Direct – Indirect Speech

Prepared by Zalgay ‘Samadi

 Speech
Speech: The expression of or the ability to express thoughts and feelings by
articulate sounds.
There two ways to convey a message of a person, or the words spoken by a
person to other person.
1. Direct speech 2. Indirect speech
1. Direct speech: It refers to reproducing the exact words of a speaker.
Or: we represent the exact words of a speaker in his/her own words to
someone without any changes.
Key points:  It is made of two parts.
A. Reporting speech. It contains subject and a reporting verb.
B. Reported speech. It contains the exact words of a speaker.
e.g. Ahmad said, “I am too tired.” Reporting Speech Reported Speech 
Reporting speech can come before or after the reported speech.
The exact words of a speaker will be placed inside the quotation
marks, speech marks, inverted commas or double commas.
 The first letter inside quotation marks will always be capitalized.
 All signs of punctuations must be placed inside the quotation marks.

2. Indirect speech: It refers to reproducing the main idea of exact

words of a speaker.
Or: we represent the essence of a speaker’s exact words with a few
modifications to someone.
Key points:  It is made of two parts.
Reporting speech. It contains subject and verb to support the noun
clause in terms of completion of its meaning.
. Reported speech. It contains the essence of a speaker’s exact words.
e.g. Ali said that he was too tired.
No comma or quotation marks will be used.
 Noun clause markers (that, if/whether, WH words) are used.
 That can be omitted after say and tell.
 But that cannot be omitted after other verbs.
 If the reporting verb is in the past tense, tenses and words
indicating nearness of time and positions will be changed.
Tenses may not be changed even if the reporting verb is in the
past tense, but it is very informal
Changing Pronoun: Pronouns are changed according to (SON) formula.
S means subject changes: I/we are changed according to the subject of
reporting verb. O means object changes:
You is changed according to the object of reporting verb
N means no changes: He, she, it aren’t changed.

First person pronouns in the direct speech change according to the

subject of the reporting verb in the indirect speech.
e.g. Direct: He said, “I am busy.” Indirect: He said that he was busy.
Direct: She said, “I am unwell.” Indirect: She said that she was unwell.
Direct: I said, “I will be late.” Indirect: I said that I would be late.
Direct: They said, “We will not permit him to take this chair.”
Indirect: They said that they would not permit him to take that chair.
Direct: We said, “We need to buy some clothes.” Indirect: We said that
we needed to buy some clothes.
Second person pronouns in the direct speech change according to
the object of the reporting verb in the indirect speech.
e.g. Direct: He said to me, “You have to come with me.”
Indirect: He told me that I had to go with him.
Direct: She said to me, “You can go.” Indirect: She told me that I
could go.
Direct: She said to him, “You can go.” Indirect: She told him that
he could go.
Third person pronouns in the direct speech will not change in the
indirect speech.
e.g. Direct: He said, “She is a good girl.” Indirect: He said that
she was a good girl.
Direct: She said, “They have invited us.” Indirect: She said that they had
invited them.
Direct: They said, “He does not have the necessary qualifications.” Indirect:
They said that he did not have the necessary qualifications.
 Exercise: Change the following sentences into indirect speech.

1. Ali said, “I speak English.” _______________________________________________________________

2. Mary said to me, “You speak English very well.” _____________________________________________
3. Ahmad said, “My brothers work at Rana.” __________________________________________________
4. We said, “They respect their teachers a lot.”
__________________________________________________
5. Fahim said to her, “I and my kids study at Rana.”______________________________________________
6. Aryan said, “We invite our teachers on Fridays.” ______________________________________________
7. Asad said, “She has a black car.” __________________________________________________________
8. Laila said, “My father drives the car carefully.” _______________________________________________
9. I said, “We have to attend the meeting.” _____________________________________________________
10. We said, “We may win the match.” _________________________________________________________
Changing Tenses form Direct to Indirect Speeches.
Note: Tenses are changed when we change direct speech into indirect
speech only if the verb of reporting speech is in the past which is also
called Back Shifting.
DIRECT SPEECH INDIRECT SPEECH PRESENT TENSES
SIMPLE PRESENT changes into PAST SIMPLE

He said, “I write a letter.” He said that he wrote a letter.

She said, “He goes to school daily.” He said that she went to school daily.

They said, “We love our country.” They said that they loved their country
He said, “He does not like computer.” He said that he did not like
computer.
I said, “You must hurry up.” I said that they had to hurry up
PRESENT CONTINUOUS changes into PAST CONTINUOUS
He said, “He is listening to the music.” He said that he was listening to
the music.

She said, “I am washing my clothes.”

She said that she was washing her clothes.
They said, “We are enjoying weather.”
They said that they were enjoying weather.
I said, “It is raining.”
I said that it was raining.
She said, “I am not laughing.” She said that she was not laughing
 Exercise: Change the following sentences into
indirect speech.
1. Maryam said, “I like Turkish music.”
_____________________________________________________
2. The woman said, “It's not snowing in Salang.”
_____________________________________________
3. Tom said, “I am buying a sports car.”
____________________________________________________
4. Mr. Ali said, “I don't drive a car in a rush hour.”
____________________________________________
5. Sahar said, “I have eaten egg for breakfast.”
_______________________________________________
6. Wali said, “The boy has been looking at us.”
_______________________________________________
Continue….
2. Jan said, “I haven't bought the tickets
yet.”_________________________________________________
3. My brother said to me, “I have wanted to carry your books.”
___________________________________________________
4. The teacher said, “You have not been attending the lab for a week.”
________________________________________________
5. Mr. Green said, “Has Kamal clean his room?”
___________________________________________________
6. Ali said, “Are you planning the vacation to Herat?”
___________________________________________________
7. Parveen said, “My brother doesn't score good grades.”
___________________________________________________
Thanks!