Direct Speech: This is when you repeat what someone said exactly. You use quotation marks to show the exact words. For example: She said, "I love ice cream."
Indirect Speech: This is when you tell someone what another person said, but you don't use their exact words. You change the structure a bit. For example: She said that she loves ice cream.
Rules for Direct Speech:
1. Use quotation marks around the spoken words.
2. Start with a capital letter if the spoken sentence begins a new sentence.
3. If the sentence is a question or exclamation, the punctuation should be inside the quotation marks. For example: He asked, "Are you coming?"
Rules for Indirect Speech:
1. Do not use quotation marks.
2. Mind the tense change where possible.
a) Change the verb tense if needed. For example, present changes to past (He said, "I don't have anything to do today." → He said that he didn't have anything to do that day).
b) Not all verbs change tense in indirect speech. For example, if the reporting verb is in the present tense, the tense in indirect speech may stay the same.
Example: He says, "I like chocolate." → He says that he likes chocolate.
c) When the information is still true or a universal fact, the tense does not change.
Example: He said, "The Earth orbits the Sun." → He said that the Earth orbits the Sun.
3. Change pronouns and time expressions as needed. For example, "I" changes to "he/she" and "today" changes to "that day."
4. Use "that" to connect the sentences. For example: She said that she loves ice cream.
Common Pronoun and Time Expression Changes:
- "I" becomes "he/she"
- "you" becomes "he/she"
- "my" becomes "his/her"
- "your" becomes "his/her"
- "now" becomes "then"
- "today" becomes "that day"
- "tomorrow" becomes "the next day"
- "yesterday" stays the same
