Direct and Indirect Speech

Direct speech is an example of an exact word that has been spoken in the speech of writing and the words that are spoken between quotation marks, for example – she says “What time will you get back home?”

Indirect Speech is talking about the moment of the past and the words spoken are changed into tenses. For example, she said, “I saw him”. 

Reading dialogues and narratives can give a foundational knowledge to what is direct and indirect speech. By writing and reading the speech you can learn through different practical applications. 

What do you mean by Direct and Indirect Speech?

Direct Speech: It is the reporting of messages conveyed by the speaker.

Example of direct speech: Rina said “I am busy for the entire day.”

Indirect Speech: Reporting the speeches by the own word of the speaker. 

Example of indirect speech: Rina said then he was busy.

Rules of Direct and Indirect speech:

There are certain rules of conversion from Direct to Indirect Speech.

Rule 1: For the conversion of speech from direct to indirect:

(i) Present tense in the quoted speech changes into the past tense if the reporting verb is in pat tense.

• Direct: he said, “I am glad”.
• Indirect: he said (that) he was happy. 

(ii) For habitual activities or universal truth, tense remains intact upon conversion.

• Direct: She said “The sun rises in the east.”
• Indirect: She said that the sun rises in the east.

(iii) There is no change if the reporting verb is in present or future tense.

•  Direct: He says/will say, “he is going.”
• Indirect: He says/ will say that he is going.

Rule 2: Conversion of direct to indirect speech in the present tense when the reporting verb is in past tense:

(i) Changes of past perfect from present perfect:

• Direct: “I have been to India”, he told me.
• Indirect: He told me that he had been to India.

(ii) Changes of past continuous from present continuous

• Direct: “I am playing mouth organ”: he explained
• Indirect: he explained that he was playing the mouth organ.

(iii) Changes of past perfect from present perfect

• Direct: She said, “She has finished her task in time”.
• Indirect: She said that she had finished her task in time. 

(iv) Changes of simple past from the simple present

•  Direct: “I am sick,” She said.
• Indirect: She said that she was sick.

Rule 3: Conversion to indirect from direct speech when he quoted speech is in some form of past tense:

(i) If the quoted speech is in simple past tense, it would be changed into past perfect tense.

• Direct: He said “Arvin arrived on Monday”
• Indirect: He said that Arvin had arrived on Monday.

(ii) Past continuous to past perfect continuous

• Direct: “We were playing cricket”, they told me.
• Indirect: They told me that they had been playing cricket.  

(iii) Changes of present conditional from future:

• Direct: He said “I will be in India the day after tomorrow”
• Indirect: He said that he would be in India the day after the next day. 

(iv) Changes of conditional continuous from future continuous:

• Direct: She said “I am going to throw out the old laptop next Tuesday.”
• Indirect: She said that she would be throwing the old laptop out next Tuesday. 

Rule 4: Conversion of indirect speech from direct speech-interrogative sentences

(i) In the sentence of direct speech, no conjunctions are used and the speech begins with the word of the question itself. 

• ‘Direct: “Where are you from?”Asked the girl.
• Indirect: The girl enquired where I was from. 

(ii) A direct speech is the sentence that begins with a helping verb; it would be ‘whether’ or ‘if’.

• Direct: He said: “Will you come for dinner?”
• Indirect: He asked if I would come for dinner.  

(iii) Reporting verbs like ‘said’ or ‘said to’ changes into a verb of inquiry.

• Direct: She said to me, “What are you drinking?”
• Indirect: She asked me what I was drinking.

Rule 5: Conversion of indirect speech from direct:

(i) Changing the modals

• Can- Could
• May- Might
• Must have – Would have
• Shall- Should

Examples: Direct: He said, “He can dance”.

Indirect: he said that he could dance.

(ii) Some modal sentences do not change like would, could, should, might, ought

• Direct: He said, “I should clean the house.”
• Indirect: He said that he should clean the house.

Rule 6: Conversion of indirect speech from direct speech- pronoun

(i)  The person of the subject in the quoted speech changes according to the context.

• Direct: She said “I am in the tenth class.”
• Indirect: She said that she was in class tenth.

• Direct: He says to them “You are done with your work.”
• Indirect: He tells him that they are done with their work. 

Conclusion 

Direct and indirect speech are two ways of narration. Direct speech involves the exact words of the speaker and indirect speech reports those words. Both of the speeches should be used correctly while using the English language. Using proper punctuation marks and appropriate forms of verbs would help distinguish between these two speeches.