Reported Speech
Direct Speech : Gita said to Raj , “I got the gift for you yesterday.”
Indirect Speech : Gita told Raj that she had got the gift for him the previous day.
| Speaker | Gita |
| Reporting verb | said to |
| Listener | Raj |
| Comma | , |
| Inverted comma | ” “ |
| Reported Speech | I got the gift for you yesterday. |
Common rules for all types of sentences :
- Remove inverted commas (” “) and comma (,)
- End with full stop (.) only. (Remove ? and ! )
- Present or future verb (say / says / will say) then no change of tense
- Verb is in past form (said/told etc) then change the sentence into past form
- No tense change in fact / scientific / general truth etc.
- First person (I / me / my / we / us / our etc) changes according to speaker
- second person changes (you / yours / your) according to listener
- Third person ( he / his / she / her/ it / they etc) never change.
- other changes are given in following tables.
| Reporting verb | Conjunction | Special Rules |
| Declarative Sentence | ||
| told | that | – |
| Ex : He said to me,” Sumit has done his homework.” Ans : He told me that Sumit had done his homework. |
||
| Interrogative – “wh” question (when , why , how , when etc) | ||
| asked / inquired / demanded etc | – | – Make interrogative to declarative sentence. – wh-word + subject + verb + _ _ _ _ _ + . (full stop) |
| Ex : He said to me,”where is the doctor?” Ans : He asked me where the doctor was. |
||
| Interrogative – “yes/no” question | ||
| asked / inquired / demanded etc | if / whether | – Make interrogative to declarative sentence. – if/whether + subject + verb + _ _ _ _ _ + . (full stop) |
| Ex : He said to me,”Is the doctor in?” Ans : He asked me if the doctor was in. |
||
| Exclamatory sentence | ||
| exclaimed with sorrow / surprise / joy etc. | that | – Remove words such as Hurrah!, Alas! , Wow! etc. – to + verb + other words |
| Ex : He said ,”Hurrah! we won.” Ans : He exclaimed with joy that they had won. |
||
| Imperative Sentence | ||
| requested / suggested / ordered etc. | to | – Remove words like kindly / please etc. |
| Ex : Ravi said to his friend ,”please,give me my book.” Ans : Ravi requested his friend to give him his book. |
||
Changes Made to Reporting verb
| Direct Speech | Indirect Speech |
| say | say |
| say to | tell |
| says | says |
| says to | tells |
| said | said |
| said to | told |
Changes in the Tenses & Modals
| Direct Speech |
Indirect Speech |
| do/ does | did |
| am / is / are | was / were |
| was / were | had been |
| has / have | had |
| play / plays | played |
| am / is / are playing | was/were playing |
| has / have played | had played |
| has/have been playing | had been playing |
| played | had played |
| was/were playing | had been playing |
| Modals | |
| will | would |
| shall | should |
| can | could |
| may | might |
| must | had to |
| would | would |
| might | might |
| could | could |
| ought to | ought to |
Changes Made to Pronoun
| Subject | Object | Possessive Adjective | Possessive Pronoun | |
| 1st person speaker |
I | me | my | mine |
| We | us | our | ours | |
| 2nd person listener |
you | you | your | yours |
| Third person | He | him | his | his |
| She | her | her | hers | |
| It | it | its | – | |
| They | them | their | theirs |
Changes Made to Words of Time , Place & Action
| Direct Speech | Indirect Speech |
| now / just | then |
| tomorrow | the following day / the next day |
| the next week | the following week |
| the next month | the following month |
| the next year | the following year |
| yesterday | the previous day |
| last night | the previous night / the night before |
| the last week | the previous week |
| the last month | the previous month |
| the last year | the previous year |
| at present | at that time |
| today | that day |
| tonight | that night |
| thus | so |
| ago | before |
| this | that |
| here | there |
| come | go |
| bring | take |
| these | those |
| hence | thence |
| hereby | thereby |
