Report speech

Reported speech is the report of one speaker or writer on the words spoken, written, or thought by someone else. Also called reported discourse.

Traditionally, two broad categories of reported speech have been recognized: direct speech (in which the original speaker's words are quoted word for word) and indirect speech (in which the original speaker's thoughts are conveyed without using the speaker's exact words).

The differences between the direct speech and the 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.

§  Direct speech (quoting speech)

is a way to report what someone has said or wrote quoting the exact words. The words enclosed by punctuation quotation marks (quotes). Also called direct discourse and accompanied by a reporting verb, signal phrase, or quotative frame.

·         Indirect speech (reported speech)

is a report on what someone else said or wrote without using that person's exact words. Also called indirect discourse. Unlike direct speech, indirect speech is not usually placed inside quotation marks. In the following example, notice how the verb in the present tense (is) changes to the past tense (was) in indirect speech. Also notice the change in word order in the indirect version.

·         Changing Direct speech  into Reported Speech (indirect speech)

- the adverb of nearness should be put into those of distance

Direct Speech	-	Indirect Speech
now	-	then
here	-	there
here after	-	there after
this	-	that
these	-	those
ago	-	before
thus	-	so
to-day	-	that day
to-night	-	that night
last night	-	the previous night
yesterday	-	the day before (or) the previous day
tomorrow	-	the next day (or) the following day
last week	-	the week before (or) the previous week
next week	-	the week after (or) the following week
last month	-	the month before (or) the previous month
next month	-	a month after
hither	-	thither
hence	-	thence

-       Tenses

§  If the reporting verb is in the Present or Future tense (e.g., say, will say) there is no change in the tense of the verb in the Indirect speech.
Antony says, “I eat a mango”. (D.S.)
Antony says, that he eats a mango”. (I.S.)

§  If Reporting Verb is in the Past Tense. the tense of the verbs in the reported speech or Indirect Speech must be generally changed.

1. Present Tense in the Direct becomes p.ast tense.
Johnsi said, “I write a letter”. (D.S)
Johnsi said that she wrote a letter. (I.S)

2. Past Tense in the direct becomes past perfect or remains unchanged.
Angel said, “I brought a pen yesterday”. (D.S)
Angel said that she had bought a pen the day before. (I.S)

3. Present Continuous in the direct becomes past continuous.
John said, “I am going to church”. (D.S)
John said that he was going to church. (I.S)

4. Past Continuous in the direct becomes past perfect continuous.
Nelson said, “I was playing cricket”. (D.S)
Nelson said that he had been playing cricket. (I.S)

5. Present Perfect in the direct becomes past perfect.
Kamal said, “I have done my home work”. (D.S)
Nelson said that he had done his home work. (I.S)

6. Present Perfect Continuous in the direct becomes past perfect continuous.
He said, “I have been reading a novel”. (D.S)
He said that he had been reading a novel. (I.S)

7. ‘Will’ and ‘Shall’ are changed to ‘would’.
He said, “I will go to London tomorrow”. (D.S)
He said that he would go to London the next day. (I.S)

8.

may	-	might
can	-	could
must	-	had to (or) must

Johnsi said, “I must go now”. (D.S)
Johnsi said that she must (or) had to go then. (I.S)

Exception to the above rule:
If the direct speech contains the Universal Truth, the tense of the direct speech remains unchanged even if the reporting verb is in the past.

The teacher said, “The sun rises in the East”. (D.S)
The teacher said that the sun rises in the East. (I.S)

Statement (or) Assertive Sentence
Rules :

·       Remove the quotation marks in the statement

·       Use the conjuction ‘that’

·       Change the reporting verb ‘say to’ into ‘tell’

·       Change the reporting verb ‘said to’ into ‘told’

Note :

·       He said that (correct)

·       He told me that (correct)

·       He told that (Incorrect)

1. “I will work hard to get first class” said Lazar (D.S.)
Lazar said he would work hard to get first class. (I.S.)

2. “You can do this work” said Nelson to Johnsi (D.S.)
Nelson told Johnsi that he could do that work. (I.S.)

3. He says, “I am glad to be here this evening”(D.S.)
He says that he is glad to be there that evening. (I.S.)

4. “I‘m going to the library now” said David (D.S.)
David said that he was going to the library then. (I.S.)

Imperative Sentence (Order or Request)
Rules :

·       Remove the quotation mark in an Imperative sentence.

·       Use ‘to’ if it is an affirmative sentence. (without don‘t)

·       Use ‘not to’ if the sentence begins without Don‘t.

·       Don‘t use ‘that’

·       Omit the word ‘please’. Use the word ‘request’ instead of ‘say’.

·       If the direct speech contains a request or a command, the reporting verb (say, said) change to tell, request, order, command etc. In its correct tense.

1. “Don‘t talk in the class” said the teacher to the boys. (D.S.)
The teacher advised the boys not to talk in the class. (I.S.)

2.“Please give me something to eat. I am hungry” the old man said to them. (D.S.)
The old man requested them to give him something to eat and said that he was hungry (I.S.)

3. “Be careful” said he to her. (D.S.)

He ordered her to be careful. (I.S.)

4. “Bring me a cup of tea” said Nelson to Andriya. (D.S.)

Nelson asked Andriya to bring him a cup of tea. (I.S.)

Interrogative Sentence (Questions)
Rules :

·  Remove the quotation marks and question mark in the interrogative sentence.

·  Use ‘if’ or ‘whether’ if the sentence inside the quotation marks begins with a helping verb (Auxiliary verb).

·  Use the given interrogative word (what, when, where, why, who, whom, whose, which, now etc.) if it does not begin with the helping verb.

·  Don‘t use ‘that’

·  Changing the reporting verb (say, said) into ‘ask’ or ‘enquire’ in its correct tense.

·  Omit helping verb like ‘do, does, did’. But don’t omit them when they are with ‘not’.

1. “Won’t you help me to caary this box?” said I to my friend. (D.S.)
I asked my friend if he would not help me to carry that box. (I.S.)

2. Mohan said to Stalin, “Why did not you attend the meeting yesterday”? (D.S.)
Mohan asked Stalin why he had not attended the meeting the day before. (I.S.)

3. “How often do you go to the theatre?” said David to John. (D.S.)
David asked John how often he went to the theatre. (I.S.)

4. Mohamed said to Sultan, “Do you like mangoes?” (D.S.)
Mohamed asked Sultan if he liked mangoes. (I.S.)

·         Changing indirect speech into direct speech

-          Use the reporting verb, "say" or "said to" in its correct tense.

-          Remove the conjuctions "that, to, if or whether etc". wherever necessary.

-          Insert quotation marks, question mark, exclamation and fullstop, wherever necessary.

-          Put a comma before the statement.

-          Write the first word of the statement with capital letter.

-          Change the past tense into present tense wherever the repoting verb is in the past tense.

-          Convert the past perfect either into past tense or present perfect as found necessary.

-          Be careful about the order of words in the question.

-          The following column will enable the students to find the kind of sentence.

Indirect (Conjunction)	-	Direct (Kind of Sentence)
That	-	Statement (or) Exclamatory sentence
to, not to	-	Imperative
requested + to	-	Begin the imperative sentence with "please"
if or whether	-	Interrogative sentence (Helping Verb + Subject + Main Verb + ...?)
What, When, How etc.,	-	(Wh or How + Helping Verb + Subject + Main Verb + ...?)

3 types sentences in reported speech :

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 statements part, need to be added ”to” in front of the sentence.

-          Positive statements

He asked me, “read the book” (D.S)

He asked me to read the book (I.S)

-          Negative statements

She told me, “don’t eat the meal” (D.S)

She told me not to eat  the meal (I.S)

 

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

e.g:

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)
e.g:

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.
e.g:

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.
e.g:

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’.
e.g:

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.

http://www.grammarinenglish.com/dialoguereporting/

http://www.weblearn.in/direct_speech/

http://grammar.about.com/od/rs/g/reportedspeechterm.htm

http://www.wordsmile.com/pengertian-contoh-kalimat-direct-speech