Rules of changing Direct speech to Indirect speech

Rule 1: Rules of changing the personal pronoun:

         Direct Speech                                  Indirect Speech            

You (Case of Nominative)              I/you/he/she/they/it

You (Case of Objective)                  me/him/her/them/it

Your (Case of Possessive)             my/his/her/them/its

I (Case of Nominative)                   I/you/her/she/them/it

Me (Case of objective)                   me/him/her/them/it

My (Case of Possessive)                my/his/her/them/its

He                                                          he

They                                                     they

It                                                             it

We                                                         we

Rule 2: Personal pronouns in different cases

          Nominative       Objective           Possessive          Double Possessive

I                              me                         my                         mine

We                         us                           our                         ours

You                        your                      your                      yours

He                          him                        his                          his/hers

She                         her                         her                         hers

They                     them                     their                      theirs

It                             it                             its                           its

Rule 3: Changing of Direct Speech to Indirect Speech

          Direct Speech                 Indirect Speech

Now                                    Then

Here                                    There

Today                                  That day

Tomorrow                         The next day/the following day

Yesterday                           The previous day/the day before

Last week                           The previous day/the week before

Last month                        The previous month/the month before

Last year                             The previous year/the year before

Last night                            The previous night/the night before

Next week                          The following week

Next month                       The following month

Next year                            The following year

Come                                    go

Ago                                        before

Thus                                      so

Hence                                   thence

Hither                                   thither

This                                       that

These                                    those

This week                           that week

This month                        that month

This year                             that year

This house                          the house

This office                          the office

This pen                              the pen

This computer                 the computer

Tonight                                that night

Rule 4: Changing tense

          Direct Speech                                              Indirect Speech

Present Indefinite Tense                             Past Indefinite Tense

Present Continuous Tense                          Past Continuous Tense

Present Perfect Tense                                Past Perfect Tense

Present Perfect Continuous Tense              Past Perfect Continuous Tense

Past Indefinite  Tense                                 Past Perfect Tense

Past Continuous Tense                               Past Perfect Continuous Tense

Rule 5: Changing Can, May, Will, Shall

        Direct Speech                   Indirect Speech

Can                                        Could

May                                       Might

Will                                       Would

Shall                                      Should

Introduction to Direct and indirect speech or reported

There are two ways of relating what a person has said: direct and indirect.

In direct speech we repeat the original speaker’s exact words:

• I said to you, “I go to my native village.” 
• I said to you. “you are conscious of your duty”

Remarks thus repeated are placed between inverted commas, and a comma or colon is placed immediately before the remark. Direct speech is fund in conversations in books, in plays, and in quotations.

In indirect speech we give the exact meaning of a remark of a speech, without necessarily using the speaker’s exact words:

• I told you that I want to my native village. 
• I told you that you were conscious of your duty.

There is no comma after say in indirect speech. That can usually be omitted after say and tell + object. But it should be kept after other verbs: complain, explain, object, point out, protest etc. Indirect speech is normally used when conversation is reported verbally, though direct speech is sometimes employed here to give here to give a more dramatic effect.

When we turn direct speech into indirect, some changes are usually necessary. These are most easily studied by considering statements, questions, and commends separately.