·
Direct/Quoted speech is saying exactly what someone has said. It appears within
Quotation marks ("...") and should be word for word.
Direct
speech repeats, or quotes, the exact words spoken. When we use direct speech in
writing, we put the words spoken between inverted commas ("___") and
there is no change in these words. We may be reporting something that's being
said NOW, or telling someone later about a previous conversation
·
Indirect/Reported
speech is enclosing what the person said. It
doesn't use quotation Marks and doesn't have to be word for word.
Indirect
speech is usually used to talk about the past. When we use indirect speech, we
don’t use inverted comas. We should change the tense of the words spoken. We
use reporting verbs for example say, ask,
and we may use the word that to introduce the reported words.
Ø Example:
Direct speech : My father said to me, “I don’t like shopping”
Indirect speech : My father said to me that he didn’t like
shopping.
When we want to report an order, we can use a verb like tell
with to-clause:
Direct speech : The doctor said to me, "Stop smoking!”
Indirect speech : The doctor told me to stop smoking.
When we want to report a request, we can use a verb like ask
with for-clause:
Direct speech : The
child asked, "Can I have a laptop?"
Indirect speech : The child asked for a laptop.
Suggestions
are usually reported with a that-clause. That and should
are optional in these clauses.
Direct speech : “I think you should go to the school", said my aunt.
Indirect speech : My aunt suggested
that I should go to the school.
Question words
are reported by using ask (or another verb like ask) + question
word + clause. (see also section on Tense Change)
Direct speech : My mother asked me, “Where do you live?”
Indirect speech : She
asked me where I lived.
If
direct speech sentence contains an expression of time, we must change it to fit
in with the time.
Time in Direct
Speech
|
Time in Indirect
Speech
|
this (morning/noon/evening)
|
that (morning/noon/evening)
|
today
|
yesterday
|
these (days)
|
those (days)
|
now
|
then
|
(a week/ a month/ a year) ago
|
(a week/ a month/ a year) before
|
last weekend
|
the weekend before last/ the previous weekend
|
here
|
there
|
next (week/month/year)
|
the following (week/month/year)
|
tomorrow
|
the next/following day
|