DIRECT AND INDIRECT SPEECH

DIRECT AND INDIRECT SPEECH

SPEECH

WHAT IS DIRECT AND INDIRECT SPEECH

Direct Speech- In direct speech, we convey the message of the speaker in his own actual words without any change to another person.

EG: “I have a new car.”

Indirect Speech- In indirect speech, we convey the message of the speaker in our own words to another person.

EG: He said he had a new car.

SHORT NOTE ON DIRECT AND INDIRECT SPEECH

Direct speech describes when something is being repeated exactly as it was – usually in between a pair of inverted commas. ... Indirect speech will still share the same information – but instead of expressing someone's comments or speech by directly repeating them, it involves reporting or describing what was said.

Rules for changing Direct into Indirect Speech

• Present Tenses in the Direct Speech are changed into Past Tense. If the reporting or principal verb is in the Past Tense. If in direct speech you find say/says or will say. 

•  Direct speech the words within the quotation marks talk of a universal truth or habitual action.

Using ‘say’ or ‘tell’

As an alternative to using ‘say’ we can also use ‘tell’ (‘told’ in the past) in reported speech, but in this case you need to add the object pronoun. For example:

He told me he was going to call Alan. They told her they would arrive a little late. You told us you’d already finished the order.

Changing Time Expressions

Sometimes it’s necessary to change the time expressions when you report speech, especially when you are speaking about the past and the time reference no longer applies. For example:

Direct speech: “I’m seeing my brother tomorrow.” Indirect speech: She said she was seeing her brother the following day.

Here are some other examples:

Direct speech: “I had a headache yesterday.” Indirect speech: You said you’d had a headache the day before yesterday. Direct speech: “It’s been raining since this afternoon.” Indirect speech: He said it’d been raining since that afternoon. Direct speech: “I haven’t seen them since last week.” Indirect speech: She said she hadn’t seen them since the previous week.

Reporting Questions

When you report a question you need to change the interrogative form into an affirmative sentence, putting the verb tense one step back, as with normal reported speech.

There are two types of questions that we can report – questions that have a yes/no response, and questions that begin with a question word like ‘what’, ‘where’, ‘who’ etc. When we report a yes/no question, we use ‘if’. For example:

Direct speech: “Do they live here?” Indirect speech: You asked me if they lived here.

As you can see, in the reported version of the question, ‘do’ is eliminated because it is no longer a question, and the verb ‘live’ becomes ‘lived’.

Reporting Orders and Requests

Reporting Orders and RequestsWhen you give someone an order, you use the imperative form, which means using just the verb without a subject. For example:

“Call me back later.” “Have a seat.” “Don’t do that!”

To report an order we use ‘tell’ and the infinitive of the verb. For example:

You told me to call you back later. He told me to have a seat. She told us not to do that.

When you make a request, you normally use words like ‘can’, ‘could’, or ‘will’. For example:

“Could you call me back later?” “Will you have a seat?” “Can you not do that please?”

CONCLUSION ON DIRECT AND INDIRECT SPEECH

It helps give a good portrayal of the characters. Direct speech reveals the tone and moods of the characters. Indirect speech, if not used properly, creates a distance between the utterance and the reader's perception of it.

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ESPECIALLY THOSE WHO ARE STUDYING BASED ON THIS TOPIC