Object 1

Ravi said to me, “Meghna is watching TV.”

Here “said” is reporting verb and “Meghna is watching TV.” is reported speech.

Basic Rules:
• In the Indirect speech, no inverted commas are used.
• The conjunctions that, if, whether, are generally used after the reporting verb.
• The tense of the reporting verb is never changed.
• The reporting verb changes according to sense: it may be told, asked, inquired

Detailed Rules:
1. Change of Pronouns:
• The first person pronouns (I, me, my, we, us, our) in the reported speech
change according to the subject of the reporting verb.
• The pronouns of the second person (you, your, yourself) in the reported speech
change according to the object of the reporting verb.
• The pronouns of the third person do not change.

Eg:

He said, “I like the book.”

He said that he liked the book.

He said to me, “Do you like the book?”
He asked me if I liked the book.
He said, “He/Rajeev likes the book.”
He said that he/Rajeev liked the book.

2. Changes in words expressing nearness, time, etc.

DIRECT INDIRECT
this that
there those
now then
here there
today that day
yesterday the previous day
tast night the previous night
can could
may might
shall should
will would
ago before
come go
thus so
just then

3. Change of Tenses:
• If the reporting verb is in the present or the future tense, the tense of the
reported speech is not changed:
Eg:

Satish says, “I am flying a kite.”

Satish says that he is flying a kite.
Satish will say, “I want a glass of milk.”
Satish will say that he wants a glass of milk.

• If the reporting verb is in the past tense, then the tense of the reported speech
will change as follows:

Direct Indirect
Simple Present Simple Past
Present Progressive Past Progressive
Present Perfect Past Perfect
Simple Past Past Perfect
Past Progressive Past Perfect Progressive

• If the direct speech expresses a historical fact, universal truth, or a habitual

fact, then the tense of the direct speech will not change:

Direct: He said, “Honesty is the best policy.”

Indirect: He said that honesty is the best policy.
Direct: He said, “The sun rises in the east.”
Indirect: He said that the sun rises in the east.
Direct: Rakesh said, “I am an early riser.”
Indirect : Rakesh said that he is an early riser.
Direct: She said, “God is omnipresent.”
Indirect: She said that God is omnipresent.
Direct: The teacher said, “The First World War started in 1914.”
Indirect: The teacher said that the First World War started in 1914.

• The reporting verb ‘said to’ is changed-to ‘told’, ‘replied’, ‘remarked’,

• The reporting verb is not followed by an object, it is not changed.

Direct: She said, “I am not well.”

Indirect: She said that she was not well.
Direct: He said to Sita, “I have passed the test.”
Indirect: He told Sita that he had passed the test.

4. Rules for the Change of Interrogative (Questions) sentences:

• The reporting verb “say’ is changed into ask, inquire.

• The interrogative sentence is changed into a statement by placing the subject

before the verb and the full stop is put at the end of the sentence.

• If the interrogative sentence has a wh-word (who, when, where, how, why,
etc) the wh-word is used in indirect speech as well. It serves as conjunction.

• If the interrogative sentence is a yes-no answer type sentence (with auxiliary

verbs am, are, was, were, do, did, have, shall, etc), then ‘if or ‘whether’ is
used as a conjunction.

Direct: I said to him, “Where are you going?”

Indirect: I asked him where he was going.

Direct: He said to me, “Will you listen to me?”

Indirect: He asked me if I would listen to him.

Direct: I said to him, “Did you enjoy the movie?”

Indirect: I asked him if he had enjoyed the movie.

Direct: My friend said to Deepak, “Have you ever been to Agra?”

Indirect: My friend asked Deepak if he had ever been to Agra.

5. Changing Commands and Requests into Indirect Speech:

 • In imperative sentences having commands, the reporting verb is changed into
command, order, tell, allow, request,etc.

• The imperative mood is changed into the infinitive mood by putting ‘to’,
before the verb. In case of negative sentences, the auxiliary ‘do’ is dropped
and ‘to’ is placed after ‘not’:

Direct: She said to me, “Open the window.”

Indirect: She ordered me to open the window.

Direct: The captain said to the soldiers, “Attack the enemy.”

Indirect: The captain commanded the soldiers to attack the enemy.

Direct: I said to him, “Leave this place at once.”

Indirect: I told him to leave that place at once.

Direct: The teacher said to the students, “Listen to me attentively.”

Indirect: The teacher asked the students to listen to him attentively.

Direct: The Principal said to the peon, “Ring the bell.”

Indirect: The Principal ordered the peon to ring the bell.

Direct: The master said to the servant, “Fetch me a glass of water.”

Indirect: The master ordered the servant to fetch him a glass of water.

Direct: I said to him, “Please bring me a glass of water.”

Indirect: I requested him to bring me a glass of water.

Direct: I said to my friend, “Please lend me your book.”

Indirect: I requested my friend to lend me his book.
Direct: I said to my friend, “Do not open the window.”
Indirect: I ordered my friend not to open the window.

6. Sentences with ‘Let’:

a. Let’ is used to make a proposal.

• First change the reporting verb into ‘proposed’ or ‘suggested’.

• Use ‘should’ instead of ‘let’.

Direct: He said to me, “Let us go home.”

 Indirect: He suggested to me that we should go home.

b. Let’ is used as ‘to allow’.

• In Indirect Speech, we change the reporting verb to ‘requested’ or ‘ordered’.

• We start Reported Speech with ‘to’.

Direct: Ram said to Mohan, “Let him do it.”

Indirect: Ram ordered Mohan to let him do that.
Or
Ram told Mohan that he might be allowed to do that.

Direct : She said to me, “You didn’t break the window, did you?”
Indirect: She asked me if/whether I had broken the window.
Direct : He said to Geeta, “You are going to the station, aren’t you?”
Indirect: He asked Geeta if/ whether she was going to the station.

7. Sentences with ‘have to’ or ‘had to’

• Change ‘have to’ according to the rules.

• But change ‘had to’ into ‘had had to’ in the indirect speech.

Direct : Hari said, “I have to work a lot.”

Indirect: Hari said that he had to work a lot.
Direct : Hari said, “I had to work a lot.”
Indirect: Hari said that he had had to work a lot.

8. Exclamations and Wishes

• Sometimes Exclamatory sentences contain exclamations like Hurrah!, Alas!,
Oh!, Heavens!, Bravo, etc. Such exclamatory words are removed in the
indirect speech and we use ‘exclaimed with sorrow’, exclaimed with joy,
exclaimed with surprise, etc. instead of ‘said’.

• Use ‘exclaimed’ in place of ‘said’ in the reporting verb in the indirect speech.
End the indirect sentence with a full stop (.).

Examples:
 Direct : Rohan said, “Hurrah! We won the match.”
Indirect: Rohan exclaimed with joy that they had won the match.
Direct : Reema said, “Alas! Karina’s mother is suffering from cancer.”
Indirect: Reema exclaimed with sorrow that Karina’s mother was suffering from cancer.

Direct : The captain said to Kapil, “Bravo! You scored 89 runs.”

Indirect: The captain exclaimed with praise that he (Kapil) had scored 89 runs.

Direct : My mother said, “May God bless you!”

Indirect: My mother prayed to God for my well being.
Direct : She said, “May God save the country!”
Indirect: She prayed to God to save the country.
Direct : They said to the king, “Long live!”
Indirect: They blessed the king for his long life
Direct : Mohan said, “What a pity!”
Indirect: Mohan exclaimed that it was a great pity.
Direct : I said, “How stupid he is!”
Indirect: I exclaimed that it was a very stupid of him.
Direct : “What a terrible sight it is!” said the traveller.
Indirect: The traveller exclaimed that it was a very terrible sight.

Exercises:

• The captain said, “Bravo! well done, my boys.”

• He said to her, “Why do you read this book?”
• He said to her, “Does your cow not kick?”

• He said to his brother, “Shailesh has broken my glass.”

• Our teacher said, “The earth revolves around the sun.”

• He said to me, “Why have you come here?”

• Usha said, “Father, you are very kind to me.”

• The teacher said to the boys, “Do not make a noise.”

• He said to his friend, “May you prosper in business!”

• The officer said to the peon, “Let the visitor come into my office.”
• He said, “I will do it now.”
• He says, “Honesty is the best policy.”
• Ramesh says, “I have written a letter.”
• She said, “Mahesh will be reading a book.”
• She said, “Where is your father?”
• He said to me, “Please take your book.”
• The Principal said to the peon, “Let this boy go out.”
• He said to me, “May you live long!”
• She said, “Goodbye friends!”
• The student said, “Alas! I wasted my time last year.”
• The boy said, “Let me come in.”
• The captain said to me, “Bravo! You have played well.”
• Mr Richard said to me, “Please wait here till I return.”
• Bruce said to me, “I shall do the work.”
• My mother said to me, “You were wrong.”
• “Where do you live?” the stranger asked Aladdin.
• The teacher said to Shelly, “Why are you laughing?”
• Bucky said to Steve, “Do you hear me?”
• Dhronacharya said to Arjun, “Shoot the bird’s eye.”
• “Call the ambulance,” said the man.