Direct-Indirect speech Rules with Examples

Direct-Indirect Speech Rules

The words of a speaker may be reported in two ways:

1. Direct speech
2. Indirect speech

Direct Speech – When we quote the exact words of the speaker it is called Direct Speech.
Eg. Chavi said, “I am very happy today”.
Indirect Speech – When we report what the speaker said without quoting the exact words it is called Indirect speech.
Eg. Chavi said that she was very happy that day.
Direct speech- Chavi said, “I am very happy today”.
Indirect speech – Chavi said that she was very happy that day.
In the above example we have noticed the following-

1. In Direct speech, inverted commas are used to mark off the exact words of the speaker.
2. In Indirect speech the conjunction ’that’ has been used before the indirect statement.
3. The pronoun ‘I’ is changed to ‘she’.
4. The verb ‘am’ is changed to ‘was’.
5. The adverb ‘today’ is changed to ‘that day’.

A Direct speech has three parts – viz, the reporter the reporting verb and the reported speech
Eg. Rama said, “She is not well”.
Reporter Reporting verb reported speech
Rules for changing Direct speech into Indirect speech

Rule 1: If the reporting verb is in the present tense or the future tense, the tenses of the direct speech do not change. However the pronouns of the direct speech are changed, wherever required, so that their relations with the reporter and his hearer are indicated.
Direct speech: He says, “I am going to Mumbai.”
Indirect speech: He says that he is going to Mumbai.
Direct speech: He will say, “I like to watch movies.”
Indirect speech: He will say that he likes to watch movies.

Rule 2: If the reporting verb is in the past tense all present tenses of the direct speech are changed into the corresponding past tenses.
Direct speech : He said, “I am going to Mumbai.”
Indirect Speech: He said that he was going to Mumbai.

Direct Speech	Indirect Speech
Tense – Change at a glance
Simple present	Simple past
Present continuous	Past continuous
Present perfect	Past Perfect
Present perfect continuous	Past perfect continuous
Simple past	Past Perfect
Past Continuous	Past Perfect Continuous
Past Perfect	No change
Past perfect continuous	No change
Verbs at a glance
Is or am	Was
Are	were
Has or Have	Had
Was or were	Had been
Shall	Should or would
Will	Would
May	Might
can	Could
When the present tense is changed into past tense the followings are  also changed
This or these	That or those
Now or just	Then
Here	there
Hence	Thence
Thus	So
Today	That day
Tomorrow	Next day
Yesterday	The previous day
Last night	The previous night
Ago	Before
Next week/month/year	The following week/month/year

Rule 3: If the tenses of the verbs in the reported speech may not change if the statement is still relevant or it is a universal truth.
Direct speech: He said, “The honesty is the best policy.”
Indirect speech: He said that the honesty is the best policy.

Rule 4: In case of the interrogative sentences following rules is followed,

1. ‘said’ is changed to ‘asked’, ‘enquired’ etc.
2. when the question is introduced by an interrogative word like ‘what’ , ‘where’, etc. ‘that’ is not used before the reported speech.
3. When the question is not introduced by an interrogative word the reporting word is followed by ‘whether’ or ‘if’.

Direct speech: He said to me, “Where are you going.”
Indirect speech: He asked me where I was going.
Direct speech: Rohan said to me, “Are you angry with me?”
Indirect speech: Rohan asked me whether/if I was angry with him.

Rule 5: In the case of Imperative sentences the following rules needs to be followed.

1. a. ‘said to’ changed into ‘ordered’, ‘requested’, ‘advised’, ‘commanded’, ‘warned’,etc. depending on the nature of the sentences.
2. Inverted commas are replaced by ‘to’.
3. ‘do not or don’t’ are replaced by ‘not to’.
4. if the sentence starts with ‘let’, ‘said to’ are replaced by ‘proposed to’ or ‘suggested to’

Direct speech: Rohit said to me, “Write a letter.”
Indirect speech: Rohit ordered me to write a letter.
Direct speech: Raghu said to him, “Please help me.”
Indirect speech: Raghu requested him to help him.
Direct speech: Ritika said to her mother, “Let me join the dance group.”
Indirect speech: Ritika proposed to her mother to let her join the dance group.

Direct indirect speech Rules Examples/Excercise

Direct Speech	Indirect Speech
Mary says, “I am writing a novel.”	Mary says that she is writing a novel.
Rani said, “The sun rises in the east.”	Rani said that the sun rises in the east.
He said to me, “I have become a Probationary Officer.”	He told me that he had become a Probationary Officer.
Sohan said, “My grandfather died in the night.”	Sohan said that his grandfather had died in the night.
He said, “I am glad to be here this evening.”	He said that he was glad to be there that evening.
My mother said, “I am very happy to hear this news.”	My mother said that she was very happy to hear that news.
He said, “I was going to post the letters.”	He said that he had been going to post the letters.
He said to me, “Are you busy now?”	He asked me whether/if I was busy then.
He said to me, “Why are you going to Delhi?”	He asked me why I was going to Delhi.
My father said to me, “Why have you done this?”	My father asked me why I had done that.
Rohan said to me , “Please wait here till I return”	Rohan requested me to wait there till he returned.