Direct and Indirect Speech Examples

In this post, we’ll study Direct and Indirect Speech with Examples briefly.

Direct and Indirect Speech with Examples

• Definitions

When we say something said by someone to someone else, then it is said in two ways.

1. Direct Speech / Narration            2. Indirect Speech / Narration

1. Direct Speech / Narration: – When a speaker’s statement is expressed in his own words. It is called direct speech. It is placed between inverted commas (“—“).

Example: – Simran said, “I shall not go to market today.”

                (Reporting verb)   (Reported speech or reported clause)

2. Indirect Speech/ Narration: – When a speaker’s statement is expressed in other words. It is called Indirect speech.

Example: – Simran said she should not go to market that day.

Rules of changing Direct Speech into Indirect Speech 

A. General Rules         B. Special Rules

A. General Rules: –

   1. Change of pronoun

   2. Change of Tense

   3. Change of other parts of speech.

1. The Rule of Change of Pronoun: –

• The first person of ‘Reported Speech’ will be changed according to the subject of the ‘Reporting Verb’.
• The second person of ‘Reported Speech’ will be changed according to the object of the ‘Reporting Verb’.
• The third person of ‘Reported Speech’ will not be changed.

The pronoun will be changed in the following manner.

2. Change of Tense: –

Rule (A): – If the reporting verb is in present or future Tense, there is no change
in the tense of Reported Speech.

Example: – (i) He says, “They have read the book.” (Direct)

                       He says that they have read the book. (Indirect)

                  (ii) Mahir says to his father, “The sweets are delicious.” (Direct)

                       Mahir tells his father that the sweets are delicious.” (Indirect)

Rule (B): – If the reporting verb is in the past tense, the tense of the reported
speech is also changed into the past form in the following manner:

Examples: – (i) Rehan said to me, “I am your brother.”(Direct)

                        Rehan told me that he was my brother. (Indirect)

                    (ii) Govind said, “l must go.” (Direct)

                        Govind said that he must go. (Indirect)

Rule (C): – If the reporting verb is in the past tense, the tense of the reported
speech is no change in the following condition.

(a) Universal Truth: –

Example: – (i) My father said, “The sun rises in the east.” (Direct)

                       My father said that the sun rises in the east. (Indirect)

(b) Habitual Fact: –

Example: – (i) My mother said, “l do not like coffee”. (Direct)

                       My mother said that she does not like coffee. (Indirect)

(c) Proverb or Saying: –

Example: – (i) She said to me, “Dogs bark at night.” (Direct)

                       She told me that dogs bark at night. (Indirect)

3. Change of other parts of speech: –

 B. Special Rules: –

When we change direct speech into indirect speech, we use various conjunctions in different types of sentences as given below.
 1. Assertive (simple): – In assertive sentences, we use the conjunction ‘that’.  And the following changes will also happen.

            ‘Say to’ will change into ‘tell’
            ‘Says to’ will change into ‘tells’
            ‘Said to’ will change into ‘told’

Examples: –

           (i) You say to me, “l play football.” (Direct)

               You tell me that you play football. (Indirect)

          (ii) He says to me, “l play football.” (Direct)

              He tells me that he plays football. (Indirect)

         (iii) He said to me, “l play football.” (Direct)

               He told me that he played football. (Indirect)

2. Interrogative: – There are two types of it.
                             (a) Wh. Words Questions
                             (b) Auxiliary verbs Question.

(a) Words Question: – In this type of Interrogative sentence, The ‘wh-word’ itself would be used as a conjunction. And the following changes will also happen.

     ‘say to’ will change into ‘ask’
     ‘says to’ will change into ‘asks’
     ‘said to’ will change into ‘asked’

Examples: –

   (i) He said to me, “Where are you going?” (Direct)

       He asked me where I was going. (Indirect)

  (ii) You say to me, “What are you doing?” (Direct)

       You ask me what I am doing. (Indirect)

  (b) Auxiliary verbs Question: – In this type of Interrogative sentence, we use the conjunction ‘If/whether’. And the following changes will also happen.

     ‘say to’ will change into ‘ask’
     ‘says to’ will change into ‘asks’
     ‘said to’ will change into ‘asked’

Examples: –

     (i) He said to me, “Is your father a doctor?” (Direct)

          He asked me if my father was a doctor. (Indirect)

    (ii) You say to me, “Are you going to the office?” (Direct)

         You ask me if I am going to the office. (Indirect)

Many thanks to you for visiting my website and reading this post (Direct and Indirect Speech with Examples).

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