1. Direct and indirect speech
direct speech reports someone’s wor din g
indirect speech reports someone’s n in g
mea

2. forms of speech quotations
quotations usually involve two clauses
clause 1 clause 2
whose saying the saying
(=reporting clause)
eg John said I’m going home direct
John said that he was going home indirect

3. direct speech:
reporting someone’s wording
The two clauses – who said + what they said –
can occur in any order, i.e.
“What’s going on?” Ali demanded.
what was said who said
Ali demanded, “What’s going on?”
who said and… what was said

4. Subject and verb order in the reporting
clause can be reversed IF the reporting
clause comes last
“What’s going on?” Ali demanded.
S V
“What’s going on?” demanded Ali .
V S

5. punctuation in direct speech
“If it rains later,” said Paul, “I will stay here.”
punc
tuat
mark ion
co s are
be mma place
or fore insid d
th aft e th
e q er quot e
ation
wo uote mark
rd d s
s

6. words within words
a quote within a quote is enclosed in
quotation marks that are not the same
as those already in use
e.g. “What did Ma say?” asked Mei.
“Ma said, ‘Come home’,” Ali replied.

7. indirect speech:
reporting someone’s meaning
John said (that) he was going home.
warning
The two clauses
– who said + what they said –
cannot occur in any order;
the reporting clause (i.e. the one that
identifies who said) must come first.

8. grammatical features of
indirect speech
When we say something we identify
persons, things, places and times with
reference to the speech situation.
e.g. Sue said, “I stayed here last year.”
I stayed here
last year.
Sue Ai Lee

9. When we report the meaning of the
saying through indirect speech, we must
transform all references to the speech
situation - time, place and persons.
e.g. Sue said she had stayed there the year before.

10. transforming references to
persons
People refer to themselves using the
personal pronoun (I/me). This 1st
person pronoun has to be
transformed into a 3rd person
pronoun (he/she).

11. pronouns (personal and demonstrative) in
indirect speech
e.g. John said,
“I am
coming.”
John said he was going.
“I know this trick
of yours,”
said Alice.
Alice said she knew that trick of his.

12. time and place in indirect speech
direct indirect
tomorrow becomes the following day
yesterday the day before
(the previous day)
today/tonight that day/night
here there

13. time and place in indirect speech
e.g.
John said,
“I can walk here
tonight.”
John said he could walk there that night.

14. tense/modality in indirect speech
direct indirect
present tense becomes past tense
present past continuous
continuous
present perfect past perfect
can could
shall/will should/would
may/might might
must/ has to had to

15. tense / modality in indirect speech
John said, “I
am coming.” John said he was going.
John said, “We
left yesterday.” John said they had
left the day before.
John said, “We
must go tomorrow.” John said they had to
go the next day.

16. reported questions in
indirect speech
in most question forms the order of Subject
and auxiliary verb is: auxiliary followed by
Subject, e.g.
“When will he be leaving?” she asked.
Aux S
When a question is reported indirectly then the
order is Subject followed by auxiliary, e.g.
She asked when he would be leaving.
S Aux

17. reported commands
“Help yourselves,” he said.
Help yourselves He told (invited) them to
help themselves.
He told (invited) us to
help ourselves.

18. common errors
• inverting subject and auxiliary in
reported questions, e.g.
When will they be
singing?
She asked when would they be singing.
She asked when they would be singing.

19. text in direct speech vs text
in indirect speech
• Direct: • Indirect:
• informal • formal
• immediate • removed
• creates sense of • less sense of
character character
• sometimes • easier to follow
difficult to follow