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In English Grammar
SK.khadarbhi
Lecturer in English
Andhra Loyola
College.
07-05-2009 1
Direct speech is a report of the exact words
used by a speaker or writer. The words spoken
appear within inverted commas “......”
Examples
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Indirect speech is a report on what
someone else said or wrote without using that
person's exact words
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In indirect speech, tenses do not change if the
words used within the quotes (‘’) talk of a habitual
action or universal truth.
Example:
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Rule no 2
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Rule 3
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Rule 4
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Rule 5
● He said, “She played golf in the morning.”
Direct Speech
‘played’ -- main verb -- simple past tense
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Rule 6
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Rule 7
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• She said to me, “They will take their test tomorrow.”
Direct speech
She told me that they would take their test the next day.
Indirect Speech
‘will’ becomes ‘would’!
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Direct-Indirect Speech – Changes –
Personal Pronouns(Rule 8)
person 1st 2nd
3rd
singular plural singular plural singular plural
number
common common common common Male female Male female Neuter
gender Neuter
Possessive My Our Your Your His her its Their their their
(genitive)
mine ours yours yours His hers its Theirs theirs theirs
case
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Direct-Indirect Speech -- changes -- Personal Pronouns
■ The girl told the spider that it had eaten her pie.
Indirect Speech
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Direct-Indirect speech – changes – Personal Pronouns
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Direct-Indirect Speech – changes – personal Pronouns
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Direct-Indirect Speech – Changes –
Conjunction (Rule 9)
◆ While changing a Direct Speech Sentence
into an Indirect Speech Sentence, we use a
conjunction to join both the clauses -- the
introductory clause and the ‘actual spoken
words’, subordinate clause.
◆ To join the two clauses in a statement
sentence, we use the conjunction ‘that’.
◆ (The conjunction ‘that’ is normally not
mentioned as it is understood.)
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Direct-Indirect Speech – changes – Personal Pronouns
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Rule 10
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• A woman said to me, “Is she really driving?”
Interrogative sentence – ‘yes’ or ‘no’ question – Direct Speech
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• The man said to the boy, “Can you see those stars or not?”
Direct Speech
‘can’ – ‘yes’ or ‘no’ question
The man enquired the boy whether he could see those stars or not.
Indirect Speech
“whether… or not”
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■ While changing an interrogative sentence
from direct to indirect, the main verb in the
introductory clause, usually ‘said’, is changed
into ‘asked’, ‘enquired’, ‘wanted to know’ etc.
And the word order is inversed:
■ He said to her, “Is this bag yours?” – Direct
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Rule 11 (Wh Questions) Direct-Indirect Speech –
Changes
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● She said to them, “Who wants to help me?”
Direct Speech
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She said to the students, “Who knows the answer?”
Direct Speech
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Rule 12 Direct-Indirect
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Rule 13 ( Neagtive imperative sentence)
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The mother said, “Don’t cry, baby… Don’t cry.”
Direct Speech
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Rule 14
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She said to her friends, “Let’s go for a picnic.” --
Direct
‘Let’ – suggestion
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