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Direct and Indirect Speech Rules
Direct and Indirect Speech Rules
Direct speech - reporting the message of the speaker in exact words as spoken by him.
Indirect speech: reporting the message of the speaker in our own words
Indirect speech example: Rama said that he was very busy then.
To change a sentence of direct speech into indirect speech there are various factors that are
considered such as reporting verbs, modals, time, place, pronoun, tense, etc. we will take up all the
factors one by one.
Rule 3 - Direct Speech to Indirect Speech conversion - Past Tense & Future Tense
1. Simple Past Changes to Past Perfect
Direct to indirect speech example:
Direct: She said, “Irvin arrived on Sunday."
Indirect: She said that Irvin had arrived on Sunday.
2. Past Continuous Changes to Past Perfect Continuous
Direct to indirect speech example
Direct: "We were playing basketball", they told me.
Indirect: They told me that they had been playing basketball.
3. Future Changes to Present Conditional
Direct to indirect speech example
Direct: She said, "I will be in Scotland tomorrow."
Indirect: She said that she would be in Scotland the next day.
4. Future Continuous Changes to Conditional Continuous
Direct to indirect speech example
Direct: He said, "I'll be disposing the old computer next Tuesday.”
Indirect: He said that he would be disposing the old computer next Tuesday.
4. There are Modals that do not change like (Could,Would,Should, Might,Ought to)
Direct: She said, „I should clean the house‟
Indirect: She said that she should clean the house.
Examples:
Direct: He said, „His girlfriend came yesterday.‟
Indirect: He said that his girlfriend had come the day before.
2. The time expression does not change if the reporting verb is in present tense or future
tense.
Examples:
Direct: He says/will say, „My girlfriend came yesterday.‟
Indirect: He says/will say that his girlfriend had come yesterday.
Online Quiz
Also, check :
1. Tenses rules
2. Conjunctions rules
3. Prepositions Rules
Candidates are advised to check the General English for Competitive Exams page for more articles like
on rules for english grammar, list of idioms and phrases, synonyms & antonyms etc.