Reported Speech: Understanding Direct and Indirect Speech

Reported speech, also known as indirect speech, is a way of conveying what someone else has said without quoting their exact words. Instead of using quotation marks, the speaker paraphrases or summarises the original statement. This transformation often involves changes in pronouns, tenses, and time expressions to fit the context of the reporting. Understanding reported speech is crucial for effective communication, as it allows you to relay information accurately and fluently in both spoken and written English.

Reported Speech - How Does it Work?

Indirect speech or Reported speech is just a way of expressing your intent in questions, statements or other phrases, without essentially quoting them outrightly as the way it is done in indirect speech.

Reported Speech Rules

To understand Reported Speech Grammar and Reported Verbs, you need to first understand reported speech rules and how it works. Here are some types of reported speech:

Reported Statements

Reported speech is used when someone says a sentence, like, "I'm going to the movie tonight". Later, we want to tell a 3rd person what the first person is doing.

It works like this:

We use a reporting verb i.e 'say' or 'tell'. In the present tense, just put in 'he says.

Direct Speech: I like burgers.

Reported Speech: He says (that) he likes burgers.

You don't need to change the tense, but you do need to switch the 'person' from 'I' to 'he’. You also need to change words like 'my' and 'your'.

But, in case the reporting verb is in the past tense, then change the tenses in the reported speech itself.

Reported Questions

Reported questions to go like

Direct Speech: Where do you reside?

We make the change to reported speech by-

It is similar to reported statements. The tense changes are exact, and we keep the question’s word. But we need to change the grammar of that normal sentence into positive. For eg:

Direct Speech: Where do you reside?

Reported Speech: He asked me where I resided.

The direct speech question is in the present simple tense. We make a present simple question with 'do' or 'does'. For that, I need to take that away. Then change the verb to the past simple.

Direct Speech: Where is Jolly?

Reported Speech: He asked me where Jolly was.

The direct question is the present simple of 'be'. We change the question form of the present simple of being by changing the position of the subject and the verb. So, change them back before putting the verb into the past simple.

Reported Speech Examples with Answers

Reported Requests

The reported speech goes a long way. What if a person asks you to do something politely or make a request? It’s called a reported request. For example

Direct Speech: Close the door, please / Could you close the door please? / Would you mind closing the door, please?

All these requests mean the same, so we don't need to report every word there when we tell a 3rd person about it.

We can simply use 'ask me + to + infinitive':

Reported Speech: They asked me to close the door.

Direct Speech: Please be punctual.

Reported Speech: They asked us to be punctual.

Reported Orders

And lastly, how about when someone doesn't ask that politely? This is known as an 'order' in English, which is when someone tells you to do something pretty much directly. This is called a reported order. For example

Direct Speech: Stand up right now!

We make this into a reported speech in the same way as that for a request. Just use 'tell' rather than 'ask':

Reported Speech: She told me to stand up right now.

Time Expressions within the Ambit of Reported Speech

Sometimes when we want to change the direct speech into reported speech, we will have to change the time expressions too. We don't necessarily always have to do that. However, It depends on when we heard the speech in indirect form and when we said the speech in reported form.

For Example,

It's Sunday. Kiran Ma’am says "I'm leaving today".

If You tell someone on Sunday, You will say "Kiran Ma’am said she was leaving today".

If you tell someone on Tuesday, You will say "Kiran Ma’am said she was leaving yesterday".

If you tell someone on Friday, you will say "Kiran Ma’am said she was leaving on Sunday ".

If you tell someone a month later, you will say "Kiran Ma’am said she was leaving that day".

So, technically there's no easy way to convert. You need to put in real effort and have to think about it when the direct speech is said.

Conversions of Direct Speech to Reported Speech

Now Let us Check our Understanding Through this Table

This is all about reported speech. English grammar is a tricky thing given both the rules and practice. Reading these rules solely will not help you to get a strong grasp of them. You also have to practice reported speech sentences in practical life to know how and when they can be used.

Change of Pronouns

Change of Adverbs Time and Place

Change of Modal Verbs

Test your Knowledge of Reported Speech with Reported Speech Exercises

Exercise 1: Convert the following sentences from direct speech to reported speech.

1. Direct: "I am going to the market now," said John.

• Reported: __________________________

2. Direct: "We will finish the project tomorrow," the team leader said.

• Reported: __________________________

3. Direct: "Can you help me with my homework?" Sarah asked Tom.

• Reported: __________________________

4. Direct: "She is studying French," said her teacher.

• Reported: __________________________

5. Direct: "I must complete this assignment by tonight," the student mentioned.

• Reported: __________________________

Exercise 2: Correct the error in the following reported speech sentences.

1. He said that he will go to the party the next day.

• Correction: __________________________

2. She told me that she can come to the meeting.

• Correction: __________________________

3. They said that they are going to visit their grandparents.

• Correction: __________________________

4. The teacher told us that we must complete the homework by tomorrow.

• Correction: __________________________

5. He said that he might will arrive late.

• Correction: __________________________

Exercise 3: Convert the following sentences from reported speech to direct speech.

1. Reported: She said that she had finished her work.

• Direct: __________________________

2. Reported: He told me that he would help me later.

• Direct: __________________________

3. Reported: They mentioned that they were planning a trip.

• Direct: __________________________

4. Reported: The doctor said that the patient needed rest.

• Direct: __________________________

5. Reported: She said that she could not attend the party.

• Direct: __________________________

Find out if you got them right from the answers below.

Exercise 1

1. John said that he was going to the market then.

2. The team leader said that they would finish the project the next day.

3. Sarah asked Tom if he could help her with her homework.

4. Her teacher said that she was studying French.

5. The student mentioned that he/she had to complete the assignment by that night.

Exercise 2

1. He said that he would go to the party the next day.

2. She told me that she could come to the meeting.

3. They said that they were going to visit their grandparents.

4. The teacher told us that we had to complete the homework by the next day.

5. He said that he might arrive late.

Exercise 3

1. "I have finished my work," she said.

2. "I will help you later," he told me.

3. "We are planning a trip," they mentioned.

4. "The patient needs rest," the doctor said.

5. "I cannot attend the party," she said.

Takeaways from this Page

• Understanding the reported speech requires understanding how pronouns shift based on the speaker and context.

• Recognising the necessary tense changes when converting from direct to reported speech is crucial for accurate communication.

• Knowing how adverbs of time and place change in reported speech ensures clarity in conveying when and where something occurred.

• Familiarity with how modal verbs like "will" change to "would" helps maintain the intended meaning when reporting statements.