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English
Quarter 2 – Module 7:
Direct and Indirect Speech
English – Grade 10
Alternative Delivery Mode
Quarter 2 – Module 7: Direct and Indirect Speech
First Edition, 2020

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Published by the Department of Education, SDO Nueva Ecija

Schools Division Superintendent: Jessie D. Ferrer, CESO V
Assistant Schools Division Superintendents: Mina Gracia L. Acosta, PhD, CESO VI
Ronilo E. Hilario

Development Team of the Module

Writer: Emil C. Diao

Editors: Cristina L. Pagba
Ma. Checilia S. Bagsic, PhD
Reviewers: Maria Winnie Jennifer O. Matutino, Ph.D
Marjorie R. Caballero, PhD
Illustrator: Sir Abraham Cardona
Layout Artist: Norlee Faye C. Arcangel
Layout Evaluator: Dennis DC. Bacani
Cover Designer: Mark G. Asuncion
Management Team: Jayne M. Garcia, EdD
Ma. Checilia S. Bagsic, PhD
Beverly T. Mangulabnan, PhD
Eleanor A. Manibog, PhD

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 What I Need to Know

This module was designed and written for the learners. After going
through this module, the learner is expected to:
1. differentiate direct from indirect speech; and
2. identify the signals that indicate direct/indirect speech.

What I Know

Every day, we engage ourselves in written and spoken communication.

Sometimes we hear the original tale, and other times we hear anecdotes being
retold or relayed with us. In this lesson, we're going to explore the concepts
between direct and indirect speech. Try to observe the statements below. Take
note of your observations.

The President said, “The vaccine is found.”

The president said that a vaccine has been found.

When you hear news about something or someone, how do you know if
it is true or fake? You must verify where the story is from and how it is
originally told. That is what news reporters are doing. But even if you are not
a news reporter, you also tell others what you heard from someone, or what
you read from the book, or even what you saw from the movie or TV.

Write a statement about the latest news that you have watched, heard,
or read. Do this on a separate sheet of paper.

___________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________

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 Lesson
Direct and Indirect Speech
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This module will enable you to further comprehend and master the
rules in using direct and indirect signals, whether in dialogues and written
outputs. It will also enable you to easily point out the differences between the
two and their significance to our communication process.

What’s In

You are about to read the story Arachne, a myth from Ancient Greece,
as retold by Olivia Coolidge. Find out how human desires, intuitions, and
motives lead to dealing with personal challenges.

Be keen in identifying the conversations in the story and answer the

given questions after reading.

ARACHNE
Retold by Olivia Coolidge

Arachne was a maiden who became famous

throughout Greece, though she was neither
wellborn nor beautiful and came from no great
city. She lived in an obscure little village, and her
father was a humble dyer of wool. She was very
skillful, producing many varied shades, while
above all she was famous for the clear, bright
scarlet which is made from shellfish, and which
was the most glorious of all the colors used in
ancient Greece. Even more skillful than her father
was Arachne. It was her task to spin the fleecy
wool into a fine, soft thread and to weave it into
cloth on the high-standing loom within the
Photo taken from Mythology.wikia.org

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cottage. Arachne was small and pale from much working. Her eyes were light
and her hair was a dusty brown, yet she was quick and graceful, and her
fingers, roughened as they were, went so fast that it was hard to follow their
flickering movements. So soft and even was her thread, so fine her cloth, so
gorgeous her embroidery, that soon her products were known all over Greece.
No one had ever seen the like of them before.
At last Arachne's fame became so great that people used to come from
far and wide to watch her working. Even the graceful nymphs would steal in
from stream or forest and peep shyly through the dark doorway, watching in
wonder the white arms of Arachne as she stood at the loom and threw the
shuttle from hand to hand between the hanging threads, or drew out the long
wool, fine as a hair, from the distaff as she sat spinning. "Surely Athena
herself must have taught her," people would murmur to one another. "Who
else could know the secret of such marvelous skill?"
Arachne was used to being wondered at, and she was immensely proud
of the skill that had brought so many to look on her. Praise was all she lived
for, and it displeased her greatly that people should think anyone, even a
goddess, could teach her anything. Therefore when she heard them murmur,
she would stop her work and turn round indignantly to say, "With my own
ten fingers I gained this skill, and by hard practice from early morning till
night. I never had time to stand looking as you people do while another
maiden worked. Nor if I had, would I give Athena credit because the girl was
more skillful than I. As for Athena's weaving, how could there be finer cloth
or more beautiful embroidery than mine? If Athena herself were to come down
and compete with me, she could do no better than I."
One day when Arachne turned round with such words, an old woman
answered her, a gray old woman, bent and very poor, who stood leaning on a
staff and peering at Arachne amid the crowd of onlookers. "Reckless girl," she
said, "how dare you claim to be equal to the immortal gods themselves? I am
an old woman and have seen much. Take my advice and ask pardon of Athene
for your words. Rest content with your fame of being the best spinner and
weaver that mortal eyes have ever beheld."
"Stupid old woman," said Arachne indignantly, "who gave you a right
to speak in this way to me? It is easy to see that you were never good for
anything in your day, or you would not come here in poverty and rags to gaze
at my skill. If Athena resents my words, let her answer them herself. I have
challenged her to a contest, but she, of course, will not come. It is easy for the
gods to avoid matching their skill with that of men."
At these words the old woman threw down her staff and stood erect.
The wondering onlookers saw her grow tall and fair and stand clad in long
robes of dazzling white. They were terribly afraid as they realized that they
stood in the presence of Athena. Arachne herself flushed red for a moment,
for she had never really believed that the goddess would hear her. Before the

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group that was gathered there, she would not give in; so, pressing her pale
lips together in obstinacy and pride, she led the goddess to one of the great
looms and set herself before the other. Without a word both began to thread
the long woolen strands that hang from the rollers, and between which the
shuttle moves back and forth. Many skeins lay heaped beside them to use,
bleached white, and gold, and scarlet, and other shades, varied as the
rainbow. Arachne had never thought of giving credit for her success to her
father's skill in dyeing, though in actual truth the colors were as remarkable
as the cloth itself.
Soon there was no sound in the room but the breathing of the
onlookers, the whirring of the shuttles, and the creaking of the wooden frames
as each pressed the thread up into place or tightened the pegs by which the
whole was held straight. The excited crowd in the door way began to see that
the skill of both in truth was very nearly equal, but that, however the cloth
might turn out, the goddess was the quicker of the two. A pattern of many
pictures was growing on her loom. There was a border of twined branches of
the olive, Athena's favorite tree, while in the middle, figures began to appear.
As they looked at the glowing colors, the spectators realized that Athena was
weaving into her pattern a last warning to Arachne. The central figure was the
goddess herself competing with Poseidon for possession of the city of Athens;
but in the four corners were mortals who had tried to strive with gods and
pictures of the awful fate that had overtaken them. The goddess ended a little
before Arachne and stood back from her marvelous work to see what the
maiden was doing.
Never before had Arachne been matched against anyone whose skill
was equal, or even nearly equal to her own. As she stole glances from time to
time at Athena and saw the goddess working swiftly, calmly, and always a
little faster than herself, she became angry instead of frightened, and an evil
thought came into her head. Thus, as Athena stepped back a pace to watch
Arachne finishing her work, she saw that the maiden had taken for her design
a pattern of scenes which showed evil or unworthy actions of the gods, how
they had deceived fair maidens, resorted to trickery, and appeared on earth
from time to time in the form of poor and humble people. When the goddess
saw this insult glowing in bright colors on Arachne's loom, she did not wait
while the cloth was judged, but stepped forward, her gray eyes blazing with
anger, and tore Arachne's work across. Then she struck Arachne across the
face. Arachne stood there a moment, struggling with anger, fear, and pride. "I
will not live under this insult," she cried, and seizing a rope from the wall, she
made a noose and would have hanged herself. The goddess touched the rope
and touched the maiden. "Live on, wicked girl," she said. "Live on and spin,
both you and your descendants. When men look at you, they may remember
that it is not wise to strive with Athena." At that the body of Arachne shriveled

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up; and her legs grew tiny, spindly, and distorted. There before the eyes of the
spectators hung a little dusty brown spider on a slender thread.
All spiders descended from Arachne, and as the Greeks watched them
spinning their thread wonderfully fine, they remembered the contest with
Athena and thought that it was not right for even the best of men to claim
equality with the gods.

1. What caused Arachne’s fears and failures?

_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________

2. How did Arachne try to fight her fear and carry out the conditions of
the challenge?
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________

3. What does Arachne do that makes it difficult for her to solve her
problem?
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________

4. Had Arachne apologized, do you think Athena would have punished

her? Explain.
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________

5. Pick out two (2) statements told by goddesses Arachne and Athena
from the story.
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________

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 What is It

Let’s discuss!

Direct speech denotes the report of the exact words of an author or

speaker. It is generally signaled by the presence of quotation marks (" "). When
one reports what others have said word for word, this is called direct
discourse/speech.
Let us take the examples from the text. Observe how the quotation
marks were used and placed in the sentences.
"Surely Athena herself must have taught her," people would murmur to
one another.
"Who else could know the secret of such marvelous skill?"
"Stupid old woman," said Arachne indignantly.
Notice that the lines and the exact words of the speaker are enclosed with
quotation marks. These are examples of a direct signal.

Indirect or reported speech is used to describe a speech that

happened in the past, where you are recounting something that was said to
you before.
Simple rules in using indirect signals:
A. Quotation marks are not used:
Direct speech: "I cannot believe what I heard," she cried.
Indirect speech: She said that she couldn’t believe what she
heard.

B. When the verb in the reported discourse is conjugated, it is generally

preceded by that; however, the inclusion of that is optional.
• She said that she will not live under this insult.
• She said she will not live under this insult.
• They informed us that the plane was delayed.
• They informed us the plane was delayed.

C. Imperative forms, when recounted in indirect signal, generally become

infinitive constructions where to is used before the imperative statement:
Direct signal: He told me, "Write to me."
Indirect signal: He told me to write him.
Direct signal: I told them, "Get out of here!"
Indirect signal: I told them to get out of here.

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 D. When quotation is put in indirect signal, care must be taken to verify
that verb tenses reflect the change in temporal context, meaning the time the
action takes place. Hence, a change in tense is done here: (Take note of the
underlined words/phrases and written in bold. Pronouns and time also
change when direct discourse is changed into indirect discourse.
Direct discourse: She said, "I will be on time."
Indirect discourse: She said she would be on time.
Direct discourse: When he called, he said, "I am at the airport.”
Indirect discourse: When he called, he said he was at the airport.

What’s More

Activity 1

Directions: Identify if the statement is a direct or an indirect speech. Write

your answers on a separate sheet of paper.

_______1. “We can learn something from this pandemic experience,” Jimboy
sadly asks his friend.
_______2. Jimboy sadly asks his friend what they can learn something from
this pandemic experience.
_______3. "I will not live under this insult," she cried.
_______4. She said she would be here at exactly 10 am.
_______5. "Live on and spin, both you and your descendants,” the goddess
said.

Activity 2

Directions: Change the statements into direct or indirect speeches. Write

your answers on a separate sheet of paper.

1. “I am going to take my driver’s test today”, said Gloria.

______________________________________________________________
2. My father said that he would be happy to help me.
______________________________________________________________
3. “Tell me what happened,” I pleaded.
______________________________________________________________

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 4. The principal asked us if we were on our way to the concert.
______________________________________________________________
5. The bus driver sighed, “Don’t you have the correct change?”
______________________________________________________________

What I Have Learned

With the concepts and structures presented with you about direct and
indirect speeches, you may put your learning in a nutshell by answering the
following questions:

1. What is direct speech? Indirect speech? Give two (2) examples for each.

2. Give signals in identifying indirect and direct speech.

What I Can Do

Directions: Listen to the conversations of your family in your homes. Write

five (5) sentences in direct speech and another five (5) in indirect speech. Apply
the rules learned. Write your answers on a separate sheet of paper.

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 Assessment

Directions: Sing the song from the “Greatest Showman.” Write what the
speaker “I” in the song is trying to tell the listeners. Write three (3) direct and
two (2) indirect speeches. Write your answer on a separate sheet of paper.

This Is Me
I am not a stranger to the dark
Hide away, they say
'Cause we don't want your broken parts
I've learned to be ashamed of all my scars
Run away, they say
No one'll love you as you are
But I won't let them break me down to dust
I know that there's a place for us
For we are glorious
When the sharpest words wanna cut me down
I'm gonna send a flood, gonna drown 'em out
I am brave, I am bruised
I am who I'm meant to be, this is me
Look out 'cause here I come
And I'm marching on to the beat I drum
I'm not scared to be seen
I make no apologies, this is me
Another round of bullets hits my skin
Well, fire away 'cause today, I won't let the shame sink in
We are bursting through the…

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 Additional Activities

For instance, you heard the president himself announce this news: “We
now have a vaccine against the virus.” How are you going to report the news
to your neighbors and friends?

Write five (5) sentences drawn from the news they heard from the
President’s announcement in the news using indirect speech.

The rubric below will be the basis on how this activity will be given a
point.

5 Exemplary Learner has a complete comprehension of the lesson,

written correctly 5 sentences using indirect speech.
4 Very Learner has proficient comprehension of the lesson,
Satisfactory written correctly 4 sentences using indirect speech.
3 Good quality Learner has average comprehension of the lesson,
written correctly 3 sentences using indirect speech.
2 Satisfactory Learner has low comprehension of the lesson,
written correctly 2 sentences using indirect speech.
1 Not yet there Learner has attempt but no comprehension of the
lesson.

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Activity 2
1. Gloria said she’s going to take her driver’s test today.
What’s More
2. Father said, “I will be happy to help you.”
Activity 1
3. He/She pleaded to tell her what happened.
1. direct
4. “Are you on your way to the concert?”, the principal 2. indirect
asked. 3. direct
4. indirect
5. The bus driver sighed if they don’t have the correct 5. direct
change.
Answer Key
References

https://study.com/academy/lesson/direct-vs-indirect-speech-definition-
rules-examples.html

Eurocentres. (2015). “How to Use Direct and Indirect Speech.”

https://www.eurocentres.com/blog/how-to-use-direct-and-indirect-
speech

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