REPORTED
SPEECH
Reported speech : Reported speech refers to
reproducing the idea of another person’s words. Not all of the exact words are
used : verb forms and pronouns may change.
Reporting speech is part of the sentence in
direct speech is marked by quotation marks (“) and ends by quotation marks (“).
- He
said, "I have a present for you in my bag."
- He
asked me, "why do you come late."
While reported
speech is the beginning of a sentence of direct speech.
- He
said, "I have a present for you in my bag."
- He
asked me, "why do you come late."
1.
Changes in sentence structure
When direct speech sentence was commuted to a sentence
of indirect speech, quotation marks are also removed or replaced with the word “that”
or “to” (for command line). For example :
|
No
|
Direct Speech
|
Indirect Speech
|
|
01
|
He said, "I have a present for you
in my bag."
|
He said that he had a present for
me in his bag.
|
|
02
|
He asked me, "why do you come late."
|
He asked me why I came late.
|
|
03
|
He orderd me, "don't bring a bag."
|
He ordered me to didn't bring a
bag.
|
For
the use of direct speech sentence interrogative sentence “yes-no question” it
will be changed to if/whether. For example :
|
No
|
Direct
Speech
|
Indirect
Speech
|
|
01
|
They
asked me, "Do you want to join us to play football?"
|
They
asked me if/whether I want to join them to play football.
|
|
02
|
He
asked me, "Does she want to mary me?"
|
He
asked me if/whether she wants to mary her.
|
For
direct speech sentence that uses 5W1H question (why,who,what,when,where,how),
it will be converted into an affirmative sentence in the following way :
|
No
|
Direct
Speech
|
Indirect
Speech
|
|
01
|
He
asked me, "why do you come late?"
|
He
asked me why you came late.
|
|
02
|
He
asked me, "what does she eat?"
|
He
asked me what she ate.
|
|
03
|
He
asked me, "when did you come?"
|
He
asked me when I came.
|
|
04
|
He
asked me, "who are you?"
|
He
asked me who I was.
|
|
05
|
He
asked me, "who is she?"
|
He
asked me who she was.
|
2.
Pronoun changes
· First person
pronouns (I and We) on speech reporting (see explanation in the beginning)
change according to the subject that is in reported speech.
|
No
|
Direct
Speech
|
Indirect
Speech
|
|
01
|
He said, ‘I am busy.’
|
He said that he was busy.
|
|
02
|
She said, ‘I am unwell.’
|
She said that she was
unwell.
|
|
03
|
I said, ‘I will be late.’
|
I said that I would be late.
|
|
04
|
They said, ‘We will not permit this.’
|
They said that they would
not permit that.
|
|
05
|
We said, ‘We need to buy some clothes.’
|
We said that we needed to buy some
clothes.
|
· The second
person pronoun (You) in reporting speech in direct speech changes according to
the object in reported speech.
|
No
|
Direct
Speech
|
Indirect
Speech
|
|
01
|
He
said to me, ‘You have to come with me.’
|
He
told me that I had to go with him.
|
|
02
|
She
said to me, ‘You can go.’
|
She
told me that I could go.
|
|
03
|
She
said to him, ‘You can go.’
|
She
told him that he could go.
|
· Third person
pronoun (he,she,it and they) in direct speech did not change when changed into
indirect speech.
|
No
|
Direct
Speech
|
Indirect
Speech
|
|
01
|
He
said, ‘She is a good girl.’
|
He
said that she was a good girl.
|
|
02
|
She
said, ‘They have invited us.’
|
She
said that they had invited them.
|
|
03
|
They
said, ‘He does not have the necessary qualifications.’
|
They
said that he did not have the necessary qualifications.
|
Below are examples of direct and indirect speech to
increase the understanding of the above explanation.
| Direct Speech | Indirect Speech |
| (+) | He said, “I have a present for you in my bag. here” | He said that he had a present for me in his bagthere. |
| (-) |
He said, “I do not have a present for you in my bag” |
He said that he did not have a present for me in his bag. |
| (?) |
He asked, “Do I have a present for you in my bag?” |
He asked me if/whether he had a present for me in his bag. |
| (?) |
He asked me, “ Why do I have to have a present for you in my bag?
| He asked me why he had to have a present for me in his bag. |
| (!) |
He ordered/commanded me, “Bring my bag herenow!” |
He ordered/commanded me to bring his bag there then. |
| (!) | He ordered me, “Don’t bring your bag here!” | He ordered me not to bring my bag there.
|
