Learn Indirect/reported speech. Learn tips and rules to convert active sentence into passive sentence. All rules and best practices shared with step-wise examples.

1. Spoken English
Indirect Speech / Reported Speech (Part 1)
By
Ash Vyas

2. Types of Speech in English:
There are 2 types of speech.
1. Direct: When we report something using the exact words of the speaker, we use
direct speech.
Example: Ash said, “I want to buy a book for you.”
2. Indirect: When we report something in our own words, we use indirect speech.
Indirect speech is also known as reported speech.
Example: Ash said that she wanted to buy a book for me.

3. Words you should know
Reporting Verb: The verb before the actual recitation of speaker's words is known
as a reporting verb.
Examples:
say, tell, explain, brief, etc.
Reported speech:
The sentence of the speaker is called reported speech.
Example: Ash said, ‘I want to buy a book for you.’
*Sentence in blue is reported speech. Word in pink is reporting verb.

4. Notes:
•With reporting verbs are “say” and “explain”, you have a choice whether to
specify or not the person to whom the sentence was said/told.
Examples: He said (to her)…. They explained (to the staff)…..
•With tell, you should specify the person.
Examples: He tells her….. They told us…….

5. Steps to convert Direct ->Indirect
1. Omit all inverted commas or quotation marks & remove comma after reporting
verb.
2. Add "that" as conjunction to connect "Reporting verb" and "Reported speech".
3. Change tense according to the reported speech tense.
4. Change pronouns according to the subject/object of the sentence.
5. Change time mark.

6. Tense Changes: Direct -> Indirect
•Present tense -> Past Tense
(for all 4 tenses: simple/progressive/perfect/perfect progressive)
•Past tense -> Past perfect tense
(for perfect tense there is no change in tense, i.e., past perfect -> past perfect)

7. Notes:
• If the verb inside the quotation marks expresses a universal truth, we don’t
change the tense.
Direct speech: He said, ‘All humans have equal rights.’
Indirect speech: He said that all humans have equal rights.
• When the reporting verb is in a present or future tense, we do not change the
tense of the verb inside the quotation marks.
Direct speech: She says, ‘I will come.’
Indirect speech: She says that she will come.

8. To be verb tense change: Direct -> Indirect
Direct [To be Verb] Indirect [To be Verb]
Am/is Was
Are Were
Was/were Had been
Do/does Did
Did Had done
Have/has Had
Had Had [No Change]

9. Modal verb change: Direct -> Indirect
Direct [Modal Verb] Indirect [Modal Verb]
Can Could
Will Would
Shall Should
May Might
Could Could / had been able to
Would Would [No Change]
Should Should [No Change]
Used to Used to [No Change]
Ought to Ought to [No Change]
Must Must / Had to

10. Time Mark Changes: Direct -> Indirect
Direct [Time Mark] Indirect [Time Mark]
Now Then / immediately
Today That day
Tomorrow The next day / the following day
Yesterday The previous day / the day before
Next week/year The following week/year
Last week/year The week/year before or The previous week/year
Ago Before
Hence Thence

11. Other words Changes: Direct -> Indirect
Direct [Words] Indirect [Words]
This That
These Those
Would like Wanted
Here (If location change in indirect speech) There

12. Pronoun Changes: Direct -> Indirect
Refer below table for better understanding of change of pronouns:
Direct [Pronoun] Indirect [Pronoun]
I He/she
We They
My His/her
Our Their
Me Him/her
Us Them
You Him/her
Your His/Her

13. Pronoun Change Rules: Direct -> Indirect
Reporting Verb Pronoun Reported Speech Pronoun
1st person •No change in 1st person Pronouns
•2nd person pronouns will get changed according to
the object pronoun in the reporting verb.
•No change in 3rd person pronoun
3rd Person • 1st Person pronouns will get changed according to
the Subject pronoun in the reporting verb.
• 2nd person pronouns will get changed according to
the object pronoun in the reporting verb.
• No change in 3rd person pronoun

14. Pronoun Changes: Direct -> Indirect
Reporting Verb Pronoun is 1
st
person -> Reported Speech Pronoun will change
as follow:
•No change in 1
st
person Pronouns
•2
nd
person pronouns will get changed according to the object pronoun in the reporting verb.
•3rd person pronoun will stay as it is.
Example:
Direct Speech: I said to her, "I will try to do this for you."
Indirect Speech: I said to her that I would try to do that for her.

15. Pronoun Changes: Direct -> Indirect
Reporting Verb Pronoun is 3
rd
person -> Reported Speech Pronoun will change as
follow:
•1
st
Person pronouns will get changed according to the Subject pronoun in the reporting
verb.
•2
nd
person pronouns will get changed according to the object pronoun in the reporting verb.
•3rd person pronoun will stay as it is.

16. Pronoun Changes: Direct -> Indirect
Examples:
Direct Speech: "We are the best students", he said.
Indirect Speech: He said that they were the best students.
Direct Speech: "They called us for a meeting," he said.
Indirect Speech: He said that they had called them for a meeting.

17. Pronoun Changes: Direct -> Indirect
Examples of sentence with objects:
Direct Speech: He said to me, “I don’t like you”.
Indirect Speech: He said (to me) that he didn’t like me.
Direct Speech: I said to him, “I don’t like you”.
Indirect Speech: I said (to him) that I didn’t like him.

18. Pronoun Changes: Direct -> Indirect
•No change of 3rd person pronoun in reported speech.
Examples:
Direct Speech: He said, “She will start practicing more.”
Indirect Speech: He said that she would start practicing more.

19. Steps to convert Direct ->Indirect
1. Omit all inverted commas or quotation marks & remove comma after reporting
verb.
2. Add "that" as conjunction to connect "Reporting verb" and "Reported speech".
3. Change tense according to the reported speech tense.
4. Change pronouns according to the subject/object of the sentence.
5. Change time mark.

20. Practice Exercise
He said, “I have won.”
1. He said I have won.
2. He said that I have won.
3. He said that I had won.
4. He said that he had won. [Indirect Speech]

21. Practice Exercise
“I want ice-cream Now.”, said Ash.
1. Ash said I want ice-cream Now.
2. Ash said that I want ice-cream Now.
3. Ash said that I wanted ice-cream Now.
4. Ash said that she wanted ice-cream Now.
5. Ash said that she wanted ice-cream immediately/then. [Indirect Speech]

22. Practice Exercise
The boy told the girl, “I told you that we were not going on a holiday.”
1. The boy told the girl I told you that we were not going on a holiday.
2. The boy told the girl that I told you that we were not going on a holiday.
3. The boy told the girl that I had told you that we had not been going on a
holiday.
4. The boy told the girl that he had told her that they had not been going on a
holiday. [Indirect Speech]

23. Practice Exercise
She says, “I will come next week.”
1. She says I will come next week.
2. She says that I will come next week.
3. She says that I will come next week.
4. She says that she will come next week.
5. She says that she will come the following week. [Indirect Speech]

24. Any Questions?
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