Page 72 - Grammar Glow - 5

16 16 Direct and Indirect Speech

Warm up
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Tick (3) the sentences that contain the exact words of the speaker.
1. My sister told me that she would call in the evening.

2. The teacher said, “The earth moves round the sun.”

3. Anil told his friends that he could not attend the concert.

4. He says to the teacher, “I want to become a scientist.”

There are two ways of reporting the speech of a person.

Direct Speech: When the exact words used by a speaker are put within inverted
commas, it is called direct speech.

Indirect Speech: When the substance of a speech is conveyed in the reporter’s words,

it is called indirect speech.

Read the sentences carefully.

1. My friend said, ‘‘I have been exercising for a couple of weeks.’’ (direct speech)

2. My friend said that he had been exercising for a couple of weeks. (indirect speech)

Rules for changing direct speech into indirect speech

1. In direct speech, the words which are put within inverted commas are called
reported speech and the words which are put out of inverted commas are known

as reporting speech.

Divya said to me, ‘‘I can solve the sum.’’ (Direct speech)

(Reporting speech) (Reported speech)

2. In indirect speech, the inverted commas, sign of interrogation, sign of
exclamation, etc. are removed.

Divya told me that she could solve the sum. (Indirect speech)

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