Direct speech Vs. Indirect speech (step by step)

Direct speech Vs. Indirect speech

step by step

Reported Speech - Statement - Rules

Whatever may be the tense of the Reporting Sentence, if the Reported Sentence tells a universal fact, no change is made in the tense of the Reported Sentence.

Example No. 1:
Direct Speech:
The mother is saying to the child, “The third day of the week is Tuesday.”.
Step 1: The Reported Sentence is: “The third ... .... Tuesday.”
Step 2: It is a Statement and a universal fact.
Step 3: So, the conjunction word is -- “that”.
Step 4: ‘is saying to’ changes into ‘is telling’.
Step 5: No change of pronoun.
Step 6: It is a universal fact. So, no change of tense is necessary.
Step 7: No change of extension.

Now, the Indirect Speech is:
The mother is telling the child that the third day of the week is Tuesday.

Example No. 2:
Direct Speech:
The History teacher says, “Megellan was the first navigator to come around the world.”.
Step 1: The Reported Sentence is: “Megellan ... .... world.”
Step 2: It is a statement.
Step 3: The conjunction word is -- “that”.
Step 4: ‘Says’ does not change. Use it as it is.
Step 5: There are no pronoun to get changed.
Step 6: No change of tense is made.
Step 7: No extensive word to get changed.

Now, the Indirect Speech is:
The History teacher says that Megellan was the first navigator to come around the world.

The following models have been answered for you:

1. The teacher has said to the pupils, “Sea-water is different from the river water.”.
The teacher has told the pupils that sea-water is different from river water.

2. David answered, “The Mines are under the ground”.
David answered that the Mines are under the ground.

3. John said to his brother, “The U.N.O. is a world organisation”.
John told his brother that the U.N.O. is a world organisaiton.

4. The Science teacher told the class, “Ice floats on water.”.
The Science teacher told the class that ice floats on water. 

Here, we do not consider the changes under all the rules separately. We will consider them under two divisions.
You know the two types of Interrogative Sentences:

·         Inverted questions requiring ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ answers -- 1st type.

·         Questions that begin with interrogative words -- 2nd type

At first we shall deal with the First type:

Take an Example No. 1:

Direct Speech: The boy said to the fruit-seller, “Are all these mangoes sweet?”
Step 1: Identify the Reported Sentence.
Step 2: Know what kind of sentence the Reported Sentence is.
Step 3: Look for the correct Conjunction.
(The Conjunction of the First type is “If or Whether”)
Step 4: Change of ‘said to’ -- Since it is an interrogative sentence ‘said to ’ changes into ‘asked’.
Step 5: Look for the change of pronouns.
Step 6: Look for the change of tenses.
The Reported Sentence is in past tense. The Reported Sentences is in present tense. So, the Reported Sentence should be changed into past tense, corresponding to the tense, of the Reporting Sentence.
The verb is ‘are’ -- Its past tense is ‘were’.
Step 7: Look for the change of extension words.
‘These’ changes into ‘those’.

The Indirect Speech is:
The boy asked the fruit-seller if all those mangoes were sweet. 

Example No 2:

Direct Speech : The grandfather said to his grandsons, “Did you not like my story yesterday?”
Step 1: The Reported Sentence is: “Did you ... day?”
Step 2: It is an Interrogative Sentences. It is of the First type.
Step 3: So its conjunction word is: If or Whether.
Step 4: So ‘said to’ changes into ‘asked’.
Step 5: Look for the pronouns.
(i) The first one is: ‘You’ (subject)
‘You’ -- refers to grandsons. They are in the third person plural number.
So the third person of ‘You’ (subject, plural)
It is -- ‘they’. ‘You’ changes into ‘they’.
‘You’ -- grandsons.
‘You’ -- they.
(ii) The next on is ‘My’.
‘My’ -- refers to ‘the grandfather’ -- in the third person.
So, take the third person of ‘My’ - -It is ‘His’.
‘My’ changes into ‘His’.
Step 6: Look for the change of tenses.
Step 7: Extensive word ‘Yesterday’ changes into ‘the day before’. Now, the Indirect Speech is-

The grandfather asked his grandsons if they had not liked his story the day before.