Home of English Grammar

Free Guide (Updated for 2022)

  • Home
  • Download Lessons
  • Grammar Rules
  • Online Exercises
  • Online Tools
    • Grammar Checker
    • Word Counter
  • Guides
  • Contact
You are here: Home / Lessons / Direct and Indirect Speech

Direct and Indirect Speech

June 9, 2011 - pdf

There are two main ways of reporting people’s words, thoughts, beliefs etc.

Direct speech

We can give the exact words that were said. This kind of reporting is called direct speech.

She said, ‘What do you want?’
Peter said, ‘It is not my fault.’
Jane said, ‘Are you coming with me?’
He said, ‘I don’t want to talk to you.’
Monica says, ‘You look beautiful.’
Mother said, ‘Stop talking.’

Indirect speech

We can report a speaker’s thoughts and words in our own words, using conjunctions and changing pronouns, tenses and other words where necessary. This kind of reporting is called indirect speech.

She asked what I wanted.
Peter said that it was not his fault.
Jane asked me if was going with her?
He said that he didn’t want to talk to me.
Monica says that I look beautiful.
Mother asked her children to stop talking.

Basic rules for indirect speech

In indirect speech, words spoken by one person is reported in another place at a different time by a different person. Because of this, there are many grammatical differences between direct and indirect speech. It is not necessary to learn complicated rules about indirect speech in English, because most of the changes are natural and logical.

  • Facebook
  • LinkedIn
  • Twitter
  • WhatsApp
1,127,749 
201,073 

Check Your Grammar

GrammarCheck.net - Try online
Hint → Bookmark GrammarCheck for future use.

Latest Exercises

  • Will vs. Would June 26, 2022
  • See vs. Look vs. Watch June 23, 2022
  • General Grammar Exercise June 21, 2022
  • Tenses Gap Filling Exercise June 21, 2022
  • Gap Filling Exercise June 20, 2022
  • Subject Verb Agreement Exercise June 20, 2022
  • Prepositions Exercise June 19, 2022
  • Gap Filling Exercise June 19, 2022
  • Tenses Exercise June 18, 2022

Topics

  • Adjectives
  • Adverbs
  • Business Writing
  • Commas
  • Conjunctions
  • Creative Writing
  • Difference
  • Essay Writing
  • Exercises
  • Learning
  • Lessons
  • Nouns
  • Prepositions
  • Pronouns
  • Proofreading
  • Punctuation
  • Quiz
  • Spelling
  • Style Guide
  • Teaching
  • Terms
  • Verbs
  • Words
  • Writing

Quiz

  • Can you correct these 14 basic grammar mistakes?
  • What kind of writer are you?

Copyright © 2022 · EnglishGrammar.org
Disclaimer · Privacy Policy · Sitemap