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Spoken English with Azhar Nawaz

12 Points to be kept in mind while converting direct speech
into indirect speech.

1. Reporting speech, and reported speech.

Ali said, “I am going to school”.

2. if object is not mentioned in the reporting speech, consider it (to

me).
Ali said (to me)
If it is mentioned its fine (Ali said to Saima).

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3. Pronouns of reported speech (1 , 2st nd and 3rd person) are changed
according to the “SON” formula.

1st person (I and WE) are changed according to the subject of the reporting
speech.
2nd person (You) is changed according to the object of the reporting
speech.
3rd person (He, She, it & They) is not changed while converting direct into
indirect speech.

Ali said to me, “I am going to school”.

Ali said to me that he was going to school.

Ali said to me, “ you are going to school”.

Ali said to me that I was going to school.

Ali said to me, “ She was going to school”.

Ali said to me that she was going to school.
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3 (Cont’d) . If the pronoun of both reporting & reported speech
is first person (I, we) then there will be no change of pronoun in
the indirect speech.

Examples:
Direct Speech: I said, “I have applied for a Job”
Indirect Speech: I said that I had applied for a Job.
Direct Speech: We said, “We sing a song”
Indirect Speech: We said that we sang a song.

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4. if reporting speech is in present or future tense, then the
tense of reported speech will not be changed.

Ali says, “ I am going to school”

Ali says that he is going to school.
5. Tense of reported speech is only changed if the tense
of reporting speech is in past tense.

Ali said, “ I am going to school”

Ali said that he was going to school.
6. However, it must be kept in mind that if some universal
truth is told in reported speech the tense of the universal truth
is not changed even the tense of the reporting speech is in past tense.

Teacher said to me, “ sun rises in the east”.

Teacher said to me that sun rises in the east.
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7. Out of 12 only 06 tenses can be changed while converting direct into indirect speech.
All 04 present tenses into all 04 past tenses.

Present ind into past ind

Present cont into past cont
Present perfect into past perfect
Present perfect cont into past perfect cont

Only first 02 tenses of past tense are converted

Past ind into past perfect
Past cont into past perfect cont

There will be no change of tense for

Past perfect & past perfect continuous, while conversion
from direct into indirect speech.

There will be no change of tense for all 04 future tenses,

however only helping verb “will” is changed into “would”.
Will – would (Future ind)
Will be – would be (Future cont)
Will have – would have (Future perf)
Will have been – would have been (Future perf cont)
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8. Change of time, the adverbs of nearness should be put into those
of distance.

Direct Speech Indirect Speech

Now then
Here there
This that
these those
to-day that day
last night the previous night
yesterday the previous day
tomorrow the following day
last week the previous week
next week the following week
last month tthe previous month
next month the following month
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 9. Following modal verbs are changed as mentioned below:-
Will would
Shall Should
may might
can could
must had to (or) must
Example:-
Ali said, “I will go to school”. (D.S)
Ali said that he would go to school. (I.S)

But please remember that if past form of the modal verbs has been used in
direct tense, the modals (Should, would, might, could and ought to) cannot be
changed further in the indirect speech but they remain unchanged.

Example:
He said, “I should start a job”.
He said that he should start a job.

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10. While converting exclamatory sentences into indirect,

1. Omit the interjections such as Alas, hurrah, Oh etc.

2. Change the reporting verb (said) to ‘exclaimed with joy or joyfully’

for happy incidents and use ‘exclaimed with sorrow or sorrowfully
for sorrowful incidents.

Example:

Ali said to me, “Hurrah we have won the match”.

Ali exclaimed with joy that they had won the match.

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11. word “THAT” is not used in imperative & interrogative indirect
speech.

Example (imperitive):

The teacher said to the boys “Keep silence in the class”. (D.S.)
The teacher advised the boys to keep silence in the class. (I.S.)

Example (interrogative):
Sam said to me, “ is it Sunday today”?
Sam asked me whether/if it was Sunday that day.

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12. Note:- Please note that there are two types of questions,
one that can be answered with yes or no and second that cannot be
answered with yes or no.

Ali said to me, “do you go to school”. (YES/NO)

Alis said to me, “ where do you study”? (cannot be answered YES/NO)

If and whether can only be used with the type of questions which can be
answered with YES or NO, but if the question cannot be answered with yes
or no (such question usually start with- what, why, how, when etc) but
needs some detailed explanation if and whether are not used.
Please see the examples below:-

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12 (Cont’d).
Questions that can be answered with YES or No

Ali said to me, “do you go to school”.

Ali asked me if I go to school.

Questions that cannot be answered with YES or No

Ali said to me, “ where do you study”?

Ali asked me where did I study.

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Procedure for changing Direct Speech into Indirect Speech.

1. Remove the quotation marks in the statement

2. Use the conjunction ‘that’ (But please remember that conjunction that is
not used when reported speech is starting with WH words (what, where,
when, who etc).
3. Change the reporting verb ‘said’ into ‘told’ (its optional/ said may also be
used in indirect tense)
4. Change the subject & tense of the reported speech according to the table
given below:-

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 Direct speech Indirect Speech
Present Tense
Present indefinite changed into past indefinite
He said “ I go to school”. He said that he went to school.
Present continuous changed into past continuous
He said “ I am going to school”. He said that he was going to school.
Present perfect into past perfect
He said “I have gone to school” He said that he had gone to school.
Present perfect continuous into past perfect continuous
He said “I have been going to school He said that he had been going to school.

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 Direct speech Indirect Speech
Past Tense
Past indefinite changed into past perfect
He said “ I went to school”. He said that he had gone to school.
Past continuous changed into past perfect continuous
He said “ I was going to school”. He said that he had been going to school.
Past perfect (No change)
He said “I had gone to school” He said that he had gone to school.
Past perfect continuous (No change)
He said “I had been going to school He said that he had been going to school.

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 Direct speech Indirect Speech
Future Tense
Future indefinite (Will into would)
He said “ I will go to school”. He said that he would go to school.
Future continuous (will be into would be)
He said “ I will be going to school”. He said that he would be going to school.
Future perfect (will have into would have)
He said “I will have gone to school” He said that he would have gone to
school.
Future perfect continuous (will have been into would have been)
He said “I will have been going to He said that he would have been going to
school school.
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IMPERATIVE SENTENCE (ORDER OR REQUEST) RULES :

1. Remove the quotation mark in an Imperative sentence.

2. Don‘t use ‘that’
3. Use ‘to’ if it is an affirmative sentence. (without don‘t)
Example:-
The teacher said to the boys “Keep silence in the class”. (D.S.)
The teacher advised the boys to keep silence in the class. (I.S.)
4. Use ‘not to’ if the sentence begins with Don‘t.
Example:-
The teacher said to the boys “Don‘t talk in the class” (D.S.)
The teacher advised the boys not to talk in the class. (I.S.)

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5. Omit the word ‘please’. Use the word ‘request’ instead of ‘said’.
Example:-
The old man said to them “Please give me something to eat. I am
hungry”. (D.S.)
The old man requested them to give him something to eat and said that he
was hungry (I.S.)

6. If the direct speech contains a request or a command, the reporting verb

(said) is changed into tell, ask, request, order, warn, caution, command etc.
In its correct tense.
Example:-
he said to her “Be careful”. (D.S.)
He warned her to be careful. (I.S.)
Ali said to Hashaam “Bring me a cup of tea”. (D.S.)
Ali requested Hashaam to bring him a cup of tea. (I.S.)
The leader said, attack the enemy now”. (D.S)
The leader commanded to attack the enemy then.(I.S.)
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Changes in Time:

Note: if there is time mentioned in direct speech it will be changed

according to the list given below:-

Examples:-
She said, “I am buying a laptop today”.
She said that she was buying a laptop that day.
He said, “I need your help now”.
He said that he needed my help then.

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 Direct Speech Indirect Speech
Now then
Here there
here after there after
This that
these those
Ago before
Thus so
to-day that day
to-night that night
last night the previous night
yesterday the day before (or) the previous day
tomorrow the next day (or) the following day
last week the week before (or) the previous week
next week the week after (or) the following week
last month the month before (or) the previous month
next month a month after
hither thither
hence thence 20
INTERROGATIVE SENTENCE (QUESTIONS) RULES:-

1. Remove the quotation marks and question mark in the interrogative

sentence.
2. Don‘t use ‘that’
3. Changing the reporting verb (said) into ‘asked’ or ‘enquired’.
4. Use ‘if’ or ‘whether’ if the sentence inside the quotation marks
begins with a helping verb (Auxiliary verb and the answer
can be given in YES/NO).
Example:
Sam said to me, “ is it Sunday today”?
Sam asked me whether/if it was Sunday that day.

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5. If reported speech starts with WH word (what, when, where,
why, who, whom, whose, which, etc.) they will remain unchanged
in the indirect speech.
Example:-
He said to me, “what are you doing”?
He asked me what I was doing.
6. Omit helping verb like ‘do, does, did’. But don’t omit them when
they are with ‘not’.
Example:-
Ali said to Sultan, “Do you like mangoes?” (D.S.)
Ali enquired Sultan if he liked mangoes. (I.S.)
Ali said to Sultan, “Don’t you like mangoes?” (D.S.)
Ali enquired Sultan whether he didn’t like mangoes. (I.S.)

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Questions that can be answered with YES or No

1. Sam said to me, “ is it Sunday today”?

Sam asked me whether it was Sunday that day.
2. Ali said to Sultan, “Do you like mangoes?” (D.S.)
Ali inquired Sultan if he liked mangoes. (I.S.)
3. I said to my friend, “will you help me carry this box?”. (D.S.)
I asked my friend if he would help me to carry that box. (I.S.)

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Questions that cannot be answered with YES or No

1. Ali said to me, “Why didn’t you attend the meeting yesterday”? (D.S.)
Ali asked me why I had not attended the meeting the previous day. (I.S.)

2. Ali said to Ibrahim, “How often do you go to the theatre?” (D.S.)

Ali asked Ibrahim how often he went to the theatre. (I.S.)

3. He said to me, “what are you doing”?

He asked me what I was doing.

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EXCLAMATORY SENTENCE RULES :

1. Change the exclamatory sentence into statement or Assertive

2. Remove the quotation marks and exclamatory mark.
3. Use the conjunction ‘that’
4. Omit the interjections such as Alas, hurrah, Oh, how, what..
5. Change the reporting verb (said) to ‘exclaimed with joy or
joyfully’ for happy incidents and
use ‘exclaimed with sorrow or sorrowfully for sorrowful incidents.
6. Add the word ‘very’ to the adjective or adverb if necessary.
7. If the verb is not given, use ‘Be’ form verb (is, was, are,
were, am) in its correct tense according to the subject.

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Examples:

1. Alina said, “Oh, what a beautiful flower it is!” (D.S.)

Alina exclaimed joyfully that it was a very beautiful flower. (I.S.)

2. he said, “Alas! I have broken my brother’s watch”.

He exclaimed sorrowfully that he had broken his brothers watch. (I.S.)

3. Alina said. “How beautiful I am!” (D.S.)

Alina exclaimed joyfully that she was very beautiful. (I.S.)

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 THE END

THANK YOU FOR WATCHING

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