Direct & Indirect Speech

Direct Speech / Quoted Speech

Saying exactly what someone has said is called direct speech (sometimes called quoted speech)

Here what a person says appears within quotation marks ("...") and should be word for word.

For example:

She said, "Today's lesson is on presentations." or "Today's lesson is on presentations", she said. 

Indirect Speech / Reported Speech

Indirect speech (sometimes called reported speech), doesn't use quotation marks to enclose what the person said and it doesn't have to be word for word.

When reporting speech the tense usually changes. This is because when we use reported speech, we are usually talking about a time in the past (because obviously the person who spoke originally spoke in the past). The verbs therefore usually have to be in the past too.

Example Direct & Indirect Speech:
1. D : "I'm going to cinema", he said. 
    I  : He said he was going to the cinema
2. D : He said “The women comes” (Simple present-menjadi-Simple past)
    I  : “He said that the women came” 
3. D : Mother said to her son, “study hard”
    I  : Mother advice her son to study hard

Rules
1. Tense change
As a rule when you report something someone has said you go back a tense: (the tense on the left changes to the tense on the right):

Direct speech		Indirect speech
Present simple She said, "It's cold."	›	Past simple She said it was cold.
Present continuous She said, "I'm teaching English online."	›	Past continuous She said she was teaching English online.
Present perfect simple She said, "I've been on the web since 1999."	›	Past perfect simple She said she had been on the web since 1999.
Present perfect continuous She said, "I've been teaching English for seven years."	›	Past perfect continuous She said she had been teaching English for seven years.
Past simple She said, "I taught online yesterday."	›	Past perfect She said she had taught online yesterday.
Past continuous She said, "I was teaching earlier."	›	Past perfect continuous She said she had been teaching earlier.
Past perfect She said, "The lesson had already started when he arrived."	›	Past perfect NO CHANGE - She said the lesson had already started when he arrived.
Past perfect continuous She said, "I'd already been teaching for five minutes."	›	Past perfect continuous NO CHANGE - She said she'd already been teaching for five minutes.

 
2. Modal Change

Direct speech		Indirect speech
will She said, "I'll teach English online tomorrow."	›	would She said she would teach English online tomorrow.
can She said, "I can teach English online."	›	could She said she could teach English online.
must She said, "I must have a computer to teach English online."	›	had to She said she had to have a computer to teach English online.
shall She said, "What shall we learn today?"	›	should She asked what we should learn today.
may She said, "May I open a new browser?"	›	might She asked if she might open a new browser.

Note - There is no change to; could, would, should, might and ought to.

Direct speech	Indirect speech
"I might go to the cinema", he said.	He said he might go to the cinema.

You can use the present tense in reported speech if you want to say that something is still true i.e. my name has always been and will always be Lynne so:-

Direct speech	Indirect speech
"My name is Lynne", she said.	She said her name was Lynne. or She said her name is Lynne.

You can also use the present tense if you are talking about a future event.

Direct speech (exact quote)	Indirect speech (not exact)
"Next week's lesson is on reported speech", she said.	She said next week's lesson will be on reported speech.

3. Time change

If the reported sentence contains an expression of time, you must change it to fit in with the time of reporting.

For example we need to change words like here and yesterday if they have different meanings at the time and place of reporting.

Now	+ 24 hours - Indirect speech
"Today's lesson is on presentations."	She said yesterday's lesson was on presentations. or She said yesterday's lesson would be on presentations.

Expressions of time if reported on a different day
this (evening)	›	that (evening)
today	›	yesterday ...
these (days)	›	those (days)
now	›	then
(a week) ago	›	(a week) before
last weekend	›	the weekend before last / the previous weekend
here	›	there
next (week)	›	the following (week)
tomorrow	›	the next/following day

In addition if you report something that someone said in a different place to where you heard it you must change the place (here) to the place (there).

For example:

At work	At home
"How long have you worked here?"	She asked me how long I'd worked there.

4. Pronoun Change

In reported speech, the pronoun often changes.

For example:

Me	You
"I teach English online."	Direct Speech She said, "I teach English online." "I teach English online", she said. Reported Speech She said she teaches English online. or She said she taught English online.

 

Direct and Indirect Speech devided into 3 parts:

1. Statement

Dalam Indirect Statement kita menggunakan kata that (bahwa) sebagai penghubung antara kalimat pengantar (introduce phrase) dan kata-kata yang dilaporkan (reported words). Kalimat-kalimat pengantar dalam indirect statement ialah :

He said

He said to me                    that + reported words

He told me

Example:

- Mary told her friends “I have been to Bali twice.”// Mary told her friends that she had been to Bali twice.

- Father said “I am going out of town tomorrow"// Father said that he was going out of town the following day.

- My sister said to me “I don’t like tennis”// My sister said to me that she didn’t like tennis.

2. Command

Command dibagi dalam 2 (dua) bagian yaitu : 

1. Positive Command 

Dalam perintah positif kita tambahkan to di depan kalimat perintahnya, sebagai penghubung antara kalimat pengantar dan perintah yang dilaporkan. Kalimat-kalimat pengantar dalam jenis ini ialah :  

- He asked me “Open your book” // He asked me to open my book.

- Mary told me “Stop talking to Jane” // Mary told me to stop talking to Jane.

2. Negative Command

Dalam  perintah negatif kita tambahkan not  to di depan perintah yang dilaporkan

- Mary told John “Don’t wait for me”// Mary told John not to wait for her

- Father asked her “Don’t go there alone”// Father asked her not to go there alone.

3. Question

Bila pertanyaan langsung (direct question) menggunakan kata-kata tanya seperti ; Where, When, Why, What, Who, How, dll, maka kata-kata tersebut digunakan sebagai penghubung dalam reported Speech. Pertanyaan yang dilaporkan berubaha menjadi bentuk positif. Kalimat pengantarnya ialah :  

- The man asked me : “Where do you live ?” // The man asked me where I lived.

- He asked me : “How will you go there ?”// He asked me how I would go there.

Referensi : in here