The art of expressing the words, said by someone

else in own words is known as Reported Speech. It is also called Narration and

Indirect Speech.

Let’s look at an example:-

Direct speech

Indirect speech

Kavita said to me, “I shall go to picture today.”

Kavita told me that she would go to picture that day.

Rules for changing direct speech to indirect speech

Reporting verb ‘said to’ is changed according to sentence of reported

speech.

Inverted commas are removed and suitable

conjunction is used at its place.

Pronouns are changed as per the

SON rule.

SONRULE

S O NSubject Object No change

FIRST PERSON

SECOND PERSON

THIRD PERSON

It is changed according to Reporting verb’s subject.

FIRSTPERSON

(I, my, me, we, our, us)

It is changed according to Reporting verb’s object.

SECONDPERSON

(Your, yours, you)

Third person remains unchanged.

THIRDPERSON

(He, his, him, her, they, their, them)

EXAMPLES :–

Direct : She says, “I am in eighth class.”

First person

Indirect : She says that she is in eighth class.”

Direct : He says, “I am ten years old.”

Indirect : He says that he is ten years old.”

EXAMPLES :–

Direct : She says, “He does not work hard.”

Second person

Indirect : She says that he does not work hard.”

Direct : He says to her, “You have done your homework.”

Indirect : He says to her that she has done her homework.”

EXAMPLES :–

Direct : She says to me, “You have done your homework.”

Third person

Indirect : She tells me that I have done my homework.”

Direct : He says to her, “You have done your homework.”

Indirect : He says to her that she has done her homework.”

Verb or we can say tense are changed according to

these two rules.

Rule 1If the reporting verb is in

present or future tense then the tense of verb of reported

speech is not changed.Direct : The teacher says, “Rani dances on

the stage.”Indirect : The teacher says that Rani dances

on the stage.

RULE 2If the reporting verb is in past

tense then the tense of verb of reported speech is changed

according to these.

Simple present

Direct : She said, “I am suffering from fever.”

Indirect : She said that she was suffering from fever.”

Simple past

Present continuous

Direct : He said, “I am milking the cow.”

Indirect : He said that he was milking the cow.

Past continuous

PresentPrefect

Direct : She said to me, “I have seen the zoo twice.”

Indirect : She told me that she had seen the zoo twice.

PastPrefect

Direct : He said, “It has been raining since morning.”

Indirect: He said that it had been raining since morning.

Present prefect continuous

Past prefect continuous

Direct : She said to me, “I took the breakfast in the morning.”

Indirect: She told me that she had taken the breakfast in the morning.

Simple past Past perfect

PastContinuous

Direct : He said, “I was listening to the running commentary.”

Past perfect continuous

Indirect: He said that he had been listening to the running commentary.

Future tenseWill/Shall Would

Direct : She said to me, “I shall leave you soon.”

Indirect: She said to me that she would leave me soon.”

Can CouldDirect : He said, “I can solve these

sums easily.”Direct : He said that he could solve

those sums easily.

May MightDirect : He said, “I can solve these

sums easily.”Direct : He said that he could solve

those sums easily.

EXCEPTIONS OF RULE 2

If there is universal truth or habitual fact

present in the reporting speech then the tense is

not changed.Lets look at an

example:-

Direct : Our teacher said, “We all live on earth.”

Indirect: Our teacher said that we all live on earth.

If there is a past historical fact present in the reporting speech then the tense is not changed.The teacher said, “Asoka renounced war after the conquest of Kalinga.”The teacher said that Asoka renounced war after the conquest of Kalinga.

If in reporting speech would, should, could,

must, might, ought are given, then the tense is

not changed.

She said to me, “You should obey your parents.”

She told me that I should obey my parents.

DIRECT

INDIRECT

MISCELLANEOUS CHANGES

HERE THEREWORD CHANGED INTO

NOW THENTHIS THAT

THESE THOSE TODAY THAT DAY

TO-NIGHT THAT NIGHT

YESTERDAY THE PREVIOUS DAY

WORD CHANGED INTO

LAST NIGHT THE PREVIOUS NIGHT

LAST WEEK THE PREVIOUS WEEK

TOMMOROW THE NEXT DAY

NEXT WEEK THE FOLLOWING WEEK

AGO BEFORE

THUS SO

WORD CHANGED INTO

HENCE THENCE

HEITHER THITHER

COME GO

Changing different types of sentences into

reported speech

ASSERTIVE SENTENCES

If there is no object present after reporting verb then it

is not changed.

If object is present after reporting verb then

SaidSays

TellTells

Say

ToldSaid to replied, informed, stated, added, added,

remarked, asserted, assured, pleaded, reminded, complained, reported.

Conjunction – that is used at the place of inverted

commas (“ ”).

EXAMPLES

Direct : She said to me, “I shall play now.”

Indirect: She said to me that she would play now.

Direct : They said to us, “You have done your work.”

Direct : They told us that we had done our work.

PRACTICE QUESTIONS

Qs. 1:- Rajni said to me, “Your song appealed us.”

Rajni told me that my song appealed them.

Ans. :-

Qs. 2:- The teacher said to the boys, “You were making a noise.”

The teacher told the boys that they had been making a noise.

Ans. :-

INTERROGATIVE SENTENCES

The reporting verb ‘said’ or ‘said to’ is changed into

‘asked’ as these are questioning sentences.

If the question starts from helping verb ( is, am, are, was,

were, do, does etc.) then inverted commas (“”) are

changed into ‘whether’ or ‘if’.

If the question starts from ‘wh’ family (who, whose, whom, when, where, which, what, why) and how then no conjunction is used at the place of

inverted commas (“”).

Question mark (?) is removed and full – stop (.)

is used at its place.

Move the helping verbs (is, am, are, was, were etc.)

after the subject.

If the meaning of sentence is positive and do or does are used, then they are removed and main

verb is changed as per rules.

If the meaning of sentence is negative and do or does are used, then they are changed

into did.

In the question, if ‘did’, ‘has’ or ‘have’ is present then they are

changed into ‘had’. If ‘had’ is used in sentence then there is no

change.

EXAMPLES

Direct : He said to me, “Do I sing a song.”

Indirect : He asked me if he sang a song.

Direct : He said to her, “Was I cheating you .”

Indirect : He asked her if he had been cheating her.”

Direct : She said to us, “Why are you disturbing us?”

Indirect : She asked us Why we were disturbing them.

Direct : He said to them, “How were you returning home?”

Indirect : He asked them How they had been returning home.

PRACTICE EXERCISE

Qs.1 :- She said to me, “Who teaches you English?”

She asked me Who taught me English.

Ans. :-

Qs.2 :- He said to them, “Does she not serve her mother in-law?”

He said to them, “Does she not serve her mother in-law?”

Ans. :-

IMPERATIVE SENTENCES

Said to is changed into ordered, commanded,

advised, requested, warned, forbade; etc.

To change the sentence from imperative mood into infinitive mood, ‘to’ is used at the place

of inverted commas (“”).

If the sentence is in negative imperative, then do not is used at the place of do or forbade is used at the place of said to, then not is

removed.

Direct : I said to him, “Work hard.”Indirect: I advised him to work hard.

Direct : I said to her, “Kindly give me a lift.”

Indirect: I requested her to give me a lift.”

Sentences beginning with

‘LET’

If let is used as proposal then said to is changed into proposed to or suggested

to. Should is used and let is removed.

Direct : She said to me, “Let us go to see the exibition.”

Indirect: She proposed to me to go see to the exibition.

If let is used as allow or persuade then said to is changed into ordered or

requested. To is used at the place of inverted commas.

Direct : Rani said to the teacher, “Let me go home early.”

Indirect: Rani requested teacher to let her go home early.

EXCLAMATORY SENTENCES

Said is changed into :- Exclaimed with sorrow

Exclaimed with joy

Exclaimed with regret

Exclaimed with surprise

Exclaimed with contempt

applauded………..saying

Ah! Alas!

Aha! Ha! Hurrah!

Sorry!

Oh! What! How!

Pooh! Pshaw!

Bravo! Hear!

‘What’ and ‘how’ are removed and ‘very’ or

‘great’ used.

At the place of inverted commas (“”) , ‘that’ is

used.

Tense of verb, pronouns and words showing nearness are changed as per the

rules.

Direct : She said, “Alas! I have lost all of my ornaments.”

Indirect: She exclaimed with sorrow that she had lost all of her ornaments.”

OPTATIVE SENTENCES

‘Said’ or ‘said to’ is changed into ‘wished’ or ‘bade’ or ‘prayed’. Always greetings

are used before ‘bade’, ‘wished’ and ‘prayed’ .

No conjunction is used at the place of inverted

commas.

Direct : The pupil said to the teacher, “Good morning.”

Indirect : The pupil respectfully wished his teacher Good morning.

Direct : He said to me, “May you be happy.”

Indirect : He prayed that I might be happy.

PRACTICE EXERCISE

Landlady : Who is knocking at the door?Lucy : I am Lucy. I am caught in showers.Landlady : What can I do for you?Lucy : Please let me in and stay for a little while.Landlady : O.K. come in.

The land lady heard the knock at the door and asked __________________ at the door? Lucy heaved a

sigh of relief and replied that _____________ and_________ she was caught in showers. The land lady asked further what she _____ do for her. Lucy requested her to let her in and stay for little while.

The landlady agreed.

who was knockingshe was Lucy

told thatcould

Teacher : Why are you late for school everyday?Shikha : Sir, my mother is ill.Teacher : How does it effect your late coming?Shikha : I have to prepare breakfast.

The teacher asked Shikha _________________ for school everyday.

Shikha replied respectfully that __________________ . The teacher

wanted to know __________________ late coming. Shikha told him that _______

___________________.

why she was late

her mother was illhow it effected her

she hadto prepare breakfast

ANKUR

X-C23

AMBA