Direct and indirect speech

Introduction.
There two ways to convey a message of a person, or the words spoken by a person to other person.

1. Direct speech
2. Indirect speech

Suppose your friend whose name is John tells you in school, “I will give you a pen”. You come to home and you want to tell your brother what your friend told you. There are two ways to tell him.

Direct speech: John said, “I will give you a pen”.
Indirect Speech: John said that he would give me a pen.

In direct speech the original words of person are narrated (no change is made) and are enclosed in quotation mark. While in indirect speech some changes are made in original words of the person because these words have been uttered in past so the tense will change accordingly and pronoun may also be changed accordingly. In indirect speech the statement of the person is not enclosed in quotation marks, the word “that” may be used before the statement to show that it is indirect speech.  Indirect speech is also called reported speech because reported speech refers to the second part of indirect speech in which something has been told by a person.

Reporting verb: The verb first part of sentence (i.e. he said, she said, he says, they said, she says,) before the statement of a person in sentence is called reporting verb.

Examples. In all of the following example the reporting verb is “said”.
              He said, “I work in a factory”                           (Direct speech)
              He said that he worked in a factory.                (Indirect speech)
              They said, “we are going to cinema”               (Direct speech)
              They said that they were going to cinema.      (Indirect speech)

Reported Speech. The second part of indirect speech in which something has been told by a person (which is enclosed in quotation marks in direct speech) is called reported speech. For example, a sentence of indirect speech is, He said that he worked in a factory. In this sentence the second part “he worked in a factory” is called reported speech and that is why the indirect speech as a whole can also be called reported speech.

Fundamental rules for indirect speech.

1. Reported speech is not enclosed in quotation marks.
2. Use of word “that”: The word “that” is used as a conjunction between the reporting verb and reported speech.
3. Change in pronoun: The pronoun (subject) of the reported speech is changed according to the pronoun of reporting verb or object (person) of reporting verb (first part of sentence). Sometimes the pronoun may not change.

In following example the pronoun of reported speech is “I” which will be changed in indirect speech into the pronoun (Subject) of reporting verb that is “he”.

Example.
       Direct speech: He said, “I am happy”
       Indirect Speech: He said that he was happy.
       Direct speech: I said to him, “you are intelligent”
       Indirect Speech: I said him that he was intelligent. (“You” changed to “he” the                                                                                person of object of reporting verb)

1. Change in time: Time is changed according to certain rules like now to then, today to that day, tomorrow to next day and yesterday to previous day.

Examples.
Direct speech: He said, “I am happy today”
Indirect Speech: He said that he was happy that day.

1. Change in the tense of reported speech: If the first part of sentence (reporting verb part) belongs to past tense the tense of reported speech will change. If the first part of sentence (reporting verb part) belongs to present or future tense, the tense of reported speech will not change.

Examples.
   Direct speech: He said, “I am happy”
   Indirect Speech: He said that he was happy. (Tense of reported speech changed)
   Direct speech: He says, “I am happy”
   Indirect Speech: He said that he is happy. (Tense of reported speech didn’t                                                                                    change)

The changes from Direct to Indirect Speech

1.        To be & Auxiliary Verbs

Direct                                       Indirect

Am/is/are                    -             was/were

Shall/will                     -             should/would

Can                             -             could

May                            -             might

Must                          

Have/has to                 -             had to

Ought to

2.        Time & Place

Direct                                       Indirect

now                                 -           then

tomorrow                         -           the following day

next week                        -           the following week

tonight                             -           that night

today                               -           that day

yesterday                         -           the day before

last night                          -           the night before

last week                         -           the week before,

                                                    the precious week

here                                  -           there

this                                   -           that

these                                -           those

3.        Tenses

Direct                                       Indirect

Simple present                   -        simple past

Simple past

                                           -        past perfect

Present perfect

Present continous              -        past continous

Present perfect continous  -        past perfect continous

Simple future                     -        past future

I.         STATEMENT

He said

He said to me                    that + reported words

He told me

e.g  - Mary told her friends “I have been to Bali twice.”

- Mary told her friends that she had been to Bali twice.

-   Father said “I am going out of town tomorrow”

-   Father said that he was going out of town the following day.

-   Mary told John “my father warned me last night”

-   Mary told John that her father had arned her the night before.

-   My sister said to me “I don’t like tennis”

-   My sister said to me that she didn’t like tennis.

-   Tom said “I didn’t go to school this morning”

-   Tom said that he hadn’t gone to school that morning.

If the introductory sentence in the form of Simple Present Tense, the sentence that reported no change

e.g  - John says “I will go to Bandung tomorrow”

- John says that he will go to Bandung tomorrow

-   Mary says “I have seen that film”

-   Mary says that she has seen that film.

-   My brother says “I met Tom at the party last night”

-   My brother says that he met Tom at the party last night.

-   Tom says “I don’t like English”

-   Tom says that he don’t like English.

 II.      COMMAND

1.      Positive Command

In order to add to our positive in front of the command line, as a liaison between the introductory sentence and orders were reported. Sentences in the introduction of this type is:

to + infinitive

He asked me

He told me

e.g   - He asked me “Open your book”

- He asked me to open my book.

-  Mary told me “Stop talking to Jane”

-  Mary told me to stop talking to Jane. 

-  Mother asked John “Pay attention to what I say”

-  Mother asked John to pay attention to what she says.

-  John told Mary “Wait until I come”

-  John told Mary to wait until he comes.

-  The teacher said to the students “Be quiet while I am talking”

-  The teacher told the students to be quiet while she is talking.

2.      Negative Command

Dalam  perintah negatif kita tambahkan not  to di depan perintah yang dilaporkan.

e.g   - Mary told John “Don’t wait for me”

- Mary told John not to wait for her.

-  I told him “Don’t mention it to anyone”

-  I told him not to mention it to anyone.

-  Father asked her “Don’t go there alone”

-  Father asked her not to go there alone.

-  Ira asked Tom “Don’t come to my house again”

-  Ira asked tom not to come to her house again.

-  Mothers asked John “Don’t smoke too much”

-  Mother asked John not to smoke too much.

III.   QUESTION

Positive Form

He asked me       where

                 When etc.  

e.g   - The man asked me : “Where do you live ?”

- The man asked me where I lived.

-  John asked Mary : “Why do you get angry with me ?”

-  John asked Mary why she got angry with him.

-  I asked him : “When did you get back from your trip ?”

-  I asked him when he had got back from his trip.

-  He asked me : “How will you go there ?”

-  He asked me how I would go there.

-  John asked the girl : “What is your name ?”

-  John asked the girl what her name was.

e.g   - The boy asked John : “Does Mary live near  here?”

- The boy asked John if Mary lived near there.

-  The teacher asked her : “Have you finish your homework ?”

-  The teacher asked her if he had finished her homework.

-  Mary asked me : “Did you she John at the party the night before.

-  Mary asked me whether I had seen John at the party the night before.

-  We asked them : “Will you go to the movie with us tonight ?”

-  We asked them whether they would go to the movie with us that night.

-  Mother asked John : “Are you going to marry her ?”

-  Mother asked John if he was going to marry her.

IV.   REPORTED SPEECH / MIXED TYPE (Jenis Gabungan)

e.g   - She asked me :”What is the time ?”, my watch has stopped.

- She asked me what the time was as her watch had stopped.

-  Ira asked John :”what is the matter with you ?”, You don’t look well.

-  Mary asked John what the matter was with him as he didn’t look well.

-  I asked her :”How long have you been studying English ?”, Your accent is very good.

-  I asked her how long she had been studying English as he her accent was very good.

-  He told me :”I am off to the movie,” Where are you going ?”

-  He told me that he was off to the movie and asked me where I was going.

-  She said :”It is cold inside,” Is the window open ?

-  She said that it was cold inside and asked if the window was open.

e.g   - He asked me :”Will you go out wiith me ?” No, I won’t.

-  He asked me if I would go out with him but I said I wouldn’t.

-  Mother asked John :”Have you had lunch ?” No, I haven’t.

-  Mother asked John if he had had lunch but he said he hadn’t.

  

-  She asked me :”Can you meet me tomorrow ?” No.

-  She asked me if I could meet her the following day but I said I couldn’t.

-  I asked her :”Do you like vegetables ?” Yes, I do.

-  Is asked her if she liked veggetables and she said she did.

-  Mary asked John :”Did you phone me last night ?” Yes, I did.

-  Mary asked John if he had phoned her the night before and he said he had.

-  Father asked me :”Are you going to the movie tonight ?” Yes.

-  Father asked me if I was going to the movie that night and I said I was.

Direct & Indirect with Auxiliaries

Direct                                       Indirect

Was/were                         -           had been

can                                   -           could

may                                  -           might

must & have to                -           had to

must not                          -           wasn’t to/musn’t

needn’t                            -           didn’t have to

e.g -  Mary said :” I was sick yesterday.”

-  Mary said that she had been sick the day before.

-  The man asked me :” Can you speak English ?”

-  The man asked me if I could speak English.

-  Mary said to John :”You may come to my house tomorrow.”

-  Mary said to John that she might come to his house the following day.

-  Mother told John :”You must study harder if you want to pass the exam.”

-  Mother told John that he had to study harder if he wanted to pass the exam.

-  The police told me :” You must not drive without license.”

-  The police told me that I wasn’t to drive without license.”

-  The teacher told them :”You needn’t hurry.”

-  The teacher told them that they didn’t have to hurry.

REFERENCES       : https://sites.google.com/site/grammarbahasainggris/direct-indirect-speech

                                 http://www.studyandexam.com/direct-indirect-speech.html