Page 91 - Grammar Glow - 6

16 16 Direct and Indirect Speech

Warm-up

Fill in the blanks with reporting verbs given in the box. cautioned

1. The general ______________ his soldiers, “March forward.” screamed
2. The crowd ______________ , “We want a century.” enquired
ordered
3. The little girl ______________ , “I want my parents.”
advised
4. The teacher ______________ us, “Prepare your lessons well.”
remarked
5. Mother ______________ me, “Do not make a hasty decision.”
roared
6. He ______________ , “The roads in my locality are never repaired.”
complained
7. Meenal ______________ , “Has the train from Kerala arrived?”
8. She ______________ , “You are looking tired.”

Direct and Indirect Speech

We may tell someone what another person said in two ways.
Direct speech: When the exact words of the speaker are retold using quotation marks
(“… ”), it is called the direct speech.
She said, “I am going to school.”
l
Reported or Indirect speech: When the words of a speaker are expressed by changing the tenses
and the actual words, it is called the indirect or reported speech.
She said that she was going to school.
l
Formation of Reported Speech

When the reporting verb is in the past tense, we change the tenses as follows.

Simple Present changes into Simple Past
Direct : He said, “I play a lot in my school.”

Reported : He said that he played a lot in his school.
Present Continuous changes into Past Continuous

Direct : She said, “Everyone is waiting.”
Reported : She said that everyone was waiting.

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