Reported Speech

Direct and Indirect (or reported) Speech. Introduction:

There are two ways of relating what a person has said : direct and indirect. In direct speech, we repeat the original speaker’s exact words:

He said, “I have lost my umbrella.”

Remarks thus repeated are placed between inverted commas, and a comma is placed immediately before the remark. Direct speech is found in conversations in books, in plays and in quotations. In indirect speech, we give the exact meaning of a remark or a speech, without necessarily using the speaker’s exact words:

He said (that) he had lost his umbrella.

There is no comma after say in indirect speech.that can usually be omitted aftersay and tell + object. But it should be kept after other verbs:complain, explain, object, point out, protest etc. Indirect speech is normally used when conversation is reported verbally, though direct speech is sometimes here to give a more dramatic effect. When we turn direct speech into indirect, some changes are usually necessary.

Direct and Indirect (or reported) Speech. Introduction:

A.) First and second person pronouns and possessive adjectives normally change to the third person except when the speaker is reporting his own words. (I =he, she; me =him, her; my=his, her; mine = his, hers; we = they...)

She said, “he’s my son”. => She said that he was her son. “I’m ill”, she said. => She said that she was ill.

B.) THIS / THESE

This used in time expressions usually becomes that

She said, “She’s coming this week”. => She said that she was coming that week.

This and that used as adjectives usually change to the.

He said, “I bought this pearl/these pearls for my mother”. => He said that he had bought the pearl/the pearls for his mother.

This, these used as pronouns can become it, they/them.

He came back with two knives and said, “I found these beside the king’s bed”. => He said he had found them beside the king’s bed.

He said, “We will discuss this tomorrow”. => He said that they would discuss it (the matter) the next day.

EXPRESSIONS OF TIME AND PLACE IN INDIRECT SPEECH