Direct and Indirect Speech A. Introduction This module explains about direct and indirect speech for Senior High School. Objective The objectives of this module are : 1. You understand about Reported Speech. 2. You can distinguish between direct and indirect speech. 3. You can make direct speech. 4. You can make indirect speech.
B. Learning activity 1. Reported speech and Reported verb When the verb in a sentence declares what the speaker said in a different sentence, the verb in the first sentence is called reporting verb and what is said in the second sentence referred to reported speech. In the other word, verbs in the Reported Speech called Reported Verb. Reported Verb My friend say,
Reported Speech “It is time to be happy”
There is two different ways to explain Reported Speech. They are : a) Repeat the word that use by the speaker. b) Give the main content of the words of what the speaker said or report. 2. Direct Speech When we quote exactly what the speaker said it called Direct Speech. Direct speech characterized by the use of commas (,) and quotation marks (“). Comma is used to separate between speaker and what they say. Quotation marks are used in what the speaker said or report. For examples : My mother said, “I must be a good person.”
Or “I must be a good person,” my mother said. In that example we see that I must be a good person is what the speaker say, so we must put quotation marks. 3. Indirect speech When we quote not the exactly what the speaker said and we just take the main content of the words of what the speaker said it called Indirect Speech. For example : He says that I am a student. In the indirect speech, speaker and report connected with “that” but for interrogative and negative sentence is not used. Time signal in Reporting Verb never changes but time signal in Reported Speech has to change based on time signal in Reporting Verb. 4. Verb Verb that usually use in direct and indirect speech are : advice, ask, tell, require, insist, force, suggest, say, teach etc. 5. Rule There are some rules in changing indirect speech from direct speech. They are :
1) There is tense changing. Direct Speech
Indirect Speech
Simple Present become Simple Past He said, “The He said that the teacher comes.” teacher came. Present Continuous Past Continuous He said, “The He said that the teacher is teacher was coming.” coming. Present Perfect Past Perfect He said, “The He said that the teacher has teacher had come.” come. Present Perfect Past Perfect Continuous Continuous He said, “The He said that the teacher has been teacher had coming.” been coming Simple Past Past Perfect He said, “The He said that the teacher came.” teacher had come. Past Continuous Past Perfect Continuous He said, “The He said that the teacher was teacher had coming.” been coming. Future Past He said, “The He said that the teacher shall teacher should come.” come.
He said, “The teacher will come.” Modal Verbs Present He said, “The teacher may come.” He said, “The teacher can come.” He said, “The teacher must come.”
He said that the teacher would come. Modal Verbs Past He said that the teacher might come. He said that the teacher could come. He said that the teacher had to come.
But there is an exception. If the reported speech related to the reality that has become a habit, the tenses are not changed. For example: Direct Speech Indirect Speech He said, “Paris is He said that a great city.” Paris is a great city. He said, “Jakarta He said that is the capital city Jakarta is the of Indonesia.” capital city of Indonesia. He said, “the He said that the earth is round.” earth is round.
2) There is pronoun changing. In the changing from direct speech to indirect speech we must think about pronoun changing. Imagine who the speaker is and who is talked with. Subject Object Possessive Reflective pronoun pronoun adjective pronoun I Me My Myself He Him His Himself She Her Her Herself It It Its Itself You You Your Yourself/selves They Them Their Themselves We Us Our Ourselves For example: Direct speech Indirect speech My father told his My father told her to secretary, “Put my bag put his bag there. here.” My mother told me, My mother told me to “Wash my car.” wash her car. But, sometimes there is uncertainty regarding the pronouns of “he” and “she” in reported speech refers to the person speaking or the person spoken to. For example: Reporting Verb Reported Speech Barbie says to Clara Barbie says to Clara, that she is lazy “I am lazy” Barbie says to Clara, “You are lazy”
From that example, the uses of pronoun “she” is not clear. Who is lazy? Barbie or Clara. This is where the confusion appears. So to solve that problem we must put name pronoun ”she”. For example: Reporting Verb Reported Speech Barbie says to Clara Barbie says to Clara, that she (Barbie) is “I am lazy” lazy. Barbie says to Clara Barbie says to Clara, that she (Clara) is “You are lazy” lazy. 3) There is change of adverb of place. Direct Speech Here There My father told his secretary, “Put my bag here.” Hence He said, “you can go to London hence.” Hitcher He said, “I can hitcher everytime.” This
Indirect Speech become
My father told her to put his bag there.
Thence He said that I could go to London thence. Thither He said that I can thither. That
He said,”I have seen this movie.”
These He said, “I have seen these boy.” Come He said, “I can come here.”
He said that I had seen that movie.
Those He said I had seen those boy Go He said that I could go there.
4) There is change of adverb of time. Direct Speech Ago Before He said, “I saw my parent long time ago.” Now
He said, “You can come now.”
Today He said, “His sister will come today.” Tommorow He said, “His sister will come tommorow.”.” Yesterday He said, “His sister
Indirect Speech become
Then
He said that he had seen his parent long time before.
He said that I could go then. That day He said that his sister would go that day. Next day He said that his sister would go next day. The previous day He said his
came yesterday.”
Last night He said, “The baby was crying last night.” Next week He said, “He will come again next week.” Thus
He said,” The result is thus.”
sister had come the previous day. The previous night He said that had been crying the previous night. The following week He said that he would go again the following week. So He said that the result was so.
But, both changing of adverb of time and adverb of place will not use if the speaker report something in that time. For examples:
Direct Speech He said that, “This is my pen.” He said, ”I will do it now.”
Indirect Speech He said that that was his pen. (he holds his pen) He said that he would do it now.
5) There is change of structure. 6) If the predicate in Direct speech in the form of present tense and future tense, the tenses will not be changed. For examples:
Direct Speech He says, “I am a student.” She will say, ”her boyfriend is kind.”
Indirect Speech He says that he is a student. She will tell you that her boyfriend is kind.
6. Interrogative sentence 1) Change reporting verb say or tell become ask or inquire. By repeating question word and change tenses if the question begins with reported question word. For examples:
Direct Speech He said to me, “What are you doing?” He said to her, ”Why do you love me?”
Indirect Speech He asked me what I would do. He inquires her why she loved him.
2) Use if or whether as a connector between reporting verb and reported speech and change tenses if the question begins with reported verb. For example:
Direct Speech He said to me, “Are you going home today?” He asked me, ”Can you leave me now?” They asked, ”Will you go with me?” She said to me, “Do you know my book?” She said to me, ”Have you ever see Dinosaur?”
Indirect Speech He asked me whether I was going home that day. He asked me if I could leave him then. They asked me if I would go with them She asked me if I knew her book. She asked me if I had see Dinosaur.
7. Imperative sentence 1) Change reporting verb say or tell become : a. Command. Examples: ordered, commanded, etc. b. Precept. Example: advise. c. Request. Example: asked. d. Entreaty. Example: begged. e. Prohibition. Example: forbade. In the changing from direct speech to indirect speech, we must change imperative mood become infinitive,
so reported verb in imperative sentence have to change become to infinitive. Direct Speech Indirect Speech Command He said to his He ordered to his servant, “Sweep servant to sweep the floor!” the floor. Precept My mother said My mother to me, “Study advised me to hard.” study hard. Request She said to her She asked her friend, “Bring me friend to bring a a coffee.” coffee. Entreaty He said to his He begged his master, “Pardon master to pardon me, Sir.” him. Prohibition My teacher said My teacher to me, “Do not forbade me to come late.” come late. Note 1: If reporting verb say or tell change to reported verb ask, order, command, etc ( but not forbid), the predicate is converted into to infinitive preceded not. For examples: Direct Speech Indirect Speech My teacher said My teacher asked
to me, “Do not me not to come come late.” late. My father said My father asked to me, “Do not me not to go go there.” there. My teacher said My teacher to me, “Do not commanded me retreat.” not to retreat Note 2: If the clause at the command line, the tenses in the clause be postponed by the reporting verb. For example: Direct Speech Indirect Speech He said to me, He asked me to “Wait here until I wait there until return.” he returned. 8. Exclamatory sentences 1) Change reporting verb say or tell become exclaim, cry out, pray etc. a. Exclamatory sentences Direct Speech Indirect Speech He said, “Yeah! He exclaimed My best friend with joy that his has come.” best friend has come. He said, “Alas! He cried out with The soldier was regret that the killed in the soldier has been war.” killed in the war.
b. Optative sentences Optative sentence is sentence that show hope or wish. Direct Speech Indirect Speech He said, “God He prayed that Bless you, my God would bless dear.” his dear. He said, “May He prayed that God forgives this God would sinner.” forgive that sinner.
C. Exercise To check your understanding you can open this link and you will watch about Cinderella’s story. As we know that the conversation in that movie use direct speech, so your task is change all of conversation into indirect speech. Link : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g0ucno0rUZw
D. Summary When we quote exactly what the speaker said it called Direct Speech. When we quote not the exactly what the speaker said and we just take the main content of the words of what the speaker said it called Indirect Speech. Verb that used in indirect speech are advise, ask, tell, require, force, suggest, say, teach etc. Rule in changing indirect speech from direct speech are : o There is tense changing. o There is pronoun changing. o There is change of adverb of place. o There is change of adverb of time. o There is change of structure. o If the predicate in Direct speech in the form of present tense and future tense, the tenses will not be changed. In interrogative sentence reporting verb say or tell changed to ask or inquire. In Imperative sentence reporting verb say or tell changed to ordered, commanded, advice, asked, begged, forbade. In Exclamatory sentence reporting verb say or tell changed to exclaim, cry out, pray etc.
E. Exercise 1. Direct speech : he says, “I am a doctor.” Indirect speech : … 2. Direct speech : he said, “I am a doctor.” Indirect speech : … 3. Direct speech : he said to me, “You were a liar.” Indirect speech : … 4. Direct speech : he said, “London is wonderful.” Indirect speech : … 5. Direct speech : he said to me, “Do you eat the cake?” Indirect speech : … 6. Direct speech : he said to me, “Will you help me?.” Indirect speech : … 7. Direct speech : he asked me, “Why did you eat the cake?.” Indirect speech : … 8. Direct speech : he asked me, “Do not eat the cake!.” Indirect speech : … 9. Direct speech : he said, “Will you come to my party?”Yes.” Indirect speech : …
10. Direct speech : He said, “Horrah! I am the winner.” Indirect speech : … F. Assessment Match your answer with answer key. Your correct answer is your score.
Answer key: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8.
He says that he is a doctor. He said that he was a doctor. He said that I had been a liar. He said that London is wonderful. He asked me whether I ate the cake. He asked me if I would help him. He asked me why I had eat the cake. He asked me not to eat the cake / he forbade me to eat the cake. 9. He asked me if I would come to his party, and I said I would come. 10. He exclaimed with joy that he is the winner.
Bibliography Anonymous. (n.d.). Leo Network. Retrieved January 7, 2012, from Learn English: http://www.learnenglish.de/grammar/reportedspeech.htm John Hartanto , Koentjoro , Manaf Seputro. (2009). Accurate, Brief, Clear English Grammar. Surabaya: Indah. Raymond Murphy , William Smalzer. (2009). Grammar in use Intermediate. New York: Cambridge University Press. Sulistyo, U. (2010). Passive voice & Reported Speech. Jakarta: Gramedia. http://share.snacktools.com/AC88C6AD75E/fuj843n h http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g0ucno0rUZw