Direct and Indirect Speech
1. Changing pronouns from the first and second persons to the third ones, however, the
third persons are unchanged
1.1. Personal pronouns: I/you → he/she/it we/you → they
1.2. Objective pronouns: me/you → him/her/it us/you → them
1.3. Possessive adjectives: my/your → his/her/its our/your → their
1.4. Possessive pronouns: mine/yours → his/hers/its ours/yours →theirs
1.5. Reflexive pronouns:
myself/yourself → himself/herself/itself
ourselves/yourselves → themselves
2. Moving one tense back
Direct speech Indirect speech Examples
Present simple Past simple “I want to buy a car”
She said ……………………..
Present continuous Past continuous “I’m learning to drive”
She said ……………………..
Present perfect Past perfect “My sister has had a baby”
Past simple She said ……………………..
“I saw Sue at a party in June”
She said ……………………..
Past continuous Past perfect “I was living in Thai in 1980”
Present perfect continuous She said ……………………..
continuous
Can Could “I can’t come to the party on
Friday”
1
She said ……………………..
Will Would “I’ll phone you when I get
back”
She said to Peter and Mary that
…………………………………
Must Had to “I must go home”
She said ……………………..
3. Changing adverbs of place and adverbs of time
Direct speech Indirect speech
Today That day
Ago Before
Now Then
Yesterday The day before/the previous day
Tomorrow The next day/the following day
This That
These Those
Here There
Next week The week after / the following
week
4. Some words unchanged
Direct speech Indirect speech
Could Could
Might Might
2
Would Would
Past perfect Past perfect
5. Reported statement pattern
S1 said (that) S2 V …
Note: that is optional
6. Reported yes – no question pattern
S1 asked (0) if S2 V …
a. She asked Peter: ‘Does your friend like fish?’
…………………………………………………………………………………………..
b. Peter asked Lan: ‘Have you ever seen snow?’
…………………………………………………………………………………………..
7. Reported wh-question pattern
S1 asked (0) wh S2 V …
a. Peter asked: ‘What does this word mean?’
…………………………………………………………………………………………..
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b. They asked: ‘Why didn’t they come to the party?’
…………………………………………………………………………………………..
8. Reported command
persuade
order
ask
S advise O (not) + to + V…
tell
encourage
invite
beg
remind
a. Peter said to me: ‘Come and sit down’
…………………………………………………………………………………………..
b. The mother to her son: “Don’t cry any more!”
…………………………………………………………………………………………..
9. Exclamations
Ex: a. “What a lovely garden they have”
—> He exclaimed what a lovely garden they had.
b. “How hot it is”
—> She exclaimed how hot it was
EXERCISES
Change the following sentences to Reported Speech
1. Mr. Smith said to me: "How are you today?"
2. John said: "Where is Mary living?"
3. They said to me: "Where are you going on your vacation?"
4
4. The traveler asked: "How long does it take to get to Chicago?"
5. I said to the shopkeeper: "What is the price of this tie?"
6. John said: "I have finished studying my lesson".
7. The boy said: "l will never speak to her again".
8. They said "We shall leave here tomorrow".
9. My mother said to me: "Take a look at yourself in the mirror"
10. "Wait for me at four o’clock this afternoon”, he told me.
11. She asked me: "Have you ever seen such an interesting film?”
12. “Please sit down for a few minutes”, Mary told her boy friend.
13. I said to him: "Don’t call me again at this late hour”
14. Mother said: "Don’t stand here doing nothing".
15. The mother said to her children: "Why don’t you go to bed?"
I6. John asked me: "Is your father a teacher or a doctor
17. The teacher said: “John, why didn’t you hand in your paper?”
18. Mr. Brown said to me: "Whom did you meet yesterday”
19. Mary said: "The clock will never work again if you try to repair it”.
20. “How beautiful the girl is”, Tom said
