REPORTED 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

Reported or indirect speech is usually used to talk about the past, so we normally change the tense of the words spoken. We use reporting verbs like 'say', 'tell', 'ask', and we may use the word 'that' to introduce the reported words. Inverted commas are not used.

She said, "I saw him." (direct speech) = She said that she had seen him. (indirect speech)

Study the examples in the following pictures !

  When we change the Direct/ Non- Reported speech in to Indirect/Reported speech, there are some changes that we must give attention to them.

Study the following Power Point!

Let's practice !

Change these sentences into  Reported Speech

1. Chaterine said,” I know these 2 girls quiet well”.

2. The doctor said to me,”Your health will improve very quickly”.

3. “I am going to buy you some books tommorrow”,mother told me.

4. His sister told him, “I don’t know where the key is”

5. “We went to Jakarta last week”, said the Brown.

6. Harold said “I phones my mother every morning”.

7. The teacher told his students’ “You may leave the class now”.

8. Melly told her friends, “I wrote 2 messages to you”.

9.  Mr. Peterson said, “I have to go to the meeting now”.

10. Ricardo told her, “I am here waiting for you”.