7th Class English Voice and Narration Indirect Speech

    Indirect Speech

 

When the substance or meaning of a person's speech is presented, it is called Indirect Speech.

• He said to me," He is doing an arduous task.
• He told me that he was doing an arduous task.

The above given two sentences refer to the two ways of reporting the words of a speaker.

In sentence 2, the actual or exact words of the speaker are not presented. But the substance or meaning of the speech is presented. This speech is called Indirect Speech.

 

Points to keep in mind:

• In Indirect Speech the words of the speaker are not put within Inverted Commas.
• A conjunction is introduced after said. The comma and Inverted Commas are omitted.
• The Tense of the actual words of the speaker may or may not change.
• The word denoting person used within Inverted Commas may or may not change:

 

General rules for changing Direct Speech into Indirect Speech.

There are three general rules for changing Direct Speech into Indirect Speech.

1. Change of tense
2. Change of person
3. Change of other Parts of Speech. 

 

 

       Change of Tense

(i)           When the Reporting Verb is in Present or Future, the tense of the verb in the Reported Speech does not change.    

 

 

 

Direct                    :      Steve says, "He should work hard."

Indirect                :      Steve says that he should work hard.

Direct                    :      James will say, "There is no point in going to movie."

Indirect                :     James will say that there is no point in going to movie.    

(ii)    When the Reporting Verb is in the Past, the tense of the verb in the Reported Speech is changed into the corresponding Past Tense as per the following table:  

Direct Speech Simple Present Present Continuous Present Perfect Present Perfect Continuous Simple Past Past Continuous Past Perfect Past Perfect Continuous Shall/Will Can/May Is / Am / Are Have/Has Was / Were

Indirect Speech Simple Past Past Continuous Past Perfect Past Perfect Continuous Past Perfect Past perfect Continuous No Change-remains same No Change - remains same Should/Would Could / Might Was / Were Had Had been

 

 

Direct                    :               Smith said, "I will argue with him."

Indirect                :               Smith said that he would argue with him.

Direct                    :               Teacher said to the students, "You made noise."

Indirect                :               Teacher told the students that they had made noise.

Direct                    :               Steve said, "The horse was running on the road."

Indirect                :               Steve said that the horse had been running on the road.

Direct                    :               The teacher said, "The students had passed in the examination."

Indirect                :               The teacher said that the students had passed in the examination.

  

(i) When the Reported Speech has a universal truth, the tense of the Reported Speech does not change even though the Reporting Verb is in the Past Tense.

 

 

 Direct                    :               Scientists said, "The earth is round."

Indirect                :               Scientists said that the earth is round.

Direct                    :               We studied in the book, "The earth moves round the sun."

Indirect                :               We studied in the book that the earth moves round the sun.  

 

         Change of Person

The three persons used in Direct Speech within Inverted Commas, change as per the following:

First Person        :               According to Subject of Reporting Verb.

Second Person  :               According to Object of Reporting Verb.

Third Person      :               No change - Remains same    

 

 

Direct                    :               Serena said to me, "I am exasperated because of your interference."

Indirect                :               Serena told me that she was exasperated because of my interference.

Here, I (first person) of Reported Speech has changed according to Serena (Subject) of Reporting Verb and your (second person) has changed according to me (Object) or Reporting Verb.

Direct                    :               Rajesh said to Priti," You have glorified the name of your family".

Indirect                :               Rajesh told Priti that she had glorified the name of her family.

Here, you (second person) changes according to object (Priti) of Reporting Verb.

Direct                    :               Saba tiny said to me, "John will read the book."

Indirect                :               Saba tiny said to me that John would read the book.

 

Here, John (third person) does not change.

  

Change of other Parts of Speech

Some words used in Reported Speech, which express nearness are changed into .words expressing distance as per the following:

  

Direct Speech This These Here Now Today Tomorrow Yesterday Thus Ago Last Night Next week Come

Indirect Speech That Those There Then That day The next day The previous day So Before The previous night The following week Go

 

 

Direct                    :               He said to me, "You are coming today."

Indirect                :               He told me that 1 was coming that day.

Direct                    :               The captain said to his team, "We will win tomorrow."

Indirect                :               The captain told his team that they would win the next day.

Special rules for changing Direct speech into indirect speech.

There are some special rules which are applied in the conversion of different types of sentences from Direct to Indirect.

Rules for the Conversion of statements or assertive sentence from Direct to Indirect.

(i) The verb 'said to' of Reporting Verb changes into told.

(ii) The comma is replaced by the conjunction that.

(iii) The Inverted Commas are omitted.

 

 

Direct                    :               He said to me, "You are doing a tedious task."

Indirect                :               He told me that I was doing a tedious task.

Direct                    :               He said to me, "You must keep your promise."

Indirect                :               He told me that I must keep my promise.

 

Rules for the Conversion of Questions or interrogative sentences from Direct to Indirect

(i) The verb 'said to' of Reporting Verb is changed into asked or enquired.

(ii) The comma, Inverted Commas and Question Mark are omitted.

(iii) The sentence structure in the Reported Speech is changed from Question to Statement.

(iv) When the question begins with an Interrogative word (what, who, how, where, when, whom, which, why, etc.) in the Reported Speech, the same is retained in the Indirect Speech.

(v) When the question begins with an Auxiliary Verb in the Reported Speech a conjunction 'if or whether' is used in the beginning of the Reported Speech.

 

 

Direct                    :               He said to me, "What are you doing?"

Indirect                :               He asked me what 1 was doing.

Direct                    :               My mother said to me, "Where were you?"

Indirect                :               My mother asked me where I was.

Direct                    :               He said to me, "Have you completed your work"?

Indirect                :               He asked me if i had completed my work.

Direct                    :               He said to me, "Did you invite me"?

Indirect                :               He asked me if I had invited him.

 

Rules for the Conversion of Imperative Sentence into Indirect Speech.

(i) The verb 'said to' of Reporting Verb is changed into ordered, requested, advised or forbade according to the sense of reported speech.

(ii) The Comma and Inverted Commas are omitted.

(iii) The Imperative Mood of the Reported Speech is changed into Infinite Mood.

(iv) The word showing request (Please) is omitted.

 

 

 

Direct         :          My father said to me, "Open the door."

Indirect     :          My father ordered me to open the door.

Direct        :          Steve said to me, "Please give me your watch."

Indirect     :          Steve requested me to give him my watch.

Direct         :          The doctor said to the patient, "Take this medicine once Daily."

Indirect     :          The doctor advised the patient to take that medicine once daily.

Direct         :          The boy said to me, "Don't buy this book."

Indirect     :          The boy for bade me to buy that book.

 

Rule for the conversion of exclamatory sentence into Indirect Speech.

(i) The Verb 'said of' Reporting Verb is changed into exclaimed with joy / sorrow / surprise / anger / applause / fear / contempt / regret / etc. according to the sense of Reported Speech.

(ii) The Comma and Inverted Commas are omitted and the conjunction that is used.

(iii) Words showing Exclamations (Hurrah !, Alas !, Oh !, Fie !, Fie !/ etc.) are omitted.

(iv) The sentence structure is changed from Exclamatory to Statement. 

 

 

Direct                    :               The boy said, "Hurrah! I have won the prize."

Indirect                :               The boy exclaimed with joy that he had won the prize.

Direct                    :               The man said, "Alas! I am ruined."

Indirect                :               The man exclaimed with sorrow that he was ruined.

Direct                    :               The tourist said, "What a beautiful sunset!"

Indirect                :               The tourist exclaimed with surprise that it was a very beautiful sunset.

Direct                    :               The teacher said, "What a nonsense!"

Indirect                :               The teacher exclaimed with anger that it was a great nonsense.

 

Rules for the conversion of optative sentence into Indirect Speech.

(i) The verb 'said to' of Reporting Verb is changed into wished / prayed /desired / cursed, etc. according to the sense of the Reported Speech.

(ii) The Commas and Inverted Commas are omitted and the conjunction that is used.

(iii) The sentence structure is changed from Optative to Statement.

 

 

Direct                    :               My father said to me, "God bless you!"

Indirect                :               My father wished that God might bless me.

Direct                    :               The man said, "Long live the chairman!"

Indirect                :               The man wished that the chairman might live long.

Direct                    :               He said, "Bravo! You have played well."

Indirect                :               He applauded me that 1 had played well.

Direct                    :               The man said to the beggar, "May you die!"

Indirect                :               The man cursed the beggar that he might die.

 

 

   

 

Change the following direct speech into indirect speech.  

 

  Serena said to Jones, "Go away from here."

(A) Serena ordered Jones to go away from there.

(B) Serena ordered Jones that go away from here.

(C) Serena ordered Jones go away from here.

(D) All of these

(E) None of these

 

Answer: (a)

Explanation: Serena ordered Jones to go away from there.  

 

 

  The teacher said to the students, "You have done well."

(A) The teacher told the students that they have done well.

(B) The teacher told the students that they had done well.

(C) The teacher told the students that they did well.

(D) All of these

(E) None of these

 

Answer: (b)

Explanation: The teacher told the students that they had done well.      

 

 

 

•   Narration is the art of reporting the words of a speaker.
•   There are two ways of expressing the speech of the speaker: Direct and Indirect.
•   Repeating the words of the speaker as they have been said, is called Direct Speech.
•   If the words of the speaker are said in our own words, it is called Indirect Speech.