Direct and Indirect Speech

Direct and Indirect Speech is a very important part of English Grammar.
When we report someone’s spoken words, we do it in two ways – Direct Speech and Indirect Speech.

Let’s understand it in simple English:

🔹 What is Direct Speech?

Direct Speech means reporting the exact words of the speaker as they were spoken.

Structure:
👉 Subject + said + “exact words in quotation marks”

Examples:
✅ He said, “I am tired.”
✅ Riya said, “I like mangoes.”

Note: Always use a comma and inverted commas (“…”) when writing Direct Speech.

🔹 What is Indirect Speech?

Indirect Speech means reporting what someone said in our own words, without quotation marks.

Structure:
👉 Subject + said + that + reported statement

Examples:
✅ He said that he was tired.
✅ Riya said that she liked mangoes.

Note: In Indirect Speech, tense, pronouns, and time words usually change.

🧠 Changes from Direct to Indirect Speech

🔁 Tense Changes

Direct SpeechIndirect SpeechExample
Present Simple → Past Simple“I eat.” → He said he ate.
Present Continuous → Past Continuous“I am eating.” → He said he was eating.
Present Perfect → Past Perfect“I have finished.” → He said he had finished.
Past Simple → Past Perfect“I went.” → He said he had gone.

🔁 Pronoun Changes

DirectIndirect
Ihe/she
wethey
myhis/her
ourtheir

🔁 Time & Place Word Changes

Direct SpeechIndirect Speech
todaythat day
tomorrowthe next day
yesterdaythe previous day
nowthen
herethere
thisthat

📚 Examples for Practice

Direct SpeechIndirect Speech
She said, “I am busy now.”She said that she was busy then.
He said, “We will go tomorrow.”He said that they would go the next day.
Riya said, “My brother is at home.”Riya said that her brother was at home.
I said, “I have completed my homework.”I said that I had completed my homework.

✍️ Questions in Direct and Indirect Speech

Direct: He asked, “Where are you going?”
👉 Indirect: He asked where I was going.

Direct: She said, “Do you like music?”
👉 Indirect: She asked if I liked music.

Note: In Indirect Questions, question marks are removed, and the sentence becomes a statement.

✍️ Commands and Requests in Indirect Speech

Direct: He said, “Please sit down.”
👉 Indirect: He requested me to sit down.

Direct: The teacher said, “Open your books.”
👉 Indirect: The teacher told us to open our books.

✅ Conclusion

Direct and Indirect Speech is an essential topic in English Grammar.
In Direct Speech, we quote the exact words of the speaker.
In Indirect Speech, we report those words in our own way.

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