2- Tenses

    ■ If the sentence starts in the present, there is no backshift of tenses in reported speech.
    ■ If the sentence starts in the past, there is often backshift of tenses in reported speech.

    No backshift
    Do not change the tense if the introductory clause is in a present tense (e. g. He says). Note, however, that you might have to change the
    form of the present tense verb (3rd person singular).
    Example:
    He says, “I write poems.” – He says that he writes English.
    Backshift
    You must change the tense if the introductory clause is in a past tense (e. g. He said).
    Example:
    He said, “I am happy.” – He said that he was happy.
    The modal verbs could, should,
    would, might, needn't, ought to,
    used to do not normally change.

    Example:
    He said, "She might be right." –
    He said that she might be right.
    Other modal verbs may change:
    3- Place, demonstratives and time expressions
    Place, demonstratives and time expressions change if the context of the reported statement (i.e. the
    location and/or the period of time) is different from that of the direct speech.
    Reporting requests / commands
    When transforming requests and commands, check whether you have to change:
    ■ pronouns
    ■ place and time expressions

    Direct speech Reported speech

    “Nancy,do the exercise.“ He told Nancy to do the exercise.

    "Nancy, give me your pen, please." He asked Nancy to give him her pen.
    Tenses are not relevant for requests – simply use to / not to + verb (infinitive without
    "to")

    For affirmative use to + infinitive (without to)

    For negative requests, use not to + infinitive (without to).

    Example:

    She said, “Sit down." - She asked me to sit down.

    She said, "don't be lazy" - She asked me not to be lazy

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