Direct and Indirect Speech (Grade 11 NSC Matric English HL): Revision Notes
Direct and Indirect Speech
Understanding how to change between direct and indirect speech is an essential skill in English. This will help you report conversations accurately in your writing and improve your narrative techniques.
What is direct and indirect speech?
Direct speech
When you write direct speech, you're recording the precise words that a person actually said. Think of it as capturing someone's speech word-for-word, exactly as they spoke it.
Key features of direct speech:
- You must use quotation marks (" ") to show the exact words spoken
- All punctuation marks (like commas, full stops, question marks, and exclamation marks) go inside the quotation marks
- The verb "said" or similar reporting verbs appear outside the quotation marks
Direct Speech Example:
Nosipho said, "My family will be going to a soccer match next Saturday."
Notice how the exact words are enclosed in quotation marks, and the comma appears before the opening quotation mark.
Indirect (reported) speech
Indirect speech (also called reported speech) allows you to tell someone what was said by another person, but you use your own words instead of the speaker's exact words. You're reporting the message rather than quoting it directly.
Key features of indirect speech:
- No quotation marks are used at all
- The verb tenses backshift (move backwards in time)
- The word "that" often introduces the reported sentence
- Pronouns, time expressions, and place expressions may need to change
Indirect Speech Example:
Nosipho said that her family would be going to a soccer match the following Saturday.
Notice how there are no quotation marks, and the tense has changed from "will be going" to "would be going."
Key changes from direct to indirect speech
Removing quotation marks
The most obvious change is that quotation marks disappear completely when you convert to indirect speech. Instead, you use reporting words like "said that", "asked whether", or "told me that" to introduce what was said.
Example:
- Direct: Sipho asked, "Are you coming to the party?"
- Indirect: Sipho asked whether I was coming to the party.
Notice how the question becomes a statement when reported. Questions in direct speech are converted to statements in indirect speech, and the question mark disappears.
Verb tense changes (backshifting)
When you convert direct speech to indirect speech, the verb tenses "backshift" – they move one step back into the past. This happens because you're reporting something that was said at an earlier time.
Here are the most common backshifting patterns you need to learn:
| Direct speech tense | Changes to | Indirect speech example |
|---|---|---|
| is/am | was | "I am sick." → He said (that) he was sick. |
| are | were | "They are happy." → She said (that) they were happy. |
| will | would | "She will help." → He said (that) she would help. |
| can | could | "I can swim." → She said (that) she could swim. |
| must | had to | "You must study." → He said (that) I had to study. |
| have/has | had | "I have finished." → She said (that) she had finished. |
Critical Rule About Backshifting:
The backshift only happens when the reporting verb (like "said") is in the past tense. If someone says something that's still true now, you might not need to backshift.
For example: "The Earth is round" → She said the Earth is round (not "was round" because it's still true).
Other important changes
Pronoun changes
When you report what someone else said, you often need to change the pronouns to match the new perspective. You're no longer speaking from the original speaker's point of view.
Common pronoun changes:
- I changes to he/she
- we changes to they
- us changes to them
- my changes to his/her
Worked Example: Pronoun Changes
Direct: "I love my school."
Indirect: She said that she loved her school.
Analysis: Notice how both "I" and "my" change to reflect that we're now talking about the speaker from an outside perspective. The pronoun "I" becomes "she" (third person), and the possessive "my" becomes "her."
Time and place changes
Time and place expressions need to shift to match when and where you're reporting the speech. Words like "now", "today", and "tomorrow" need to change because they're relative to when they were originally said.
| Direct speech | Changes to | Indirect speech example |
|---|---|---|
| now | then | "I am happy now." → He said he was happy then. |
| today | that day | "We will meet today." → She said they would meet that day. |
| tomorrow | the next day | "I'll see you tomorrow." → He said he would see me the next day. |
| yesterday | the previous day | "I saw her yesterday." → He said he had seen her the previous day. |
| last week | the week before | "We visited last week." → She said they had visited the week before. |
These changes help make clear when events actually happened in relation to when they were reported. The time reference shifts from the speaker's "now" to the reporter's "then."
Punctuation in reported speech
When you write indirect speech, punctuation rules change significantly from direct speech:
Key punctuation rules:
- No exclamation marks or question marks are used in indirect speech (unless you're including a direct quote within the reported speech)
- No commas appear inside quotation marks because there are no quotation marks at all
- The sentence flows as a normal statement
Worked Example: Punctuation Changes
Direct: "We've won the competition!" they shouted.
Indirect: They shouted that they had won the competition.
Analysis: Notice how the exclamation mark disappears and the sentence becomes a calm statement. The emotional tone is conveyed through the reporting verb "shouted" rather than through punctuation.
Worked examples
Let's look at several examples to see how all these rules work together in practice.
Worked Example 1: Complete Transformation
Direct speech: "I can't give my baby a good life here," the young lady said.
Reported speech: The young lady said that she couldn't give her baby a good life there.
Changes made:
- Removed quotation marks
- "can't" backshifted to "couldn't"
- "I" changed to "she"
- "my" changed to "her"
- "here" changed to "there"
Worked Example 2: Multiple Verb Changes
Direct speech: Graça Machel said, "It is something you give a young girl that can never be taken away."
Reported speech: Graça Machel said that it was something you gave a young girl that could never be taken away.
Changes made:
- Removed quotation marks
- "is" backshifted to "was"
- "give" changed to "gave"
- "can" backshifted to "could"
Worked Example 3: Future Tense Conversion
Direct speech: He wanted to say, "I will never forget you or your parents."
Reported speech: He wanted to say that he would never forget him or his parents.
Changes made:
- Removed quotation marks
- "will" backshifted to "would"
- "you" changed to "him"
- "your" changed to "his"
Worked Example 4: Time and Reporting Verb Changes
Direct speech: Yesterday Robert Phipps said, "Mary, your eyes are the windows to your soul."
Reported speech: The previous day, Robert Phipps told Mary that her eyes were the windows to her soul.
Changes made:
- Removed quotation marks
- "Yesterday" changed to "The previous day"
- "said" could change to "told" (when you include the listener's name)
- "your" changed to "her" (Mary is now referred to in third person)
- "are" backshifted to "were"
Exam tips
Important Exam Strategies:
- Always check that you've removed all quotation marks when writing indirect speech
- Remember to backshift your verb tenses consistently throughout the sentence
- Pay special attention to time words – they almost always need to change
- Don't forget to change pronouns from the speaker's perspective to an outside observer's perspective
- When converting questions, they become statements (remove the question mark)
- The word "that" after the reporting verb is optional but often helpful for clarity
Key Points to Remember:
- Direct speech uses the exact words with quotation marks; indirect speech reports the message without quotation marks
- Backshifting means moving verb tenses one step into the past (will → would, can → could, is/am → was)
- Pronouns change from the speaker's perspective to an outside observer's view (I → he/she, my → his/her)
- Time and place expressions shift to show the passage of time (now → then, today → that day, yesterday → the previous day)
- Punctuation changes – no quotation marks, no exclamation marks or question marks in indirect speech