Direct and Indirect Speech in English Grammar Exercises

Study the concept of direct and indirect speech through examples and rules explained in the given content. Learn how to change sentences from direct to indirect speech by understanding reporting verbs and tense changes. Practice converting words indicating nearness to words showing distance for better understanding.

• English grammar
• Direct speech
• Indirect speech
• Reporting verbs
• Tense changes

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1. B.A. I SEM ENGLISH GRAMMAR EXERCISES

2. DIRECT AND INDIRECT SPEECH Study the sentences written below: 1. He says, I am unwell. 2. He will say, I am unwell. 3. He said, I am unwell. All the three sentences written above are the examples of Direct Speech. In the Direct Speech , we have two parts; reporting speech, and the reported speech. In the above three sentences, he says, he will say,

3. CONTINUED and he said are said to be REPORTING SPEECH and the sentence I am unwell which is enclosed within double inverted commas in all the three sentences is said to be REPORTED SPEECH. The verb in the reporting speech is said to be a reporting verb and the verb of the reported speech is known as reported verb.

4. CONTINUED When we quote speaker s actual words, this is called DIRECT SPEECH. We may report what he said without quoting his exact words. This is called INDIRECT ( or REPORTED) SPEECH. The first three sentences written above are the examples of the DIRECT SPEECH. We may change them to Indirect speech without changing their meaning as done below:

5. CONTINUED 1. He says that he is unwell. 2. He will say that he is unwell. 3. He said that he was unwell. The basic rule to change a sentence from Direct speech to Indirect Speech is: RULE : If the reporting verb is in the present tense or in the future tense the tense of the reported verb will not be changed.( you can see this happen in sentence no. 1 and 2 above).

6. CONTINUED And if the reporting verb is in the past tense, the tense of the reported verb is changed to its corresponding past except in cases where reported speech talks of a universal truth or habitual action ( for example: the teacher said, The sun rises in the east. will be changed to The teacher said that the sun rises in the east.)

7. CONTINUED Help List one Words indicating nearness are changed into words showing distance: Here there, tomorrow the next day/the following day, this that, yesterday the previous day or the day before, these those, the next week the following week, today that day, now then, tonight that night

8. CONTINUED Help list two The following changes in the tense need to be considered; Is/am was, can could,will would, Are were,shall should,may might Is (sleeping) was(sleeping) Are (sleeping) were(sleeping) Has/have killed had killed Was/were laughing had been laughing Did had done

9. SOME EXAMPLES OF THE PREVIOUS RULE DIRECT SPEECH INDIRECT SPEECH I said that my mother cooked well. She said that she was reading a novel then. He said that he had killed an ant. We said that they had done their job. I said, My mother cooks well. She said, I am reading a novel now. He said, I killed an ant. We said, They have done their job.

10. CONTINUED Indirect Speech Direct Speech She said that they had been all laughing uncontrollably. He said that he could do it. She told me that I might need help. He said that she would do that task quickly. She said, We were all laughing uncontrollably. He said, I can do it. She said to me, You may need help. He said, She will do this task quickly.

11. CONTINUED Indirect Speech Direct speech He said to me, I have often told you not to play with fire. You have all done very badly! remarked the teacher. The teacher promised, If you will come before school tomorrow, I will explain it. He reminded me that he had often told me not to play with fire. The teacher remarked that they had all done very badly. The teacher promised that he would explain it they would come before school the next day.

12. CONTINUED Direct Speech Indirect Speech The prince said that it gave him great pleasure to be there that evening. He said that he would go as soon as it was possible. He said that he did not wish to see any of them and ordered them to go away. The Prince said, It gives me great pleasure to be here this evening. He said, I shall go as soon as it is possible. He said, I do not wish to see any of you; go away.

13. QUESTIONS OR INTERROGATIVE SENTENCES Interrogative sentences are of three types as indicated below: 1. yes /No Questions (Those questions which can be answered in yes or no are known as yes/no questions.) 2. Wh Questions (Those questions which begin with Wh words such as; Who, what, when ,where etc, how is also treated as a wh question) 3. Tag/Tail Questions ( when a tag is added with any statement affirmative or negative sentences, it is said to be a tag question. For example; He is a good boy, Isn t he?, or He plays football, Doesn t he? Or She does not sing,does she? Etc) Note: The first two types of questions are relevant in the present context.

14. CONTINUED Yes/No questions need if or whether words which act as conjunction to join reporting speech and reported speech. Whereas Wh questions need nothing as they themselves act as conjunction in Indirect Speech.For example: He said to me, Are you a student? ( You can answer this question in yes or in no ,hence, this is an yes/ no question which will be changed to indirect speech as; He asked me if (or Whether)I was a student. Here if or whether acts as a conjunction and not as a question word. He said to me, What are you doing? can be changed to the Indirect speech as ; He asked me what I was doing. Note that wh word what itself functions as a conjunction here, no extra word has been inserted to join the two sentences. HhehHer

15. EXERCISES ON INTERROGATIVE SENTENCES Direct Speech Indirect Speech The stranger asked where I lived. Where do you live? asked the stranger. He said, Will you listen to such a man? What do you want? he said to her. He said, How s your father? He asked them if they would listen to such a man. He asked her what she wanted. He asked how her/his father was.

16. CONTINUED Direct Speech Indirect He asked if she/he was going home with him The young man asked which way she had gone. The judge finally asked if he/she had anything to say on behalf of the prisoner. Are you coming home with me? he asked. which way did she go? asked the young man. Have you anything to say on behalf of the prisoner? said the judge finally.