REPORTED SPEECH/INDIRECT SPEECH
SUBJECT: ENGLISH LANGUAGE
CLASS: JSS ONE
ASPECT: GRAMMAR
TOPIC: REPORTED SPEECH/INDIRECT SPEECH
CONTENT: Reported Speech OR Indirect Speech is simply a speech that reports what someone else said. That is, an Indirect Speech involves saying what someone has said earlier. A Direct Speech is the opposite of Reported Speech or Indirect Speech, it is the actual word spoken by the first speaker.
Examples:
Direct Speech
1. ‘Come inside and help me in the kitchen’.
2. ‘How many of us are invited?’
Indirect Speech
1. Your sister told you to come inside and help her in the kitchen some minutes ago.
2. He asked them how many of them were invited.
Note: Direct Speech are always in quotation marks.
CHANGING SENTENCES FROM DIRECT SPEECH TO INDIRECT SPEECH
To change your sentences from Direct Speech to Indirect Speech, you must take note of the following rules;
A. The first person pronoun used for Direct Speech changes to the third person in Indirect Speech.
Examples:
i. I (first person singular pronoun) to He/She (third person pronoun)
ii. We (first person plural pronoun) to They (third person plural pronoun)
B. The verb used in Direct Speech, which is present changes to past in Indirect Speech.
Examples:
i. I will go – He would go.
ii. We visit – They visited.
C. ‘Now’ in Direct Speech becomes ‘then’ in Indirect Speech.
D. A past tense verb in a Direct Speech changes to past perfect tense in an Indirect Speech.
Examples:
i. They were greedy – They had been greedy.
E. ‘Here’ in Direct Speech changes to ‘There’ in an Indirect Speech.
F. ‘Tomorrow’ in a Direct Speech changes to ‘The next day’ in an Indirect Speech.
G. When the modal auxiliaries must, ought to, and used to appear in Direct Speech, they do not change in an Indirect Speech.
H. The past modal auxiliaries would, could, should and might do not change in an Indirect Speech.
I. If the Direct Speech talks about a permanent truth, then the tense does not change from the present tense to the past tense, as in the following;
Example:
i. He said ‘the sun rises in the east everyday’. (Direct Speech)
He said that the sun rises in the east everyday. (Indirect Speech)
J. ‘Yesterday’ in Direct Speech changes to ‘previous day’ in Indirect Speech.
Examples;
| S/N | DIRECT SPEECH/REPORTED SPEECH | INDIRECT SPEECH |
| 1. | He said, ‘I want to go Lagos now’ | He said that he wanted to go Lagos then |
| 2. | He said, ‘I will be here if you need me’ | He said that he would be there if he needed him |
| 3. | ‘You ought to attend the meeting’ said the secretary. | The Secretary said that she ought to attend the meeting. |
| 4. | The Lady asked us ‘Who will take us home?’ | The lady asked them who would take them home. |
| 5. | The man said, ‘water is made up of oxygen and hydrogen’.Note: This sentence is a permanent truth, therefore the verb is remains present in the indirect form. | The man said that water is made up of oxygen and hydrogen. |
| 6. | ‘Keep quiet. I am listening to the news’ | My father told us to keep quiet because he was listening to the news. |
| 7. | ‘My uncle has not eaten anything’. | She said that her uncle had not eaten anything. |
ASSIGNMENT
A. Change the following Direct Speeches to Indirect Speeches.
i. She said, ‘I want to get to know you better’
ii. Bola said, ‘all of us will go’
iii. He asked, ‘can you recite the National Anthem?’
iv. ‘Fire!’ the Commander ordered the soldiers.
v. He asked, ‘where have you been?’