Direct speech Vs. Indirect speech (Interrogative sentences)

Direct speech Vs. Indirect speech

Interrogative sentences:

Interrogative Sentence (Questions)
Rules :

·         Remove the quotation marks and question mark in the interrogative sentence.

·         Use ‘if’ or ‘whether’ if the sentence inside the quotation marks begins with a helping verb (Auxiliary verb).

·         Use the given interrogative word (what, when, where, why, who, whom, whose, which, now etc.) if it does not begin with the helping verb.

·         Don‘t use ‘that’

·         Changing the reporting verb (say, said) into ‘ask’ or ‘enquire’ in its correct tense.

·         Omit helping verb like ‘do, does, did’. But don’t omit them when they are with ‘not’.

Auxiliary questions should begin with:

if / whether

Direct Speech	My friend said, “Are they coming with us?”
Indirect Speech	My friend asked me whether they were coming with us.
Direct Speech	I said, “Were they angry with you?”
Indirect Speech	I asked him whether they had been angry with him.
Direct Speech	Sarah said to her mother, “Can the milk man bring milk in this heavy rain?”
Indirect Speech	Sarah asked her mother if the milkman could bring milk in that heavy rain.

1. 

Do / Does / Did Questions:

When using;
do, does (present tense) - the main verb converts
into the past (does / do go - went)
did (past tense) - the main verb converts
into past perfect. (did go - had gone)

Direct Speech	“Does David study late at night?” said Sonia.
Indirect Speech	Sonia asked me whether David studied late at night.
Direct Speech	Jems said, “Do college students use cellphones?”
Indirect Speech	Jems asked me whether college students used cellphones.

2. 

The question form will change into a statement form:

“Is he here?”

Whether he was there

W/h Questions:

These questions begin with a question word (Who, What, When, Why, Where, How, How long ...). While changing such a question into reported form we do not use any conjunction. We simply invert the word order (Verb + Subject is changed into Subject + Verb). Do not use if/whether in W/h Questions.

Verb + Subject	She said to me, “What do you want?”
Subject + Verb	She asked me what I wanted.

Direct Speech	My neighbour said, “When did the men catch the stray dogs”
Indirect Speech	My neighbour asked me when the men had caught the stray dogs.
Direct Speech	My friend said, “Which colour will you choose?”
Indirect Speech	My friend asked me which colour I would choose.
Direct Speech	Father said to mother, “Why was Angelina crying when she returned from school?”
Indirect Speech	Father asked mother why Angelina had been crying when she had returned from school.

3. 

4. 

5. 

Verbal Questions:

These are questions beginning with a verb. (Are you ready? Is it true?)
Here we use the conjunction ‘if’ or ‘whether’. The word order is changed as mentioned earlier.

Verb + Subject	She said to me, “Is Tom at home?”
Subject + Verb	She asked me if Tom was at home.

1. “Won’t you help me to caary this box?” said I to my friend. (D.S.)
I asked my friend if he would not help me to carry that box. (I.S.)

2. Mohan said to Stalin, “Why did not you attend the meeting yesterday”? (D.S.)
Mohan asked Stalin why he had not attended the meeting the day before. (I.S.)

3. “How often do you go to the theatre?” said David to John. (D.S.)
David asked John how often he went to the theatre. (I.S.)

4. Mohamed said to Sultan, “Do you like mangoes?” (D.S.)
Mohamed asked Sultan if he liked mangoes. (I.S.)