FREE WRITING

Write about what you

wanted to be when you
grew up.
SPELL CRICKET

1. PLEASURE
2. PASSION
3. QUIT
4. RHYTHM
5. SHOOTS
6. TREMBLE
7. THREAD
8. VOID
9. YAWN
10.ZIP
 Direct speech
and
Indirect speech

Grade 6
Learning outcome

•STUDENT WILL COME TO KNOW THE USES OF TENSE IN SPEECH

•WILL BE ABLE TO CHANGE FROM DIRECT TO INDIRECT SPEECH
•CHANGE OF DIRECT TO INDIRECT WITH CORRECT TENSE.
Direct and indirect speech
Direct and indirect speech can be a source of confusion for English
learners. Let's first define the terms, then look at how to talk about
what someone said, and how to convert speech from direct to
indirect or vice-versa.
You can answer the question what did he say? In two ways:
by repeating the words spoken (direct speech)
by reporting the words spoken (indirect or reported speech).
Quoted Speech - Dhamu said, “I am writing a letter now.”
Reported Speech - Dhamu said that he was writing a letter then.
Direct speech

Direct speech repeats, or quotes, the exact words were

spoken. When we use direct speech in writing, we place
the words spoken between quotation marks (" ") and
there is no change in these words. We may be reporting
something that's being said NOW (for example a
telephone conversation), or telling someone later about
a previous conversation.
Indirect speech

Reported or indirect speech is usually used to

talk about the past, so we normally change the
tense of the words spoken. We use reporting
verbs like 'say', 'tell', 'ask', and we may use the
word 'that' to introduce the reported words.
Inverted commas are not used.
When we quote the exact words spoken by a
person, we call it Direct Speech.
Sohan said to Mohan, “I am going to school.”

When we give the substance of what Sohan said,

it is called the Indirect Speech.
Sohan said to Mohan that he was going to school.
General rules for changing direct speech
into indirect speech
•Omit all inverted commas or quotation marks. End the
sentence with a full stop.
•If the verb inside the inverted commas/quotation marks
is in the present tense, change it into the corresponding
past tense.
•If it is in the simple past tense, change it into the past
perfect tense.
Focus

•Change of pronouns 
•Change of tense
•Change of time and place
1. First person pronouns (I, we, me, mine, us,
ours) normally change to the third person
(he, she, they, his, her, their, him, her, them).
He told her, "I want to meet your father."
He told her that he wanted to meet her father.
2. There will be no change in the pronoun
when the speaker reports his own words.
I said, "I am going."
I said that I was going.
3. Second person pronouns (you, yours) change
according to the person of the object of the
reporting verb.
He told her, "I love you."
He told her that he loved her.
I told him, "You are a stupid."
I told him that he was a stupid.
4. Third person pronouns do not normally
change in the reported speech.
She said, "I love him."
She said that she loved him.