What is Reported Speech

Definition :

In order to report a dialogue, one should be well-versed in changing sentences from Direct Speech to Indirect Speech. Of course, we need not reproduce the actual words of the speaker exactly. We are more concerned with the sense of the utterance than in the literal repetition of the words. The following guidelines will help you to refresh what you have studied about the transformation of sentences from Direct to Indirect Speech.

Statements: When the utterance of the speaker is a statement we use the reporting verbs - say, tell. The conjunction used is - that. In order to preserve the original tone of the speaker ‘say’ or ‘tell’ can be replaced with:- suggest, agree, mutter, admit, insist, whisper, boast, state, remark, claim, object, protest, etc.

What are the differences between the direct speech and the indirect speech?

There are several differences between a sentence with direct speech and a sentence with indirect speech.

• We no need to use quotation marks with indirect speech.
• We have to change the tense of the verb.
• We have to change the pronouns and determiners.

Examples

Dialogue	Reported form
He said, “I can speak four language”.	He boasted that he could speak four languages.

Some more examples.

Dialogue	Reported form
“Let’s go out for a walk,”	She suggested going out for a walk.
“That mobile is mine”,	He claimed that that mobile was him.
“Yes, I took the mobile”,	He admitted that he had taken the mobile.
“You can’t arrest me”,	He protested that they could not arrest him.
“You shouldn’t take my laptop”	He objected that I shouldn’t take his atlas.

We can replace ‘tell’ with the following verbs suited to the context: complained, stammered, sneered, snapped, explained, declared, announced, groaned, promised, gasped, conceded, etc.

 

Some Important Rules to Report the Dialogue:

Examples:

Direct Speech	Indirect Speech
The boy said to his friend, “I am waiting for you here now.”	The boy told his friend that he was waiting for him there then.

Changes to be noted:

Kinds	Dialogue	Reporting
Reporting Verb	said to	told
Pronouns	I	he
	you	him
Tense	am waiting	was waiting
Place Concept	here	there
Time Concept	now	then

CHANGES IN:

A. Pronouns:

Direct Speech	Indirect Speech (Reported Speech)
I, you	he, she, it
my, mine, your, yours	his, her, hers, its
we	they
our, ours	their, theirs
us	them

B. Tense:

Direct Speech (speaker’s words)	Indirect Speech (Reporter or Listener)
Present tense	Past tense
am, is, are	was, were
make, makes	made
am / is / are eating	was / were eating
will / can / may eat	would / could / might eat
has, have	had
has / have eaten	had eaten
Direct Speech (speaker’s words)	Indirect Speech (Reporter or Listener)
Present tense	Past perfect tense
was / were	had been
ate	had eaten
was / were eating	had been eating

C. Expressions of time and place indicating nearness are changed into one of distance:

Direct Speech	Indirect Speech (Reported Speech)
now	then
today	that day
tonight	that night
yesterday	the previous day / the day before
tomorrow	the next / following day
the day before yesterday	two days before
the day after tomorrow	in two days
last week	the previous week or the week before
last month	the previous month or the month before
last year	the previous year or the year before
next week / month / year	the following week / month / year
a week / month	a week / month
last night	the previous night
here	there
this / it	that
these	those
thus	so
ago	before

I. STATEMENTS:

Kind of Sentences	Reporting Verbs	Conjunctions
Statement	said, told, suggested, admitted, remarked	that

a. Ordinary statements:

Example:

Direct Speech	Rosy said, “I have a habit of reding before I go to bed”.
Indirect Speech	Rosy said that she had a habit of reading before she went to bed.

Direct Speech	David said, ‘Here is the pen I borrowed yesterday, John.”
Indirect Speech	David said to John that there was the pen he had borrowed the previous day.

In reported speech people often leave out the conjunction that.

Reported Speech
Sarah said that she felt ill.
Malika said that she couldn’t find her pendrive
Peter said that David was hitting him.

b. When the reporting verb is in the present or future tense there is no change in the tense of the reported clause:

Example:

Direct Speech	Sarah says, “I like kids”.
Indirect Speech	Sarah says that she likes kids.

c. When the reporting verb is in the past tense the verb of the reported clause is changed into the corresponding past tense:

Example:

Direct Speech	Mohan said, “I have written a novel”.
Indirect Speech	Mohan said that he had written a novel.

d. Present Progressive used as a future form becomes would be + present participle, not Past Progressive:

Example:

Direct Speech	She said, “I am seeing the dentist next week”.
Indirect Speech	She said that she would be seeing the dentist the following week.

e. Simple Past / past Progressive in adverb clauses of time do not usually change into the corresponding past tense:

Example:

Direct Speech	She said, “When I lived / was living in a village I faced a lot of hardships”.
Indirect Speech	She said that when shelived / was living in a village she faced a lot of hardships. (Don’t use had lived / had been living)

f. Unreal past tense (subjunctive mood) after wish / it is time remains unchange:

Example:

Direct Speech	She said, “I wish I were an angel.”
Indirect Speech	She said that she wished she were an angel. (Don’t use had been)

g. Would rather / would sooner / had better remains unchanged:

Example:

Direct Speech	He said, “I would rather starve than beg.”
Indirect Speech	He said that he would rather starve than beg.

h. Verbs used in clauses expressing improbable or impossible condition remain unchanged:

Example:

Direct Speech	He said, “If won the election I would become a minister.”
Indirect Speech	He said that if he won the election he would become a minister.

i. When the direct speech expresses universal truth (fundamental truths of science) saying / provers / habitual action, the tense does not change:

Example:

Direct Speech	He said, “Habit is a second nature.”
Indirect Speech	He said that habit is a second nature.

j. A noun / pronoun in the vocative case is made the object of a reporting verb or left out:

Likewise a comment clause (parenthesis) is left out

Example:

you see, as you know, to tell you frankly etc.

k. Words of expressions used juct to introduce a sentence are left out:

Well, very well, now, so etc.

Likewise a comment clause (parenthesis) is left out

Example:

The teacher asked the children to lision to him. (now left out)

l. A statement employing all the techniques:

Well, very well, now, so etc.

Likewise a comment clause (parenthesis) is left out

Example:

Direct Speech	My neighbour said, “My guests arrived last evening. They are staying with us today. They will be leaving early tomorrow morning.”
Indirect Speech	My neighbour told me that her guests had arrived the previous evening and they were staying with them that day but they would be leaving early the following morning.

Sentence with the same concept should be joined with ‘and’ but when there is a contract use ‘but’.
 

II. QUESTIONS:

a. The reporting verbs for questions are:

Kind of Sentences	Reporting Verbs	Conjunctions
Questions (1) W/H type	asked, enquired, wanted to know	if / whether
Questions (2) Verbal	asked, enquired, wanted

b. Auxiliary questions should begin with:

if / whether

Examples:

Direct Speech	My friend said, “Are they coming with us?”
Indirect Speech	My friend asked me whether they were coming with us.
Direct Speech	I said, “Were they angry with you?”
Indirect Speech	I asked him whether they had been angry with him.

Direct Speech	Sarah said to her mother, “Can the milkman bring milk in this heavy rain?”
Indirect Speech	Sarah asked her mother if the milkman could bring milk in that heavy rain.

c. Do / Does / Did Questions:

When using;
do, does (present tense) - the main verb converts
into the past (does / do go -> went)
did (past tense) - the main verb converts
into past perfect. (did go -> had gone)

Examples:

Direct Speech	“Does David study late at night?” said Sonia.
Indirect Speech	Sonia asked me whether David studied late at night.

Direct Speech	Jems said,“Do college students use cellphones?”
Indirect Speech	Jems asked me whether college students used cellphones.

d. The question form will change into a statement form:

“Is he here?”

Whether he was there

e. W/h Questions:

These questions begin with a question word (Who, What, When, Why, Where, How, How long ...). While changing such a question into reported form we do not use any conjunction. We simply invert the word order (Verb + Subject is changed into Subject + Verb). Do not use if/whether in W/h Questions.

Examples:

Verb + Subject	She said to me, “What do you want?”
Subject + Verb	She asked me what I wanted.

Direct Speech	My neighbour said, “when did the men catch the stray dogs”
Indirect Speech	My neighbour asked me when the men had caught the stray dogs.

Direct Speech	My friend said, “Which colour will you choose?”
Indirect Speech	My fiend aksed me which colour I would choose?

Direct Speech	Father said to mother, “Why was Angelina crying when she returned from school?”
Indirect Speech	father asked mother why Angelina had been crying when she had returned from school.

f. Verbal Questions:

These are questions begining with a verb. (Are you ready? Is it true?)
Here we use the conjunction ‘if’ or ‘whether’. The word order is changed as mentioned earlier.

Examples:

Verb + Subject	She said to me, “Is Tom at home?”
Subject + Verb	Sh asked me if Tom was at home.

III. COMMANDS / ORDER / IMPERATIVE SENTENCES

To report a command we can use a number of verbs

Reporting Verb:

Kind of Sentences	Reporting Verbs	Conjunctions
Commands & Requests	told, asked, requested, warned, advised, instructed, ordered	to - not to

We use the conjunction ‘to’. When the command is a negative one beginning with “Don’t” we change it to ‘not to’.

Examples:

Direct Speech	The Captain said, “Get ready to board the ship.”
Indirect Speech	The Captain commanded his sailors to get ready to board the ship.

Direct Speech	Teacher said to Jems, “Get out”
Indirect Speech	Teacher told Jems to get out.

Direct Speech	The Judge said to the culprit, “Tell me the truth.”
Indirect Speech	The Judge ordered the culprit to tell the truth.

Direct Speech	Headmaster said to the students, “Don’t copy in the examination”.
Indirect Speech	Headmaster asked the students not to copy in the examination.

Requests:

Please - requested + whom + to + v

Direct Speech	The teacher said, “Please improve your knowledge.”
Indirect Speech	The teacher requested the student to improve his knowledge.

Direct Speech	Robert said to me, “Please post these letters”.
Indirect Speech	Robert requested me to post those letters.

Direct Speech	Mother said, “Please keep your room neat.”
Indirect Speech	Mother requested me to keep my room neat.

Exclamations

Exclamations can be reported with adverbs of manner.

Kind of Sentences	Reporting Verbs	Conjunctions
Exclamations	exclaimed with joy / exclaimed with sorrow	that

a) Reporting Verb: exclaimed with (emotion)
b) The exclamation should be changed into a statement.
c) Use suitable emotions to the exclamation.
 

Direct Speech	Rosy said to David, “How wonderfully you sang!”
Indirect Speech	Rosy exclaimed with happiness that David had sung wonderfully.

Direct Speech	The foreigner said, “What a man Obama is!.”
Indirect Speech	The foreigner exclaimed in wonder that Obama was a great man.

Direct Speech	John said, “That I should see you here!”
Indirect Speech	John was surprised to see me there.

Alas!- exclaimed with sadness / regret / disappoinment.
Direct Speech	The reporter said, “Alas! Many lives have been lost due to tsunami”
Indirect Speech	The reporter exclaimed sadly that many lives had been lost due to tsunami.

May you!- blesses / wished.
Direct Speech	The grandmother said, “May you meet with success wherever you go”
Indirect Speech	The grandmother blessed her grandson that he should meet with success wherever he goes.

Don’t / never - warned or forbade. (when using forbid do not use negatives)
Direct Speech	Father said, “Shakshi, don’t play in dirty water!”
Indirect Speech	Father forbade his daughter Sakshi to play in dirty water.

O God! - called upon God with regret / sadness / disappointment.
Direct Speech	The beggar said, “O God! I have been cheated”.
Indirect Speech	The beggar called upon God with regret that he had been cheated.