Reported Speech

 Direct & Indirect Narration

We may often be required to report what we have heard somewhere. There are two ways of doing so:

1.Reproduce the actual words of the speaker.
2.Give the gist of that person speech in our own words.

Example: Ram said," I am very happy today"
                 Ram said that he was very happy that day.

See the difference between both the above sentences.

In sentence 1.the exact words used by the speaker are reproduced, so it is called Direct Speech.While in sentence 2, the meaning of the speech is conveyed in the reporter's words, it is called Indirect Speech.

The sentence can be divided into two parts.

    Ram said,          "  I  am very happy today"

( reporting verb)     ( reported speech)

Comparison between direct and indirect narration:

1.The direct narration is always within inverted commas,separated from the rest of the sentence by a comma. While no inverted commas are used in the indirect narration speech.

2.In the indirect narration , a conjunction ( that) is used to join the reported speech with the rest of the sentence:

 Ram said that he was very happy that day

.

3. Tenses , personal pronouns( I,we, you etc.) possessive adjectives( my, our, your etc.) and adverb denoting  nearness of time and place undergo certain changes when the direct speech is changed into the indirect speech:

  Ram said, " I am very happy today."

  Ram said that he was very happy that day.

Rules for the change of tenses:

1) If the reporting verb is in present tense or future tense , there will be no change in tense of reported speech. It will remain same.

Example:

         My father says, " My boss is going to Mumbai on Sunday"( direct speech)

        My father says that his boss is going to Mumbai on Sunday"(indirect speech)

  

       The teacher will say, " The children  have done the test very well"( direct speech)

       The teacher will say that the children have done the test very well. (indirect speech)

2) If the reporting verb is in past tense then the reported speech will also be changed in past tense:

        is/am/are                     was/were

        was/were                    had been

        had been                      no change

        has/have                      had

        had                              no change

        simple present            simple past

            (do)                        (did)

       simple past                   past perfect

.          (did)                        (had done)

      will/ shall                      would/should

       can/may                       could/might

       would/should/could     would have/should have/could have

        ought to/used to           no change

Examples: Mother said, " I am cooking the food"( direct)

                Mother said that she was cooking the food.(indirect)

                Rita said," I work hard"

               Rita said that she worked hard.

              I said, " My mother finished her task.

              I said that my mother had finished the task.

              He said," Amiya had eaten the food."

              He said that Amiya had eaten the food.(no change)

   

              John said ," Everything will be fine"

              John said that everything would be fine.

              My teacher said," All can do paragraph writing"

              My teacher said that all could do paragraph writing.

              Hari said, " I could do the sums"

              Hari said that he could have done the sums

.

Note. If there is also an object in the reporting verb with the speaker, said to is changed into told.

           Example:

                            Hetal said to Meera, " You taught the class very well"

                            Hetal told Meera that she had taught  the class very well.

3) Exceptions

               a)    If the reported speech expresses a universal truth or a habitual fact, its tense will not be changed into past but remains same.

     Examples:   She said, "Honesty is the best policy"

                          She said that honesty is the best policy

:

                          My uncle said," The sun rises in the east"

                          My uncle said that the sun rises in the east.

              b) If the reported speech describes a state of affairs which still exists when the speech is reported, its tense remains unchanged

.

    Examples: Rupa said ," Jack wants to be famous by writing his auto-biography."

                      ( The reported speech makes a statement which remains true when the speech is reported)

                      Rupa said that Jack wants to be famous by writing his auto-biography

            

  Expressions of time and place in indirect speech.

    While changing the direct speech into indirect , the following expressions denoting nearness of time or place are replaced by corresponding expressions denoting remoteness or distance, if the reporting verb is in past tense.

                        Direct speech                                  Indirect speech

                         this/these                                         that/those

                         here                                                  there

                         now                                                  then

                         ago                                                   before

                         today                                                that day

                         yesterday                                          the previous day/the day                                                                                                            before

                         tomorrow                                          the next day/the following  day                                next day/year,etc.                             the following week, year etc.

                   last week/year, etc.                           the previous week/year etc.

There is a different set of rules for converting each kind of sentences into the indirect speech. Let's now learn these rules.

Interrogative sentences:1. The reporting verb is changed into' ask/asked

                                      2. The question form is changed into statement.The question mark is                                       dropped

                                      3. The conjunction( that) is not used if the sentence begins with a                                                 question word like who, whose, which, when, why ,what etc..

                                      4. 'If' or 'whether is used as a conjunction if the sentence begins   w                                             with  an auxiliary verb.( if it is a yes or no question)

Examples: She said to me," Where are you going?"

                   She asked me where I was going

                 He said ," May I use your car ,father?"

               He asked his father if he might use his car.

             Raja said to the shopkeeper, " How much do you want me to pay for this shirt?"

            Raja asked the shopkeeper how much he wanted him to pay for that shirt.

            They said to me, " Are you afraid of darkness?" I said," No."

          They asked me if I was afraid of darkness. I replied in the negative.or I replied that I was not

      Exclamatory sentences.( command, request, advice etc.)

     1)   The reporting verb is changed to order, request or advise. Other words that can be found suitable are: ask, beg, command, encourage, forbid, invite, remind, tell, urge, warn, instruct etc.

2) The verb of the reported speech is changed into an infinitive.

Examples:

The master said to his servant," Bring me a glass of water quickly"

The master ordered his servant to bring him a glass of water quickly.

The teacher said to the students," Don't make a noise."

The teacher instructed the students not to make a noise.

 Note: Don't is changed into not to.

The doctor said to me ," Take enough protein to build the body."

The doctor advised me  to take enough protein to build the body.

The beggar said to me, " Please give some food to eat."

The beggar requested me to give some food to eat.

Exclamations and wishes.

1. The reporting verb is changed into exclaim, wish, pray, bless, cry etc.

2. The words showing exclamations like, hurrah, alas, oh, ah, ouch etc. are omitted . But the sentiment behind them is conveyed by using such expressions as exclaimed with joy, exclaimed with sorrow etc.

3. The exclamatory sentence is changed into a statement before it is converted into the indirect speech

4. The sign of exclamation is omitted..

Examples:

" Hurrah! I have got first prize in the race," he said. " Congratulations.,"  said I

He exclaimed with joy that he had got first prize in the race.. I congratulated him.

The old man said to me," May God bless you ,dear!"

The old man prayed that God might bless me.

She said, " How stupid I look in this dress!"

She exclaimed that she looked stupid in that dress.

Sentences that start with 'Let':

I said to my friend, " Let us go to cinema"

I proposed to my friend that we should go to cinema .

My cousin said to me, " Good morning. Let us join the yoga classes"

My cousin wished me good morning and proposed that we should join the yoga classes.