Direct And Indirect Speech

Direct and indirect speech

Direct Speech

Direct speech repeats, or quotes, the exact words spoken. When we use direct speech in writing, we place the words spoken between quotation marks (" ") and there is no change in these words. We may be reporting something that's being said NOW (for example a telephone conversation), or telling someone later about a previous conversation.

Examples

• She says, "What time will you be home?"
• She said, "What time will you be home?" and I said, "I don't know! "
• "There's a fly in my soup!" screamed Simone.
• John said, "There's an elephant outside the window."

Indirect speech
Indirect speech, also called reported speech or indirect discourse, is a means of expressing the content of statements, questions or other utterances, without quoting them explicitly as is done in direct speech. For example, He said "I'm coming" is direct speech, whereas He said (that) he was coming is indirect speech. Indirect speech should not be confused with indirect speech acts.

·         In grammar, indirect speech often makes use of certain syntactic structures such as content clauses ("that" clauses, such as (that) he was coming), and sometimes infinitive phrases. References to questions in indirect speech frequently take the form of interrogative content clauses, also called indirect questions (such as whether he was coming).

·         In indirect speech certain grammatical categories are changed relative to the words of the original sentence.^[1] For example, person may change as a result of a change of speaker or listener (as I changes to he in the example above)

Introduction.
There two ways to convey a message of a person, or the words spoken by a person to other person.

1. Direct speech
2. Indirect speech

Suppose your friend whose name is John tells you in school, “I will give you a pen”. You come to home and you want to tell your brother what your friend told you. There are two ways to tell him.

Direct speech: John said, “I will give you a pen”.
Indirect Speech: John said that he would give me a pen.

In direct speech the original words of person are narrated (no change is made) and are enclosed in quotation mark. While in indirect speech some changes are made in original words of the person because these words have been uttered in past so the tense will change accordingly and pronoun may also be changed accordingly. In indirect speech the statement of the person is not enclosed in quotation marks, the word “that” may be used before the statement to show that it is indirect speech.  Indirect speech is also called reported speech because reported speech refers to the second part of indirect speech in which something has been told by a person.

Reporting verb: The verb first part of sentence (i.e. he said, she said, he says, they said, she says,) before the statement of a person in sentence is called reporting verb.

Examples. In all of the following example the reporting verb is “said”.
              He said, “I work in a factory”                           (Direct speech)
              He said that he worked in a factory.                (Indirect speech)
              They said, “we are going to cinema”               (Direct speech)
              They said that they were going to cinema.      (Indirect speech)

Fundamental rules for indirect speech.

1. Reported speech is not enclosed in quotation marks.
2. Use of word “that”: The word “that” is used as a conjunction between the reporting verb and reported speech.
3. Change in pronoun: The pronoun (subject) of the reported speech is changed according to the pronoun of reporting verb or object (person) of reporting verb (first part of sentence). Sometimes the pronoun may not change.

In following example the pronoun of reported speech is “I” which will be changed in indirect speech into the pronoun (Subject) of reporting verb that is “he”.

Example.
       Direct speech: He said, “I am happy”
       Indirect Speech: He said that he was happy.
       Direct speech: I said to him, “you are intelligent”
       Indirect Speech: I said him that he was intelligent. (“You” changed to “he” the                                                                                person of object of reporting verb)

1. Change in time: Time is changed according to certain rules like now to then, today to that day, tomorrow to next day and yesterday to previous day.

Examples.
Direct speech: He said, “I am happy today”
Indirect Speech: He said that he was happy that day.

1. Change in the tense of reported speech: If the first part of sentence (reporting verb part) belongs to past tense the tense of reported speech will change. If the first part of sentence (reporting verb part) belongs to present or future tense, the tense of reported speech will not change.

Examples.
   Direct speech: He said, “I am happy”
   Indirect Speech: He said that he was happy. (Tense of reported speech changed)
   Direct speech: He says, “I am happy”
   Indirect Speech: He said that he is happy. (Tense of reported speech didn’t                                                                                    change)
 TENSE CHANGE - IN - INDIRECT SPEECH
     Present simple tense into Past simple
     Present Continuous tense into Past continuous
     Present Perfect tense into Pas perfect
     Present Perfect Continuous into Past perfect continuous
     Past simple into Past Perfect
     Past Continuous into Past Perfect Continuous
     Past Perfect into Past Perfect
     Future simple, will into would
     Future Continuous, will be into would be
     Future Perfect, will have into would have

Examples.

DIRECT SPEECH	INDIRECT SPEECH
PRESENT TENSE
PRESENT SIMPLE changes into PAST SIMPLE
He said, “I write a letter” She said, “he goes to school daily” They said, “we love our country” He said, “he does not like computer”	He said that he wrote a letter. He said that she went to school daily. They said that they loved their country He said that he did not like computer.
PRESENT CONTINUOUS changes into PAST CONTINUOUS
He said, “he is listening to the music” She said, “I am washing my clothes” They said, “we are enjoying the weather” I said, “it is raining” She said, “I am not laughing”	He said that he was listening to the music. She said that she was washing her clothes. They said that they were not enjoying the weather. She said that she was not laughing.
PRESENT PERFECT changes into PAST PERFECT
She said, “he has finished his work” He said, “I have started a job” I said, “she have eaten the meal” They said, “we have not gone to New York.	She said that he had finished his work. He said that he had started a job. I said that she had eaten the meal. They said that they had not gone to New York.
PRESENT PERFECT CONTINUOUS changes into PAST PERFECT CONTINUOUS
He said, “I have been studying since 3 O’clock” She said, “It has been raining for three days.” I said, “She has been working in this office since 2007”	He said that he had been studying since 3 O’clock. She said that it been raining for three days. I said that she had been working in this office since 2007.
PAST TENSE
PAST SIMPLE changes into PAST PERFECT
He said to me, “you answered correctly” John said, “they went to cinema” He said, “I made a table” She said, “I didn’t buy a car”	He said to me that I had answered correctly. John said that they had gone to cinema. He said that he had made a table. She said that she had not bought a car.
PAST CONTINUOUS changes into PAST PERFECT CONTINUOUS
They said, “we were enjoying the weather” He said to me, “ I was waiting for you” I said, “It was raining” She said, “I was not laughing”	They said that they had been enjoying. He said to me that he had been waiting for me. I said that it had been raining. She said that she not been laughing.
PAST PERFECT changes into PAST PERFECT (tense does not change)
She said, “She had visited a doctor” He said, “I had started a business” I said, “she had eaten the meal” They said, “we had not gone to New York.	She said that she had visited a doctor. He said that he had started a business. I said that she had eaten the meal. They said they had not gone to New York.
FUTURE TENSE
FUTURE SIMPLE TENSE WILL changes into WOULD
He said, “I will study the book” She said, “I will buy a computer” They said to me, “we will send you gifts” I said, “I will not take the exam”	He said that he would study the book. She said that she would buy a computer. They said to me that they would send you gifts. I said that I would not take the exam.
FUTURE CONTINUOUS TENSE WILL BE changes into WOULD BE
I said to him, “ I will be waiting for him” She said,” I will be shifting to new home” He said, “I will be working hard” He said, “he will not be flying kite”	I said to him that I would be waiting for him. She said that she would be shifting to a new home. He said that he would be working hard. She said that he would not be flying kites.
FUTURE PERFECT TENSE WILL HAVE changes into WOULD HAVE
He said, “I will have finished the work” She said, “they will have passed the examination” He said, “I will have gone”	He said that he would have finished the work. She said that they would have passed the examination. He said that he would have gone.

Note: The tense of reported speech may not change if reported speech is a universal truth though its reporting verb belongs to past tense.

Examples.
       Direct speech: He said, “Mathematics is a science”
       Indirect Speech: He said that mathematics is a science.
       Direct speech: He said, “Sun rises in east”
       Indirect Speech: He said that sun rises in east. (Tense didn’t change because                                    reported speech is a universal truth thought its reporting verb                                    belongs to past tense)

Direct and Indirect Speech there are three kinds :

1. Statement ( Statement ) which uses "that "

He said , "we will go to Singapore tomorrow"

He said that they would go to Singapore the next day .

Bob said , " I 'm a university student "

Bob said that he was a university student .

2. Command ( command ) adds the word " to " as a liaison with the reported sentence report . "Not to " the negative command .

He told me , "wait for me! "

He told me to wait for him .

She told me , "do not cheat anymore ! "

She told me not to cheat anymore .

3. Question ( FAQ ) if the sentence of the type " yes or no question " , the report forms using if or Whether .

Ina asked me , " Do you really love me ? "

Ina asked me if / Whether I really loved her .

Mixed type:

examples :

Anton asked me , " what's happening to you ? You look so pale "

Anton asked me what was happening to me as I looked so pale .

Note : Past Tense sometimes not changed in the conversation .

REFERENCE:

http://triicecsfabregas.blogspot.com/2012/03/direct-and-indirect-speech.html

http://www.studyandexam.com/direct-indirect-speech.html

http://www.studyandexam.com/indirect-speech-for-tense.html

Loos, Eugene E.; Susan Anderson; Dwight H. Day, Jr.; Paul C. Jordan; J. Douglas Wingate. "What is indirect speech?". Glossary of linguistic terms. SIL International. Retrieved 2010-06-20.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indirect_speech