Change of Speech Examples and Rules with Tips & Tricks

Understanding Change of Speech Rules with Examples

Change of speech is an important topic with some key rules to keep in mind. Change of Speech involves converting a sentence or a statement from direct quotations into indirect or reported speech, and vice versa, as instructed.

1. Direct speech

Direct speechpresents a statement or dialogue exactly as it was spoken or written, using quotation marks. It is used to quite the words spoken by someone as it is.

For Example:

John said, "I will attend the meeting tomorrow."

2. Indirect speech

Indirect speech,also called reported speech, reports or paraphrases what someone said without using quotation marks. In reported speech, the speaker is retelling the statement of the original speaker in their own words, while keeping retaining the meaning and essence of the sentence.

For Example:

John said that he would attend the meeting the next day.

There are some basic rules of direct speech into reported speech conversion. A few of them are:

• Replace the quotation marks and the comma while writing reported speech and add 'that' just before starting the reported piece of speech.
• Change the tense of the verb from present to past, unless the speech is about a habitual action or a universal truth.
• Change the pronouns and possessive adjectives according to the context.
• Use a conjunction like that, if, whether, etc. to introduce the indirect speech.
• Change the words that indicate time and place according to the situation.

These rules are pretty comprehensive and have a few exceptions as well.

Here are the main conversion rules to convert direct speech into indirect speech:

1. Rules to Convert Tenses into indirect speech from direct speech

When converting from direct speech to indirect speech, the present tense is usually converted to past tense when the reporting verb is in the past tense (said, requested, suggested, commanded, etc.)

Although, the reported speech will feature present tense only when the reporting verb is in the present tense (says, suggests, requests, commands, etc.)

The tense won't undergo any change when the statement is in the future tense or the direct speech features a universal truth or a habit.

Following are the rules to change tenses from direct to indirect speech:

Direct Speech	Indirect Speech
Present Simple	Past Simple
Present Continuous	Past Continuous
Present Perfect	Past Perfect
Present Perfect Continuous	Past Perfect Continuous
Past Simple	Past Perfect
Past Continuous	Past Perfect Continuous
Past Perfect	No change
Past Perfect Continuous	No change
Future Simple	Conditional
Future Continuous	Conditional Continuous
Future Perfect	Conditional Perfect
Future Perfect Continuous	Conditional Perfect Continuous

2. Rules to convert modal or conditionals into indirect speech from direct speech

Most of the models are converted into conditionals in reported speech. The conditionals such as could, would, should, might, etc. remain the same.

Refer to this table for the rules of changing modals from direct to indirect speech:

Direct Speech	Indirect Speech
Can	Could
Could	No Change
May	Might
Might	No Change
Will	Would
Would	No Change
Shall	Should
Should	No Change
Must	Had to
Ought to	No Change
Need not	Did not need to
Have to	Had to
Used to	No Change
Would rather	No Change
Would rather not	No Change

3. Rules to Convert words indicating Time and Place into indirect speech from direct speech

When changing the sentence from direct to reported speech, the words associated with time and place are changes according to the following rules:

Direct Speech	Indirect Speech
Here	There
This	That
These	Those
Today	That day
Tonight	That night
Yesterday	The previous day
The day before	The previous day
Tomorrow	The following day
The next day	The following day
Next week	The following week
Last week	The previous week
A week ago	A week before
Next month	The following month
Last month	The previous month
A month ago	A month before
Next year	The following year
Last year	The previous year
A year ago	A year before

4. Rules to Convert Pronouns into indirect speech from direct speech

1. If the pronoun in the direct speech (quoted statement) is in 1st person, while the subject of the sentence is in 3rd person, then the pronoun in quoted sentence will change as per the subject pronoun.

For Example:

Direct speech: She said, " I am working today."

Indirect Speech : She said that she was working that day.

2. If the pronouns in the quoted statement and the subject of the sentence in direct speech are in 1st person or 3rd person, there will be no change.

For Example:

Direct Speech: We said, "We will eat here only."

Indirect Speech : We said that we would eat there only.

For Example:

Direct Speech: He said," He is very tired."

Indirect Speech: He said that he was very tired.

3. If the pronouns in the quoted sentence is in second person, it will change according to the pronoun of the object or the original listener of the direct speech.

For Example:

Direct Speech: I told her ," You performed well."

Indirect Speech: I told her that she performed well.

You can change the pronouns from direct to indirect speech through the rules mentioned in the following table:

Person	First Person Singular	First Person Plural	Second Person Singular	Second Person Plural	Third Person Singular	Third Person Plural
Direct Speech Subject	I	We	You	You	He/She/ It	They
Direct Speech Object	Me	Us	You	You	Him/Her/It	Them
Direct Speech Possessive Adjective	My	Our	Your	Your	His/Her/Its	Their
Direct Speech Possessive Pronoun	Mine	Ours	Yours	Yours	His/Hers/Its	Theirs
Direct Speech Reflexive Pronoun	Myself	Ourselves	Yourself	Yourselves	Himself/Herself/ Itself	Themselves
Indirect Speech Subject	He/She/It	They	He/She/It	They	He/She/ It	They
Indirect Speech Object	Him/Her/It	Them	Him/Her/It	Them	Him/Her/It	Them
Indirect Speech Possessive Adjective	His/Hers/Its	Their	His/Hers/ Its	Their	His/Hers/Its	Their
Indirect Speech Possessive Pronoun	His/Hers/Its	Theirs	His/Hers/ Its	Theirs	His/Hers/Its	Theirs
Indirect Speech Reflexive Pronoun	Himself/Herself/Itself	Themselves	Himself/ Herself/ Itself	Themselves	Himself/Herself/ Itself	Themselves

5. Rules to Convert Imperatives into indirect speech from direct speech

Imperative sentences are those which are either experessiong a request, a command, instruction or invitation.

Here are the rules for converting imperative sentences into indirect speech:

• If the sentence uses please or expresses a request, use requested as the reporting verb.
• If the sentence gives a suggestion or advice, use suggested or advised as the reporting verb.
• If the sentence is giving an order, command, instruction, or directions, use commanded, instructed, or directed respectively, as the reporting verb.
• If the sentence intends to give a warning or forbidding, use warned or forbade as the reporting verb.
• The emotion of the sentence in direct speech can be used as the reporting verb in the reported speech.

Let's understand these through examples:

Direct Speech (Imperative)	Indirect Speech
Please open the window.	He/She requested to open the window.
Don't touch that.	He/She advised not to touch that.
Come here.	He/She asked to come there.
Be quiet.	He/She instructed to be quiet.
Help me, please.	He/She requested for help.
Read the book.	He/She instructed to read the book.
Don't be late.	He/She warned not to be late.
Give me your pen.	He/She requested to give the pen.
Stop talking.	He/She ordered to stop talking.
Do your homework.	He/She reminded to do the homework.

6. Rules to Convert Interrogatives into indirect speech from direct speech

Follow these rules to convert interrogative sentences from direct speech to indirect speech:

1. To convert interrogative sentences in direct speech which starts with a helping or auxiliary verb (has, have, is, was, etc.) into reported speech, we use the conjunctions whether or if as the joining clause.

For Example:

Direct Speech: Ram said,"Has the letter arrived?"

Indirect Speech : Ram asked if the letter had arrived.

2. When the question starts with wh- words, we start the reported sentence with it after adding words like questioned, enquired, demanded or asked as the reported verb.

For Example:

Direct Speech: She said," Where is my pencil?"

Indirect Speech: She asked where her pencil was.

3. In case of the question in direct speech starting with do/does, then it is removed from the sentence if the sentence is in positive tone.

For Example:

Direct Speech: Ravi said," Do you like ice-cream?"

Indirect Speech : Ravi asked if I liked ice-cream.

4. In case of a negative question starting with do/does, it is converted into did in reported speech.

For Example:

Direct Speech: Ram said,"Don't you want chocolate?"

Indirect Speech : Ram asked if I did not want chocolate.

7. Rules to Convert Exclamatory Statements into indirect speech from direct speech

Here are the rules to convert exclamatory sentences from direct to indirect speech:

• The exclamatory sentence is changed into an affirmative sentence, 'that' is used as the joining clause and the exclamation mark is replaced with a full stop.
• If the sentence uses interjections like Hurrah!, Oh!, Alas! Etc. are removed. Instead, the mood/emotion they convey (happines, joy, sorrow, surprise, etc.) are used along with 'exclaimed' in the reported speech to convey the meaning.

For Example:

Direct Speech: She said,"Yay! We won the match."

Indirect Speech: She exclaimed with joy that they had won the match.

• Even without the interjections, we use exclaimed with [the mood/emotion of the sentence] to convey the exclamation.
• If the exclamation starts with wh- words or how, it's replaced in the reported speech by adding 'very' before the adjective.

For Example:

Direct Speech: Arun said, "What a delightful movie!"

Indirect Speech: Arun exclaimed that the movie was very delightful.

Tips and Tricks to Solve Change of Speech Questions

Change of speech questions can be easily solved by learning a few tips and tricks for change of speech. These tips and tricks are very useful in finding the correct answer quickly and effectively, saving a lot of time.

Follow these tips and tricks while solving change of speech questions:

1. Understand Tense Changes

Pay attention to verb tense changes while converting from direct to indirect speech.

2. Adjust Pronouns

Modify pronouns to match the subject and object of the reported speech.

3. Change Time and Place References

Adjust time and place words to reflect the context of the reported speech.

4. Modify Reporting Verbs

Use appropriate reporting verbs (e.g., said, asked, told) to accurately convey the speaker's words.

5. Handle Imperative Sentences

Transform commands or requests into indirect speech while maintaining the intended meaning.

6. Practice Regularly

Solve plenty of practice exercises to enhance your understanding and proficiency in change of speech concepts.