ENGLISH LANGUAGE
DIRECT AND INDIRECT/REPORTED SPEECH
Reporting what has been said by someone can be done in two ways -:
a) Direct b) Indirect
a) DIRECT SPEECH
This is the reporting of speech by exactly repeating the exactly words of a speech.
Example
‘I’m going to kill you” He said:
In direct speech, we repeat the speakers exactly words:
More examples:
a) ‘I’m tired,’ He said
b) “Have you punished?” The teacher asked
c) “We should work hard,” He said
RULES IN DIRECT SPEECH
a) In direct speech – the inverted comma (‘) is put around what has been actually spoken/quoted/said:
- This quotation encloses other punctuation such as comma (,), full stop (.), question mark (?) and exclamation mark (!).
b) Quotation mark may be single or double (‘) or (“) and they are placed high above the first and last word: or after other punctuation marks:
Example: “I will come tomorrow” Emily said.
c) If you start with; Emily said, the comma must come after it: And what in quoted must start with a capital letter;
Emily said “I will come tomorrow” but if (Emily said) comes at the end, comma must come before closing the quotation.
“I will come tomorrow,” Emily said:
d) The quotation always starts with a capital letter: (but He said) when placed at the end cannot start with capital but it start with a capital letter when placed at the beginning:
Eg: He said, “I’m sick”
“I’m sick,” he said:
e) If the quotation ends up with: - exclamation mark (!) or question mark (?) – a comma is not used the word that follows must not start with a capital:
Example
‘Is there a guest house around?’ the thief asked.
SOMETIMES – He asked – can come between two questions.
Example : ‘Am I stupid?’ He asked, ‘am I foolish?’
But remember that the second quotation does not start with capital letter:
f) If there is a quote within a quote, we use double quotes (“ ”) for the 2nd quotation
Example
Emily said, ‘Just as I started running, a voice shouted “stop running”
g) We can also use double quotation mark when we mention a title of the book or film;
Example
“Black Hermit”
h) We can either say Emily said/ said Emily.
i) Never put a full stop after question mark or exclamation mark.
INDIRECT SPEECH
Indirect speech is also known as reported speech
Ø Indirect speech is when we are telling someone what another person says/said:
Example
‘I can talk to the headmaster’ He said (DIRECT)
He said that he could talk to the headmaster (INDIRECT)
RULES IN INDIRECT SPEECH
i) In indirect speech we :-
a) Remove all quotation marks that is quotation marks are never used.
b) We normally use the expression such as “He said (that) without putting comma (,) in between: eg He said that he was sick:
ii) TENSE CHANGES
Ø This is one of difficult area student face; students experience some difficultness on how tense changes from direct speech to indirect.
Ø Here bellow there are some rules that can help you as regards to the tense changes from direct to indirect speech.
a) Use of simple present tenses:
- Sometimes indirect speech can be introduced by verb in simple present tense.
Example
He says that ………..
- This is possible in the following situation
1. Reporting a conversation, which is going on:
Example
She says that women are oppressed:
2. Reading a letter and reporting what it says:
Example
He says he is coming on Monday.
3. Reading instruction and reporting them:
Example
He says we must answer all questions
4. Reporting a statement that someone makes very often:
Example
Nzunda says that he will never smoke cigarettes:
b) Simple present becomes simple past tense:
Example
He said,‘I never drink beer’ DIRECT
He said that He never drank beer INDIRECT
c) Present continuous become past continuous:
Example
‘I m waiting for Shungu,’ she said (DIRECT)
He told me that He was waiting for Shungu (INDIRECT)
d) Present perfect become past perfect:
Example
He said, ‘I have studied English for 10 years’ (DIRECT)
He said that He had studied English for 10 years (INDIRECT)
e) Present perfect continuous become past perfect continuous:
Example
He said, ‘ I have been looking for you’ (DIRECT)
He said that he had been looking for me (INDIRECT)
f) Future tense become conditional direct tense
Example
He said, ‘that Komba will be in Mbeya on Monday’ (DIRECT)
He said that Komba would be in Mbeya on Monday (INDIRECT)
g) Future continuous tense become past continuous tense:
Example
He said that, ‘I will be writing exams this time tomorrow’ (DIRECT)
He said that he would be writing his exams the following day (INDIRECT)
h) Simple past tense usually changes to past perfect tense:
Example
‘I bought a car last year’ He said (DIRECT)
He said that he had bought a car previous year (INDIRECT)
i) Past continuous tense can remain past continuous tense or changes to past perfect continuous
He said, ’I was studying French last week’ (DIRECT)
He said that he had been studying French previous week. (INDIRECT)
j) When the tense used is past perfect, no changes of tense.
Example
“I had studied English for four years before coming here,” said Smart. (DIRECT)
Smart said that he had studied English for four years before coming there. (INDIRECT)
k) No change of tense:
- When reporting permanent states, facts or habits, there will be no change of tense:
- It’s felt that what is said is still true when its reported; thus we keep the tense of the original speech:
Examples
Reporting scientific facts
‘Water freezes at 0oc,’ the teacher said (DIRECT)
(The teacher said that water freezes at 0oc. (INDIRECT)
‘Magnetic attracts iron,’ the student said. (DIRECT):
The student told us that magnet attracts iron: (INDIRECT)
OTHER CHANGES WHICH ARE NECESSARY WHEN CHANGING (TURNING) DIRECT SPEECH TO INDIRECT SPEECH (A PRONOUN AND POSSESSIVES)
A) Pronoun normally change from 1st or 2nd person except when the speaker is reporting on his own words:
Example
I said, “I hate myself” (DIRECT)
I said that I hated myself. (INDIRECT)
The changes of the pronouns when you change the sentence from direct to indirect or reported speech.
|
PRONOUN |
DIRECT |
INDIRECT |
|
I |
I |
He/she |
|
We |
We |
They |
|
You |
You |
Him/her/me |
|
My |
My |
Your/his/her |
|
your |
your |
His/her |
Examples:
Direct: ‘I have left my book in your car’ Acley said
Indirect: Acley said that he had left his book in his car
B) Demonstrative adjective:
i. demonstrative adjective also change
DIRECT INDIRECT
This That
These Those
Example
kinanika said, ‘Ena is coming this weekend’ (Direct)
Kinanika said that Ena was coming that weekend. (Reported)
What is demonstrative objective?
These are adjectives which have special and simple function in English language.
Demonstrative - (grammar (of a determiner/pronoun in detecting person/object referred to).
Example
(this/that/these)
Therefore – demonstrative adjectives are the adjectives which are used to make clear which noun is being talked about in a sentence or statement.
v Primary singular form of demonstrative adjective include that, this, yonder (over there) (in some distance away),
v Plural demonstrative adjectives include these and those
Conclusion: demonstrative adjectives show whether the noun referred to in singular or plural and whether in located near to or far from the speaker or writer.
Example
Those shoes fit me (those)
This is the best way of life (this)
ii) Otherwise, when this and that are used and demonstrative adjectives, they change to (the)
example
(DIRECT) He said ‘I bought this pen for you’
(INDIRECT) He said that he bought the pen for me
iii) “These’ sometimes becomes ‘them’
Example
DIRECT: ‘He showed me two boxes and said, ‘I found those hidden here’
INDIRECT: He said he found them hidden there
iv) ‘This’ sometimes becomes ‘it’
‘this’ sometimes become ‘it’
Example
DIRECT: He said, ‘we will discuss this tomorrow’
INDIRECT: He said that they would it next day.
C: ADVERBS AND ADVERBIAL PHRASES: OR TIME CHANGES DIRECT TO INDIRECT SPEECHES
|
DIRECT |
INDIRECT |
|
To day |
That day |
|
Yesterday |
The day before |
|
Tomorrow |
The next day or following day |
|
Yesterday morning |
The morning before or the previous morning |
|
Last night |
The night before or previous night |
|
At once |
At moment |
|
Here |
There |
|
Ago |
Before |
|
Now |
Then, immediately |
|
A year ago |
A year before/ previous year |
|
Next week |
The following day |
|
Thus |
So |
|
To night |
That night |
|
Come/bring (v) |
Go/take |
Examples
DIRECT: ‘Where are you going now?’ his wife asked:
INDIRECT: His wife asked him where he was going then.
Or His wife inquired where he was going.
DIRECT: ‘I will bring you the money’ tomorrow,’ he told me
INDIRECT: He said that he would bring me the money the next day.
COMMAND IN INDIRECT (REPORTED) SPEECH:
In command, we make the usual changes as we leant, but in addition the verb is changed into “to infinitive”
Examples:
DIRECT: ‘Take the chairs to the office’ the teacher told me
INDIRECT: The teacher told me to take the chairs to the office.
DIRECT: ‘Come here” Halima ordered me
INDIRECT: Halima ordered me to go there
Therefore, we can say verbs such as TOLD, ORDERED, COMMANDED can be used after subject in reported speech:
Examples
DIRECT: ‘Release the prisoners at once’ said the Captain.
INDIRECT: The captain ordered them/him/us to release the prisoners at that moment.
Note: should, would, could, might, ought to, needn’t, have, used, remain unchanged in indirect speech
Examples
DIRECT: ‘You ought to slow down a bit,’ the passenger told the driver.
INDIRECT: The passenger told the driver that he ought to slow down a bit.
QUESTIONS IN INDIRECT SPEECH RULES:
i. The question mark is dropped.
ii. The statement/ sentence order (verb + subject) is used instead of the question order (verb plus subject)
iii. The questions not starting/ beginning with interrogative words like (wh – questions) why, who, when, what require the addition of
a) Whether
b) If
Interrogative means having force of question (grammar used in questions)
Examples
DIRECT: ‘Would you have tea or soup?’ the waiter asked me
INDIRECT: The waiter asked me whether/if I would have tea or soup.
DIRECT: ‘Can we leave tomorrow?’ the driver asked them.
INDIRECT: The drive asked them if/whether they could leave the following day.
NOTE:
If the question starts with ‘wh’ if or whether should not be used:
WH QUESTIONS
Examples
DIRECT: ‘Who caused the accident’ he asked me
INDIRECT: He asked me who had caused the accident
DIRECT: ‘Where are you going’ he asked us
INDIRECT: He asked us where we were going
EXCLAMINATION AND WISHES IN INDIRECT/ REPORTED SPEECHES
Ø In reporting exclamation and wishes the indirect speech is introduced by some verbs expressing exclamation and wishes:
Examples:
DIRECT: He said, “Alaa! I am finished”
He exclaimed sadly that he was finished
DIRECT: Alice said, “how clever I am?”
Alice exclaimed that he was very clever.
DIRECT: He said “bravo! You have done well”
He approved him, saying that he has done well.
DIRECT: “So help me, heaven!” he cried, “I will never steal again”
He called upon heaven to
witness his resolution never to steal again:
0 Comments