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Direct & Indirect Speech:

 There are two ways in which you could report the words of a speaker:

1)     You may quote his actual words. This is called Direct Speech.

2)     You may report what he said without quoting the exact words. This is called Indirect Speech.

Eg:

A diplomatic husband said to his wife, "How do you expect me to remember your birthday when you never look any older?" :- Direct Speech.

A diplomatic husband said to his wife that she shouldn’t expect him to remember her birthday when she never looks any older. :- Indirect Speech.

Here you will notice that in changing the above Direct Speech into Indirect Speech certain changes have to be made. These are:

a)     You have to use the conjunction that before the Indirect statement.

b)    The pronoun you is changed into she. (The Pronoun is changed in Person.)

c)     The verb look is changed to looks. (Present Tense is changed to Past Tense.)

d)    The adverb is also changed.

Some words that change when you convert Direct into Indirect Speech.

                                i.            now             becomes      then

                              ii.            here             becomes      there

                            iii.            ago              becomes      before

                           iv.            thus             becomes      so

                             v.            today           becomes      that day

                           vi.            tomorrow    becomes      the next day

                         vii.            yesterday     becomes      the day before

                       viii.            last night      becomes      the night before

                           ix.            this              becomes      that

                             x.            these            becomes      those

Some funny and thought provoking examples of Direct Speech:

1) A father said to his son, "When Abe Lincoln was your age, he was studying books by the light of the fireplace." The son replied, "When Lincoln was your age, he was President."

2) A father was reading Bible stories to his young son. He read: "The man named Lot was warned to take his wife and flee out of the city but his wife looked back and was turned to salt." His son asked: "What happened to the flea?"

3) One evening an old Cherokee Indian told his grandson about a battle that goes on inside people. He said, "My son, the battle is between two wolves inside us all. One is Evil. It is anger, envy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, and ego. The other is Good. It is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion and faith."

The grandson thought about it for a minute and then asked his grandfather:
"Which wolf wins?"

The old Cherokee simply replied, "The one you feed."