Direct and indirect speech serves an important purpose in the English language. In Pakistan, direct and indirect speeches are included in different competitive exams. These competitive exams could be SSC, RRB, IBPS, CSS, and Insurance. Candidates who aspire to appear in such exams need to fully understand the direct and indirect speech rules.

Direct and Indirect Speech Rules

For many students, it seemed an uphill task to grasp the basic rules of direct and indirect speeches. In this article, we will explain different direct and indirect speech rules that will help you out in clearing your exams or competitive exams. Being a compulsory subject for all these exams, candidates can’t skip this section and should learn the basics of it.

Before heading towards the rules and concepts of direct and indirect speech, let us first figure out what direct and indirect speech is.

What is Direct Speech?

Direct speech refers to “reporting the message of the speaker in the exact words as spoken by him.”

What is an Indirect Speech?

Indirect speech refers to “reporting the message of the speaker in our own words.”

Examples of Direct and Indirect Speeches

In order to understand direct and indirect speeches, I have mentioned-below some examples that will surely clear your doubts.

Direct Speech

Ayesha stated that “I am busy now”.

Indirect Speech

Ayesha stated that she was busy then.

So, we know that our understanding of the direct and indirect speech is clear now. This is the time for you to understand the basic rules of direct and indirect speech too. So, let’s get started!

In order to convert a direct speech into an indirect one, the following factors would be counted,

• Reporting verbs
• Time
• Place
• Pronouns
• Tenses
• Modals

Direct and Indirect Speech rules for all Tenses

There are some grammatical rules that should be followed,

• Remove all the inverted commas or the quotation marks and end your sentence with a full stop.
• If there is any universal truth explained in the direct speech, then we don’t change it. (For Example, “All people have equal rights” )

Rules for Present Tenses

Present Simple Tense into the Past Simple Tense

Example:

Direct Speech: She said, “I work in the office”.

Indirect Speech: She said that she worked in the office.

Present Progressive Tense into the Past Progressive Tense

Example:

Direct Speech: I said, “She is cutting the fruits”.

Indirect Speech: I said that she was cutting the fruits.

Present Perfect Tense into the Past Perfect Tense

Example:

Direct Speech: John said, “I have won the prize”.

Indirect Speech: John said that he had won the prize.

Present Perfect Progressive Tense into the Past Perfect Tense

Example:

Direct Speech: She said, “I have been working in a hospital for three years”.

Indirect Speech: She said that she had been working in a hospital for three years.

Rules for Past Tenses

Past Simple Tense into the Past Perfect Tense

Example:

Direct Speech: He said, “I started a job”.

Indirect Speech: He said that he had started a job.

Past Progressive Tense into Past Perfect Continuous Tense

Example:

Direct Speech: She said, “I was writing a letter”.

Indirect Speech: She said that she had been writing a letter.

Past Perfect Tense remains unchanged

Example:

Direct Speech: He said, “He had won the game”.

Indirect Speech: He said that he had won the game.

Rules for Future Tenses

Future Simple Tense ‘will’ changes into “would”

Example:

Direct Speech: She said, “I will go to Lahore”.

Indirect Speech: She said that she would go to Lahore.

Future Progressive Tense “will be” changed into “would be”

Example:

Direct Speech: She said to me, “I will be waiting for you”.

Indirect Speech: She said to me that she would be waiting for me.

Future Perfect Tense “will have” changed into “would have”

Example:

Direct Speech: She said, “I will have cooked the food”.

Indirect Speech: She said that she would have cooked the food.