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Direct speech is the report of the exact words spoken by the speaker.
Example:
The first statement, "The girl said, "I am happy", is a Direct speech. Direct speech refers to reporting someone else speech using the speaker's actual words.
Reporting the message of the speaker in our own words is called Indirect speech.
Example:
The second statement, "The girl said that she was happy" is a Reported Speech or Indirect speech because some other person described the girl's state of mind.
Rules for changing Direct into Reported Speech (Indirect speech):
Rule 1: When the reporting verb of direct speech is in the past tense, all the present tenses are changed to past tense in indirect speech. We should not use inverted commas (") or question marks (?) when we are changing it into reported speech.
Example:
The boy said, "I am fine".
Here, the reporting verb (said) is in the past tense. So when we are changing the direct speech into reported speech we should change all the verbs into past tense.
The boy said that he was fine. (Indirect speech)
In this statement the verb "am" changed its form as "was" while getting converted into reported speech or indirect speech.
Rule 2: In indirect speech, the tenses do not change if the words used within the quotation mark (") talks of a habitual action or about universal truth.
Example:
The mother said, "We cannot live without air". (Direct Speech)
Here the statement given inside quotes speaks about the universal truth. So the tenses do not change while converting into Reported speech.
The mother said that we cannot live without air. (Reported Speech)
Here the statement given inside quotes speaks about the universal truth. So the tenses do not change while converting into Reported speech.
The mother said that we cannot live without air. (Reported Speech)
Difference between Direct speech and Indirect speech:
| S.No | Direct speech | Indirect speech |
1 | A direct speech is also known as Quoted Speech. | An indirect speech is also known as Reported Speech. |
2 | The direct speech makes use of punctuation marks. | There will not be any punctuation marks for an indirect speech except for a period at the end. |
Reported Speech from the lesson "Glimpses of the Past"
Change the following questions from direct to reported speech:
1. The man said, "We must educate our brothers".
Answer: The man said that they must educate their brothers.
2. The farmer asked the officer, "Why are your men taking away the entire crop?"
Answer: The farmer asked the officer why his men were taking away the entire crop.
3. The second farmer said, "Your men have taken away everything."
Answer: The second farmer said that their men had taken away everything.
4. The soldier said, "The white soldier gets huge pay, mansions and servants".
Answer: The soldier said that the white soldier got huge pay, mansions and servants.
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