Direct and Indirect Speech | Narration | Rules

●What is Direct & Indirect Speech? ●Direct speech: Reporting the speaker's message in the exact words as spoken by him. ● Example: He said, "I am busy now." ●Indirect speech: Reporting the speaker's message in our own words. ●Example: He said that he was busy. ●Rules for converting Direct into Indirect speech: ● Rule No. 1: Remove the inverted commas from the direct speech and use " That " ● Rule No. 2: Change of the pronouns: ▪︎The first-person pronouns of the reported speech change according to the subject of the reporting speech. ▪︎ The second-person pronouns of the reported speech change according to the object of the reporting speech. ▪︎No change if there are third-person pronouns in the reported speech. ● Rule No. 3: Change of Tenses: ▪︎ When the reporting verb of direct speech is in the past tense, all the present tenses are changed to the corresponding past tense in indirect speech. ▪︎Present indefinite: Past indefinite ▪︎ Present continuous: Past continuous ▪︎ Present perfect: Past perfect ▪︎ Present perfect continuous: Past perfect continuous ▪︎ Past indefinite: Past perfect ▪︎ Past continuous: Past perfect continuous ▪︎ No change in the past perfect and past perfect continuous tense. ▪︎ Future Tense: Change "will" into "would" ● Rule No.4: ▪︎ Do not change the tense of the reported speech if the tense of the reporting speech is in the Present or Future. ● Rule No.5: ▪︎ Do not change the tense of the reported speech if there is a universal truth or fact. ● Rule No. 7: Change in Model Verbs: ▪︎Can becomes could ▪︎May becomes might ▪︎Must becomes had to ● Rule No. 8: Use of say/Said/Tell/Told: ▪︎Use "say" or "said" in the indirect speech if there is no object in the reporting verb. ▪︎ Use "tell" or " told" in the indirect speech if an object is in the reporting verb. #directandindirectspeech #narration #reported_speech