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It is one way of relating what a person has said.
In direct speech we repeat the original speaker’s
exact words
‘I am going to Oxford with my parents
tomorrow,’ Ben said.
The remark is placed between inverted commas and
a comma appears immediately before the remark.
2
We give the exact meaning of a remark or a speech, but
without necessarily using the speaker’s exact words.
Ben said (that) he was going to Oxford with his
parents the following day.
Quotation marks disappear. There is no comma after
the introductory verb (say/ask/tell…).
When we turn direct speech into indirect, some
changes are usually necessary.
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When we report a statement, a question or any
other type of sentence, the following changes take
Place:
1. VERB TENSES
2. TIME EXPRESSIONS
3. PRONOUNS AND POSSESSIVE ADJECTIVES
4. OTHER CHANGES
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1. VERB TENSES
When the introductory verb is in the past, the verb in direct
speech changes into the corresponding past tense in
reported speech.
DIREC T SPEECH
REPORTED SPEECH
 Present Simple
 Past Simple
 Present Continuous
 Past Continuous
 Present Perfect Simple
 Past Perfect Simple
 Present Perfect Continuous
 Past Perfect Continuous
 Past Simple
 Past Perfect Simple
 Past Continuous
 Past Perfect Cont. /No change
 Past Perfect Simple
 No change
 Past Perfect Continuous
 No change
 Future Simple
 Conditional Simple
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MODALS IN REPORTED SPEECH
DIRECT SPEECH
REPORTED SPEECH
WILL
SHALL
MAY
MUST
CAN
WOULD
SHOULD
MIGHT
MUST/HAD TO
COULD
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NOTE:
COULD, MIGHT, WOULD, SHOULD remain
unchanged in reported speech
MUST remains the same when it expresses possibility or
deduction. When it expresses obligation, we can
change it into MUST or HAD TO.
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2. TIME EXPRESSIONS
DIRECT SPEECH
REPORTED SPEECH
 NOW
 THEN
 TODAY, TONIGHT
 THAT DAY, THAT NIGHT
 THIS WEEK/MONTH/YEAR  THAT WEEK/MONTH/..
 YESTERDAY
 THE DAY BEFORE
 LAST NIGHT/WEEK…
 THE PREVIOUS NIGHT/WEEK
 TOMORROW
 THE FOLLOWING DAY
 NEXT WEEK/MONTH…
 THE FOLLOWING WEEK/…
 TWO DAYS/MONTHS …
 TWO DAYS/MONTHS.. BEFORE
AGO
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3. PRONOUNS AND POSSESSIVE ADJECTIVES
They change according to the context
‘I will lend you our car,’ Bill said.
Bill said (that) he would lend me their car.
‘He has just arrived, ‘ I said.
I told them he had just arrived.
4. OTHER CHANGES
THIS/THESE
THAT /THOSE
HERE
THERE
COME
GO
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A. STATEMENTS
INTRODUCTORY VERBS
SAY
 SAY + THAT
‘I have been working since
this morning,’ she said.
She said (that) she had been
working since that morning
SAY + TO + OBJECT
She said to me that she had
been working since that
morning
TELL
 TELL + OBJECT
‘I have been working since
this morning,’ she said.
She told me that she had
been working since that
morning.
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STRUCTURE
SUBJECT + SAID + (TO+OBJ) + (THAT) + SUBJ. +
VERB…
SUBJECT + TOLD + OBJECT + (THAT) + SUBJ+ VERB…
‘I know her,’ Richard said.
Richard said (that) he knew her.
‘They will never speak to you again,’ Rachel said to her
husband.
Rachel said to her husband that they would never speak
to him again.
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B. QUESTIONS
1)INTRODUCTORY VERBS
ASK, WANT TO KNOW, WONDER, INQUIRE
2) The question mark is omitted
3) The word order is the same as the one in a statement
‘Where do you live? ‘ she said.
She asked me where I lived.
‘Did she buy a coat at the sales? ‘ Bruce said.
Bruce asked them if she had bought a coat at the
sales.
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B.1. WH- QUESTIONS
STRUCTURE:
SUBJECT + ASKED + OBJECT + WH – WORD + SUBJ +
VERB +…
‘How old is he?’ he asked me.
He asked me how old he was.
‘Where did he go last night?’ Milly said.
Milly asked them where he had gone the previous
night/ the night before.
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B. 2. YES/NO QUESTIONS
STRUCTURE:
SUBJECT+ ASKED + OBJECT+ IF/WHETHER + SUBJECT +
VERB …
‘Do you know what time it is?’ his mother said.
His mother wanted to know if he knew what time it was
‘Do you want to go by air or sea?’ the travel agent asked.
The travel agent asked me whether I wanted to go by air or
sea
Note: We use WHETHER when a choice has to be made or
when there is a conditional sentence in the question.
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C. ORDERS AND COMMANDS
INTRODUCTORY VERBS:
TELL, ORDER, WARN
STRUCTURE:
(+) SUBJECT + TOLD/ORDERED + OBJECT + TO
INFINITIVE + ….
‘Be quiet!’ the teacher said.
The teacher ordered the students to be quiet.
(-) SUBJECT + TOLD/ORDERED + OBJECT + NOT TO
+ INFINITIVE
‘Don’t open the door,’ his mother said.
His mother told him not to open the door.
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D. SUGGESTIONS
DIRECT SPEECH
A) ‘Let’s have lunch together tomorrow,’ she said.
B) ‘Why don’t we have lunch together tomorrow,?’ she
said.
C) ‘How/What about having lunch together tomorrow?’
she said.
D) ‘Shall we have lunch together tomorrow?’ she said.
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REPORTED SPEECH
STRUCTURE:
SUBJECT + SUGGESTED + VERB-ING
She suggested having lunch together the
following day.
SUBJECT + SUGGESTED + SUBJECT 2 + SHOULD +
BARE INFINITIVE
She suggested that they should have lunch
together the following day.
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E. ADVICE
DIRECT SPEECH
‘If I were you, I would give up smoking, ‘ she said to
them.
‘You had better give up smoking,’ she said to them.
‘Why don’t you give up smoking?’ she said to them.
‘You should /ought to give up smoking,’ she said to
them.
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REPORTED SPEECH
STRUCTURE:
SUBJECT + ADVISED + OBJECT + TO INFINITIVE + …
She advised them to give up smoking.
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F. OFFERS AND REQUESTS
DIRECT SPEECH
‘Will /Can/Could/Would you help me carry these bags,
please?’ she said.
‘Shall I help you carry these bags?’ he said.
‘Would you like to go to the cinema?’ they said.
REPORTED SPEECH
STRUCTURE:
SUBJ+ OFFERED/ASKED+ OBJECT + TO-INFINITIVE
She asked me to help her carry the bags.
She offered to carry the bags for me.
They invited me to go to the cinema.
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REPORTING A DIALOGUE OR A CONVERSATION
In conversations we use a mixture of sentences
(statements, questions, orders, suggestions….). When we
turn into reported speech, we use AND, AS, ADDING
THAT, AND HE /SHE ADDED THAT, EXPLAINING
THAT, BECAUSE, BUT, SINCE, AND THEN HE/SHE
WENT ON TO SAY, WHILE, THEN…
Words or expressions such as Oh, Oh dear, Well , etc are
omitted in reported speech.
We can also use the corresponding introductory verb in
the present participle (-ing)
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EXAMPLE
DIRECT SPEECH
REPORTED SPEECH
‘Oh, this is a very nice dress,’ she
said. ‘How much does it cost?’
‘I can’t buy it,’ she said. ‘I can’t
afford it.’
‘Shall I help you?’ he said. ‘We
can work on it together.’
She remarked/exclaimed that
that was a very nice dress and
she asked how much it cost.
she said she couldn’t buy it,
explaining that she couldn’t
afford it.
He offered to help me,
suggesting that we could work
on it together.
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