Direct speech:
- We use direct speech to report the exact words a person says: ‘She comes from Turkey,’ he said.
- l/she/he/we/they said can come before or after the speaker’s words: They said, ‘We’re going home now.’ ‘We’re going home now,’ they said.
- Punctuation is important when we write direct speech:
Reported Speech
- We use reported speech to report what someone said earlier: ‘The train’s late he said, (direct speech) —-> He said that the train was late. (reported speech)
- We usually change the pronouns and possessive adjectives: ‘I’m from Russia,’ she said. ’ —-> She said that she was from Russia.
‘Our son’s a dentist,’ they said. -> They said that their son was a dentist.
- After a past tense reporting verb like said, the tense of the verb also changes:
| Direct speech | Reported speech | |
|---|---|---|
| Present simple ‘I live in Turkey,’ she said. ——————- > | Past simple She said that she lived in Turkey. | |
| Present continuous ‘She’s shopping,’ they said. ——————- > | Past continuous They said that she was shopping. | |
| Present perfect ‘They’ve left,’ he said. ——————- > | Past perfect He said that they had left. | |
| Past simple ‘I watched a film,’ she said. ——————- > | Past perfect She said that she had watched a film. | |
| Past perfect ‘They’d finished,’ he said. ——————- > | Past perfect He said that they had finished. | |
| am/is/are going to ‘I’m going to stay,’ he said. ——————- > | was/were going to He said that he was going to stay. | |
| will + infinitive ‘I’ll help you,’ she said. ——————- > | would + infinitive She said that she would help me. | |
| Pronouns | ||
| I ——————- > he/she | ||
| We ——————- > they | ||
| My ——————- > his/her | ||
| Our ——————- > their | ||
| Time Adverbs | ||
| today ——————- > then/that day | ||
| yesterday ——————- > the day before | ||
| tomorrow ——————- > the next day/ the day after | ||
| last week ——————- > the week before |
Download “Direct and indirect speech table explanation” in pdf.
Download “Direct and indirect speech exercise” in pdf.
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