Page 88 - Grammar Class 07

Let us now study the various rules for changing the direct speech into indirect speech.

1. Change in Tenses

G If the reporting verb is in present tense or future tense , then the verb in the
reported speech does not change. We only add conjunction ‘that’ and remove

the quotation marks.
Read the following examples:

Direct: He says, “I was a child then.”
Indirect: He says that he was a child at that time.

G If the reporting verb is in the past tense , the verb in the reported speech is
changed into past tense.

Read the following examples:

1. Simple Present ® Simple Past
Direct: I said, “I am very happy.”

Indirect: I said that I was very happy.

2. Simple Past ® Past Perfect
Direct: Ram said, “You gave me a fright.”

Indirect: Ram said that he had been given fright.

3. Present Continuous ® Past Continuous
Direct: “You are singing well”, said Suman.

Indirect: Suman said that I was singing very well.

4. Present Perfect ® Past Pefect
Direct: My brother said, “I have lost my tiffin box.”

Indirect: My brother said that he had lost his tiffin box.

5. Past Continuous ® Past Perfect Continuous
Direct: The teacher said, “All the boys were studying hard.”

Indirect: The teacher said that all the boys had been studying hard.

2. Change in Auxiliaries

G While changing the speech from direct to indirect, shall changes into should , will
becomes would and can becomes could .
Read the following examples:

· Direct: She said, “I will buy a car.”

Indirect: She said that she would buy a car.

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Grammar-7