Reported Speech/Direct & Indirect Speech

Reported speech

Pronouns of the First Person:

             I   my me

             We our us

Pronouns of the Second Person:                    

             You   your    yours

Pronouns of the Third Person

             He     she      it

            His      him    her

           They    their   them 

He says/ said to me, “I will abide by the rules of the state”

He= Subject,

 says/ said to= Reporting Verb

 me= Object

 “I will abide by the rules of the state” = Direct/quoted Speech                                                                                     

1. He says to me, “I have not done my work yet”
2. He tells me that he has not done his work yet.
3. Rohit says to you, “She always goes to temple daily at 7 a.m.”
4. Rohit tells you that she always goes to temple daily at 7 a.m.

Reporting Verbs:

 Says to/ say to / will say to/ shall say to become:

• Tells/ tell/ will tell
• Says/ say /will say/shall say remains the same if the listener (object) is not mentioned.

The speaker is called the Subject

Examples:

She says to me, “You are always late in class”

She tells me that I am always late in class.

Fill in the blanks by supplying missing words:

   Renu says to Mohit, “ It’s not my fault as you say so. It was Rohit who tried to befool you.”

   Renu …..Mohit ….. it ……. not …. .fault as ……. so……..it ……. Rohit who tried to befool……..

Rule 1. The tense of the reported speech does not change if the reporting verb is in the present or the future tense.

   The tense of the reported speech changes if the reporting verb is in Past Tense and the Reported Speech does not contain any fact, immediate reporting or some universal truths.

Reporting verb in past = said to/said

It becomes told if the object or the listener is present before the speaker (subject). If not, it remains unchanged i.e., said.

Examples:

1. You said to me, “You are not following the advice I told you yesterday.”
2. Meena said to Rohan, “You are not doing your work properly.”

Ans. Meena told Rohan that he was not doing his work properly.

3. You told me that I was not following the advice you had told me the previous day.

1.Reporting of Assertive Sentences

Rule 2. If the reporting verb is in the past tense i.e. said to / said and the reported speech does not contain universal truth, etc., its tense will be changed into its corresponding past tense.

• Is/am/are          becomes      was/were
• Was/were         becomes      had been (in continuous tense)
• 1st form of verb                        2nd form of verb
• Do/does                                did in negative sentences
• Has/ have                              had
• Can/may                               could/might
• Will/ shall                             would
• Today                                    that day
• Tomorrow                             the next day
• Yesterday                              the previous day
• The next day                          the following day
• This/ these                             that/those

Examples

1. She said to her husband, “You are not listening to me carefully”

She told her husband that he was not listening to her carefully.

(1) Simple Present Tense becomes Simple Past Tense

• 1st form of verb becomes 2nd form of verb
• Do/does becomes did in negative sentences

1. He said to you, “I go to school daily on time.”
2. He told you that he went to school daily on time”
3. Sonakshi said to you, “I do not listen to rubbish”
4. Sonakshi told you that she did not listen to rubbish.

(2) Simple Past Tense becomes Past Perfect Tense

• 2nd form of the verb becomes had + v-3

1. Jennifer said to Rohit, “You finished your pending work when I was sleeping.”
2. Jennifer told Rohit that he had finished his pending work when she had been sleeping.

(3) Present Continuous Tense becomes Past Continuous Tense

• Is/am/are + v-1(ing) becomes was/were+ v-1(ing)

(i)                              I said to you, “You are not going to scold your brother”

         I told you that you were not going to scold your brother.

(4) Past Continuous Tense becomes Past Perfect Continuous Tense

1. Rekha said to her mother, “When you returned home yesterday, I was cooking food in the kitchen.”
2. Rekha told her mother that when she had returned home the previous day, she had been cooking food in the kitchen.

(5) Present Perfect Tense becomes Past Perfect Tense

1. Ruhi said, “I believe that you have not changed your behaviour towards the children who are younger to you.”
2. Ruhi said that she (Ruhi) believed that you (you) had (have) not changed your (your) behaviour towards the children who were (are) younger than you (you).

(6) Past Perfect Tense is not changed.

(7) Future Perfect Tense (will have/ shall have + v-3)

1. I said to Rashi, “I will have finished my work by the time you return home tomorrow.”
2. I told Rashi that I would have finished my work by the time she returned home the next day.  

 Change of Modal Verbs in Reported Speech

If the reporting verb is in the past tense and the reported speech does not contain any universal truth, the modal verbs also get changed in their past tense.

   can                                    becomes        could

   may                                  becomes         might

   shall/will                                                 would

 

   Could/should/would  remain the same

                                                               

   Must                                  becomes         had to

2.Reporting of Interrogative Sentences

·         If the reported speech begins with an auxiliary verb to form a question, then, make changes as explained below:

·         Change said/ said to in ‘asked’

·         Put conjunction ‘if’ or ‘whether’

·         Remove commas

·         Transform the question in assertive form of the sentence. Verb will come after the subject.

1.      He said to me, ‘Are you trying to force me to do wrong?”

   He asked me if/ whether I was trying to force him to do wrong.

2.      He said to me, “Are you not a stupid fellow to believe so blindly on beggars?”

   He…….me…………….not a stupid fellow to believe so blindly on beggars

3.        She said to you, “Am I not very careful about my studies?”

    She ………. you………… not very clear about …..studies.

   See the following sentence:

   Reshma said to Shera, “Where are you going at this time?”

   In the above sentence, the reported speech begins with ‘W’-’Wh’-’H’-type question, i.e. ‘where’, etc.

So the change will be as shown below:

•           Said/ said to will become asked/ enquired, etc.

•           Don’t use conjunction ‘if’ or ‘whether’: use the same i.e. ‘W’-’Wh’-’H’ word.

•           The question form of the sentence will become assertive: the verb will come 

        after the subject.

•           Do not put sign of interrogative (question mark) at the end of the sentence.

Now see the same sentence again:

• Reshma said to Shera, “Where are you going at this time?”

Reported speech will be:

Reshma asked Shera where he was going at that time.

• Rajat said to his friend, “How much sugar is needed for making a cup of tea?”

3.Reporting of Imperative Sentences

Imperative sentence is also called:

1. Command or order (to do or not to do something or forbidding  somebody to do something)
2. Request
3. Advice (persuading or forbidding  somebody to do something)

Command/order:

• She said to me, “Bring some vegetables from the market before the guests arrive home”
• She ordered me to bring some vegetables from the market before the guests arrived home.

Said/ said to becomes ordered

Conjunction will be ‘to’

The tense of the clause/clauses will be changed according to the previous rules.

Request

Request begins with ‘please’ or ‘kindly’.

• He said to Mohit, “Please show me your note-book.”
• He requested Mohit to show him his note-book

Said/said to becomes requested

In place of a conjunction, ‘to’ will be written.

Advice (persuading or forbidding somebody)

 I said to my younger brother, “Don’t indulge in gossiping.”

• I advised my younger brother not to indulge in gossiping.

• Ritika said, “Do good and have good”
• Ritika advised us to do good and have good.

Said to/said becomes advised not to/ advised to

In place of the conjunction not to or to will be written.

4.Changing exclamatory sentences

What are exclamatory sentences?

The sentences showing strong feelings are called exclamatory sentences.

Exclamatory sentences may begin with the following words:

   Oh!, Ah!, Alas!, Fie!,  Pooh!, Bravo!, Hurrah! What……! How……..!

The words showing surprise: Oh!, Ah!, What….!, How…..!

•          The above words get deleted and said/ said to becomes:

              exclaimed with surprise/ wonder/ astonishment.

•           The exclamatory sentence becomes a simple statement.

Example:

• Suku said to his sister, “What a beautiful rainbow is!”

           Suku exclaimed with surprise to his sister that the rainbow was very beautiful.

The words showing extreme joy: Hurrah! Bravo!

Said/ said to becomes:‘exclaimed with joy that…’

The exclamatory sentence becomes a simple statement.

Example:

1. The captain of the team cried/said, “Hurrah! We have won the match.”

2. The captain exclaimed with extreme joy that they had won the match.

Words showing disgust/ hatred: Fie!, Pooh!

Said/ said to become: exclaimed with extreme disgust/ hatred

Example:

“Fie on you! You have disgraced the honour of your family.” said Mr. A to Mr. B

Mr. A exclaimed with hatred by saying that Mr. B had disgraced his family. 

The soldier cried, “O for a glass of water!”

5.Sentences beginning with ‘let’

1. Ritika said to her husband, “Let us go for a walk”

Ritika proposed to her husband that they should go for a walk.

2. He said to me, “Let us do our home work.”

He suggested / proposed to me that we should do our home work.

If the sentence in the Reported Speech begins with ‘let us’, make the following changes:

1. Change said/ said to in suggested/ proposed to

2. Remove commas and put ‘that’ as conjunction.

3. If either of the subject and the object is in first person (i.e. I/ We), change ‘us’ in ‘we’ otherwise make it ‘they’.

4. The helping verb in the reported speech will be ’should’

Examples:

Sonu said to Monu, “Let us decide who will speak first”

Sonu suggested to Monu that they should decide who would speak first.

Pncorrect: Sonu suggested to Monu that we should decide who would speak first.

Incorrect: She proposed to you that we should go on a tour.

Incorrect: I suggested to Rohit that they should work hard.

(b) If let is not followed by ‘us’:

1. Change said to/ said in requested/ advised/told, etc. according to the sense conveyed in the sentence..

2. Do not remove ‘let’ and use ‘to’ in front of ‘let’.

3. Pronouns will be changed according to the previous rules.

Examples

1. I said to Rohit, “ Let me sit beside you”

      I requested Rohit to let me sit beside him.

2. She said to her teacher, “ Let me come in, Sir”
3.      She respectfully requested the teacher to let her come in.

Exercise Mixed

1. He said to me, “I have eaten my lunch and now I can go with you.”
2. Madan says to me, “I will meet your friend tomorrow’
3. Rohit said ,“India got freedom in 1947.”
4. Rajni said to Sugandha, “My mother is coming tomorrow.”
5. He said, “Are you a deaf person?

6. “Why are you sitting here?” said he to me.

1. Rajesh says to me, “I love my country.”
2. Shubham said to you, “Are you not over-reacting in this matter?”
3. He said, “No, I am not over-reacting.”
4. “Why were you laughing too much in the class?,” said the teacher to Rohit.
5. He said, “What a lovely flower it is!”
6. She said to them, “How foolish you are!”

Ankit said to you, “ let us go for a walk”

Renu: No, I am busy at this time. Wait for me for about half an hour.

Ankit: I am in a hurry. My other friends are waiting for me. I must go at once.

Renu: Then , why are you standing here? Go to please your friends.