Narration: Reported (indirect) to Reporting (direct) Speech

Rahul said, “I’m baking a chocolate cake for you.’’

Rahul said that he was baking a chocolate cake for me.

If we consider these two sentences, we might notice that both of them

convey the same message, but there is a difference if we look closely. In
the first sentence, I am conveying the activities of Rahul in his (R) own
words without changing it; it is called direct speech or we can
say reporting speech. In the second sentence, I am using my own words
to convey the activities of the speaker (R) to the audience. This we can
say indirect speech or reported speech.
When we express someone’s words in our own words, it is called –
“Indirect Speech” and when we express someone’s words as it is, it is
called – “Direct Speech“.

There are some major rules to change these speeches from direct to
indirect. We need to consider the tense, pronoun, words and
sentences that describe time, place, distance, types of sentences, etc.
let’s have a quick look at the following rules:

Procedure of changing direct speech into indirect speech

1. Remove comma and inverted commas.

2. Put "that" between the reporting and reported speeches.(it is optional to
put "that" between the reporting and reported speech)
3. Change the 1st letter of reported speech into small letter except for "I"
4. Change the pronoun of the direct speech according to the rules described
in table 2
5. Change the tense of the direct speech appropriately according to rules
described in table 3.
6. Change the words expressing nearness in time or places of the direct
speech into its appropriate words.

Rajiv said to me,” I shall go to the picture today”

Rajiv told me that he would go to the picture that day.

In the above example

Reporting verb said to is changed into told.

Inverted Commas are replaced by the conjunction that
Reported speech’s pronoun I is changed into He.
Reported speech’s verb shall go is changed into would go.
As another change today is changed with the word that day.
 1. Pronoun:

In an indirect speech the pronoun changes according to the speaker

whether s/he is referring himself/herself or a third person. We can make
this clearer if we learn this with some examples:

o Direct: George said, “I cannot be with you.”

o Indirect: George said that he could not be with me.
o Direct: I said, “Leave me”
o Indirect: I ordered to leave me alone. (Note: in this sentence the
speaker is same, so there is no change in the indirect speech.)
o Direct: They said, “We shall be partying tonight.”
o Indirect: They said that they would be partying that night.
o Direct: I told George, “You should stay.”
o Indirect: I told George that he should stay.
o Direct: She asked, “How are you doing today?”
o Indirect: She asked me how I was doing that day.
o Direct: Robert said, “Can you pull me up?”
o Indirect: Robert asked if I could pull him up.

I He/She

We They

You I, He, She, It and They

They They

She She

He He

It It

2. Type of sentences:
a. Reporting Interrogative sentences:
I) If there is a yes-no question in the direct speech, then the reported
speech will start with whether/if and the reported clause form will be
(subject+verb).
Example:
o Direct: Peter said, “Are you from Australia?”
o Indirect: Peter asked if I was from Australia.
o Direct: Tom asked, “Do you want to sit here?”
o Indirect: Tom asked whether I wanted to sit there.
II) In indirect speech questions starting with who, whom, when, how,
where and what the ‘wh’-word would be the subject or the object of the
reported clause:
Example:
o Direct: Brad said, “Who will come with me?”
o Indirect: Brad asked who would go with him.
o Direct: Tina said, “What will be the charges?”
o Indirect: Tina inquired what the charges would be.
o Direct: I said the man, “Where is the hotel?”
o Indirect: I asked the man where the hotel was.
o Direct: Mother said, “How is the chicken?”
o Indirect: Mother asked me how the chicken was.
b. Reporting statement sentences:

In a statement speech, we will use ‘that’ before the reported statement

and the reported verb will be ‘told’ (followed by an object) or ‘said’ (will
not be followed by an object).

Example:
o Direct: Edward said, “I like the book.”
o Indirect: Edward told that he liked the book.
o Direct: Alice said, “I want you to sing.”
o Indirect: Alice told me to sing.

c. Reporting imperative sentences:

We will use ‘to’ as joining clause before the reported command or request,
and the reported verb will be changed according to the moods of the
sentence (e.g., ordered, requested, urged, advised, forbade or begged)

Example:
o Direct: The man said, “Please, bring me a chair.”
o Indirect: The man requested to bring him a chair.
o Direct: The officer said, “Fall back!”
o Indirect: The officer ordered to fall back.
o Direct: Mother said, “Listen to your elders.”
o Indirect: Mother advised me to listen to my elders.
o Direct: Mr. Murphy said, “Do not go near the house.”
o Indirect: Mr. Murphy forbade going near the house.

d. Reporting exclamatory sentences:

To change direct exclamatory speeches to the indirect one we need to

replace interjection (hurrah, wow, alas, oh, etc.) with joining clause ‘that’
and the exclamatory wh-words (what, how) will be replaced by ‘very’
before the adjective in the reported clause.

Examples:
o Direct: Clare said, “Hurrah! Barcelona won the match!”
o Indirect: Clare exclaimed with joy that Barcelona had won the match.
o Direct: I said, “Alas! My pet died.”
o Indirect: I exclaimed with grief that my pet had died.
o Direct: The candidate said, ‘How difficult the problem is!’
o Indirect: The candidate exclaimed with disapproval that the problem
was very difficult.
o Direct: ‘How glad I am,’ said Alice, ‘to meet my friend here?’
o Indirect: Alice exclaimed with delight that she was very glad to meet
her friend there.
3. Tense:

Usually, the present tense changes into past tense while we change direct
speech to indirect.

a. Simple present tense to simple past tense:

Example:
o Direct: She said, “I work in New York Times.”
o Indirect: She said that she worked in New York Times.
o Direct: Jim said, “Bill loves to drink Wine.”
o Indirect: Jim said that Bill loved to drink Wine.
Exceptions: If the content is still true or happening then we do not need
to change the tense in the reported speech. Like;
o Direct: She said, “I live in Paris.”
o Indirect: She said that she lives in Paris.

b. Present continuous to past continuous tense

Example:
o Direct: Mother said, “Bob is taking a nap.”
o Indirect: Mother said that Bob was taking a nap.
o Direct: He asked, “Are they writing the paper?”
o Indirect: He asked if they were writing the paper.

c. Present perfect to past perfect tense:

Example:
o Direct: Nicolas said, “I have made a donut.”
o Indirect: Nicolas said that he had made a donut.
o Direct: The teacher said, “The dates have been decided.”
o Indirect: The teacher announced that the dates had been decided.

d. Present perfect continuous to past perfect continuous tense:

Example:
o Direct: Mr. Parson asked, “How long have you been working here?”
o Indirect: Parson asked me how long I had been working there?”
o Direct: The boy said, “I have been waiting for my mother since
morning.”
o Indirect: The boy said that he had been waiting for his mother since
morning.

e. Simple past to past perfect tense

 Example:
o Direct: Robert Langdon said, “My mother gave me the Mickey watch.”
o Indirect: Robert Langdon said that his mother had given the Mickey
watch to him.
o Direct: The teacher said, “Shakespeare’s playing company built Globe
Theatre in 1599.”
o Indirect: The teacher said that Shakespeare’s playing company had built
the Globe Theatre in 1599.

f. Past Continuous to Past Perfect Continuous tense;

Example:
o Direct: Jenny said, “Marlow was leaving Belgium.”
o Indirect: Jenny told me that Marlow had been leaving Belgium.
o Direct: Maria said, “I was dialing your number, and you called.”
o Indirect: Maria said that she had been dialing my number and I had
called.
Note: If two sentences are combined with a conjunction, and both
sentences have different tenses then we need to change the tenses of
both sentences according to the rule.

g. Past perfect tense does not change in the indirect speech;

Example:
o Direct: Alex said, “I had stopped to visit you.”
o Indirect: Alex said that he has stopped to visit me.
o Direct: She said, “Greece had tried to uphold their economy.”
o Indirect: She said that Greece had tried to uphold their economy.
h. Simple future tense to present conditional;
Example:
o Direct: Smith said, “My parents will be there at 9am.”
o Indirect: Smith said that his parents would be there at 9am.
o Direct: Barbara asked, “Will you be my partner in the coming Summer
Ball?”
o Indirect: Barbara asked if I would be her partner in the coming Summer
Ball.
o Direct: John said, “I will be doing my CELTA next year.”
o Indirect: John said that he would be doing his CELTA next year.
(Continuous conditional)
4. Modals:
a. Modal verbs like shall, will, can, may change in reported speech.
Let’s follow some examples:
o Direct: John said, “I will be there.”
o Indirect: John promised that he would be there.
o Direct: The boy said, “May I come in?”
o Indirect: The boy asked if he could come in. (note: may becomes could
when it implies permission)
o Direct: “I may not call you.” Said Bobby.
o Indirect: Bobby said that she might not call me.
o Direct: “I shall practice more.” said Barbara.
o Indirect: Barbara said that she would practice more.
o Direct: Joseph said, “Shall I buy the car?”
o Indirect: Joseph asked if he should buy the car.
Note: ‘shall’ become should if it implies a question.

b. Modal verbs like could, should, need, must, might, used to do not
change in reported speech.
Example:
o Direct: she said, “I would not be the victim.”
o Indirect: she said that she would not be the victim.
o Direct: David said, “You need to repair the car.”
o Indirect: David said that I need to repair the car.
o Direct: Mary said, “I used to love dancing.”
o Indirect: Mary said she used to love dancing.
5. Adverbs and demonstratives:

Indirect speech differs from the direct speech’s time and place. When
someone is conveying the message to the listener, the speaker might not
be on the same day or place. So the demonstrative (this, that etc.) and
the adverb of time and place (here, there, today, now, etc.) change. We
can look into the following chart for the usual changes:

Direct Indirect

now Then/at that moment

today That day

Tomorrow The next day

Yesterday The day before

come go

Bring take

this that

Indirect Speech Word

Direct Speech Word

Here There
 Today that day

this morning that morning

Yesterday the day before

Tomorrow the next day

next week the following week

next month the following month

Now Then

Ago Before

Thus So

Last Night the night before

This That

These Those

Hither Thither

Hence Thence

Come Go

Examples:
o Direct: I said, “Simon read Wordsworth yesterday.”
o Indirect: I said that Simon read Wordsworth the day before.
o Direct: Mother said, “Come home now.”
o Indirect: Mother ordered me to go home at that moment.
o Direct: “Bring the money with you.” Said Jessie.
o Indirect: Jessie demanded to take the money with me.
o Direct: The lovers said, “We will meet here tomorrow.”
o Indirect: The lovers promised to meet there the next day.