Direct and indirect speech rules

Speech is an important feature in factual writing, such as newspaper reports and recounts. It allows the writer to share important information about what people involved in the story had to say. Inverted commas are used to show direct speech in your writing. Recap and get moving with this fun video. Direct speech Direct speech is when the exact words that have been said by a person are written down inside inverted commas. • Inverted commas (speech marks) go before and after direct speech. They surround what was said by the speaker. For example: "I'm pleased to have raised so much money," said Captain Tom. Punctuating direct speech • A new speaker needs a new line. • You should use a capital letter at the start of each piece of speech. • Punctuation (question marks, full stops and exclamation marks) go inside the inverted commas. • If the person who is speaking is named before the speech, you must use a comma before the first set of inverted commas. For example: Captain Tom exclaimed, “Let’s go and do some more laps of the garden!” Activity 3 Writers use direct speech in their stories to convey more about a character or move the action on. Read the scenarios below. Your task is to write a response using direct speech. You can be as creative and imaginative as you like! For example: Kit and Ahmed are playing in the park. “Race you to the slide!” yelled Ahmed. “You’re on!” exclaimed Kit and he started running. • Levi and Josh are watching a football match. “Did you see that?”...

from Reported speech is how we represent the speech of other people or what we ourselves say. There are two main types of reported speech: direct speech and indirect speech. Direct speech repeats the exact words the person used, or how we remember their words: Barbara said, “I didn’t realise it was midnight.” In indirect speech, the original speaker’s words are changed. Barbara said she hadn’t realised it was midnight. In this example, I becomes she and the verb tense reflects the fact that time has passed since the words were spoken: didn’t realise becomes hadn’t realised. Indirect speech focuses more on the content of what someone said rather than their exact words: “I’m sorry,” said Mark. (direct) Mark apologised. (indirect: report of a speech act) In a similar way, we can report what people wrote or thought: ‘I will love you forever,’ he wrote, and then posted the note through Alice’s door. (direct report of what someone wrote) He wrote that he would love her forever, and then posted the note through Alice’s door. (indirect report of what someone wrote) I need a new direction in life, she thought. (direct report of someone’s thoughts) She thought that she needed a new direction in life. (indirect report of someone’s thoughts) Direct speech In direct speech we usually put a comma between the reporting clause and the reported clause. The words of the original speaker are enclosed in inverted commas, either single (‘…’) or double (“…”). If the reported clause comes first,...

Direct and Indirect Speech Rules In the English language, there are two ways of conveying what someone else has said: direct/quoted speech and indirect/ reported speech. Direct Speech Direct/quoted speech, involves quoting the exact words uttered by the person, within inverted commas or quotation marks. Direct speech examples: • She said, “I won’t be coming home tonight ”. • Tom said, “There’s a tiger outside the window.” • “There’s a fly in my soup!” screamed John. • He said, “What time will you be home?” and I said, “I don’t know! “ Note that in this type of speech, a comma is most often used before starting the exact quote within the inverter commas. Indirect Speech (Reported Speech) Indirect/reported speech, on the other hand, does not have to be within quotes or reported word-to-word. In fact, unless one is relaying the exact words spoken, one should never use quotation marks. Indirect speech examples: • She told us that she wouldn’t be coming home that night. • She told him that she was happy. • He told me that he was tired. • She was speaking on the telephone. Note that the Direct and Indirect Speech Examples DIRECT SPEECH REPORTED SPEECH / INDIRECT SPEECH He said, “I’m fine.” He said that he was fine. He said, “I’ve been married for three years.” He said that he had been married for three years. He said, “I went to the theatre yesterday.” He said that he had gone to the theatre the day before. He said, “The show was already underway when the chief guest arrived.” H...

English grammar has always remained trickier yet interesting to be learned. It is expected that to learn the English language, one must be able to form sentences or learn the other parts of its speech. In the IELTS examination, 25% of marks are allotted for GRA (Grammatical Range and Accuracy). So here we come up with another topic of grammar by adding to the collection of some previous grammar topics. In today’s article, the topic of the direct and indirect speech will be discussed in an elaborative way, and its rules, and examples, along with some exercises will be given. Note* Why is this an important topic for IELTS? Because you can use direct speech neither in Writing Task nor in the Speaking Module. Everything should be in indirect form. What are Direct and Indirect Speech? Direct Speech The kind of speech where the message of the sender is reported in the exact same words by the receiver of the message. It is also quoted in the quotation marks. For example:- He said, “I can cook food.” Indirect Speech A kind of speech where the message of the reporter is reported in some other words but of the same meaning. Here, the message is not quoted in speech marks. For example:- He said that he could cook food. I. Rules as per Modal Verb Change Direct - Indirect 1. Can- Could 2. May- Might 3. Must- Has/had to 4. Should- Should 5. Would- Would 6. Ought to- Ought to Examples • They said, “ We may go to Canada.” They said that they might go to Canada. • She said, “I must finish ...

Rules For Direct And Indirect Speech For English Language In this article, we will cover important rules of direct and indirect speech, relevant for the English Language section of various competitive exams. Aspirants of various Government exams such as SSC, RRB, IBPS, Insurance, etc. must go through the concept and rules of direct – indirect speech carefully, as the English language is a part of the syllabus for most of these exams.  What is Direct & Indirect Speech? Direct speech – reporting the message of the speaker in the exact words as spoken by him. Direct speech example : Maya said ‘I am busy now’. Indirect speech : reporting the message of the speaker in our own words Indirect speech example:  Maya said that she was busy then. Let us understand the direct and indirect rules with examples and for all tenses so that you can apply them correctly, without making any mistakes in the exams. Direct And Indirect Speech Rules PDF:- Download PDF Here Preparing for the upcoming Government exams? Refer to the links given below for better preparation: • • • Direct And Indirect Speech Rules Rules for converting Direct into Indirect speech To change a sentence of direct speech into indirect speech there are various factors that are considered, such as reporting verbs, modals, time, place, pronouns, tenses, etc. We will discuss each of these factors one by one. Rule 1 – Direct To Indirect Speech Conversion – Reporting Verb • When the reporting verb of direct speech is in...

Spoken and written communication is like one big game of telephone. Sometimes we hear the original tale, and other times we hear a retelling of the story. In this lesson, we're going to explore what that means by studying the difference between direct and indirect speech and learning proper grammar techniques for both. When we use direct speech, we are repeating what was said. When we use indirect speech, we're reporting what was said. Let's now look at some specific examples to learn how to change speech from direct to indirect. These examples will also reinforce the difference between direct and indirect speech. 1. Changing From Present Tense to Past Tense When converting speech from direct to indirect, you must change the present tense verbs to the past tense and remove any quotation marks or commas. Direct Speech (Present Tense) Indirect Speech (Past Tense) Jenn says, ''I love watching TV.'' Jenn said she loved watching TV. 2. Changing From Simple Past Tense to Past Perfect Tense What if the direct speech is already written in the past tense? If the sentence is written in simple past tense, you just remove the punctuation and change the verb to past perfect to make it indirect speech. Direct Speech (Simple Past Tense) Indirect Speech (Past Perfect Tense) Lana said, ''I saw him at the mall.'' Lana said she had seen him at the mall. 3. Changing Speech in the Form of a Question Whether you are repeating or reporting what someone has said, there are grammatical rules for b...