Direct and Indirect Speech Examples

Now, let’s have a look at the rules which are specific to the sentences. These are certain rules that you need to follow & remember for the questions of Direct & Indirect speech:

1. Assertive Sentence

The inverted commas (“ “) used in Direct Narration is removed in Indirect Narration and “that” conjunction is used.
Says to/said to is converted into tells/told in indirect speech if they are followed by an object. If not, they would remain the same in indirect speech.

Examples:

Direct: Ram said, “I am ill”
 
Indirect: Ram said that he was ill.


Direct: He said, “I must go at once.”

Indirect: He said that he had to go at once.


Direct: Raj said to Sheela, “The Sun rises in the east”.

Indirect: Raj told Sheela that the Sun rises in the east.


Direct: She said, “My uncle came yesterday.”

Indirect: She said that her uncle had come the previous day.


Direct: Nusrat says, “I am never late”

Indirect: Nusrat says that she is never late.

2. Interrogative sentence

Say/Said is changed to ask/asked/wonder/wondered/enquire of/enquired of etc as per the sense of the sentence.  If the reported speech is in YES/NO question form then if/whether is used before reported speech.  If the reported speech is in the form of WH-Question (who/ what/ why/ how/ where/ when/ which etc), no conjunction is used before the question word. The question word itself works as conjunction.

The reported verb is made assertive; i.e. it is kept in the order of subject + verb.
The sign of interrogation (?) is removed and full stop is used.

Examples:

Direct: Rahul said to his teacher, “What is the way to solve the question?”

Indirect: Rahul asked his teacher what the way to solve the question was.


Direct: The stranger said to me, “where do you live?”

Indirect: The stranger asked me where I lived.


Direct: “Where were you last evening?” said the lady to her maid.

Indirect: The lady asked her maid where she had been the previous evening.


Direct: The teacher said to me, “have you submitted your project?”

Indirect: The teacher asked me whether I had submitted my project.


Direct: The doctor said the patient, “Are you feeling better today?”

Indirect: The doctor asked the patient if he was feeling better that day.

3. Imperative sentence

In imperative sentences, order, request, advice, or negative command is given. In negative command, the reported speech starts with Do not or Don’t.

Say/said to is converted into order/ ordered/ command/ commanded/ request/ requested/ urge/ urged/ advise/ advised/ ask/ asked/ tell/ told/ suggest/ suggested as per the sense of the sentence and to is used before the main verb.

For negative commands, inverted commas are removed and not + to + verb (first form) is used. For example, “do not go” is converted into “not to go”.
The words like kindly, and please are removed.

Examples:

Direct: Doshi said to his wife, “Please select one of these necklaces.”

Indirect: Doshi requested his wife to select one of those necklaces.


Direct: “Wait here till I return”, she told them.

Indirect: She ordered them to wait there till she returned.


Direct: Father said, “do not get dry in the rain”.

Indirect: Father advised not to get dry in the rain.


Direct: My mother said, “Blink often if your eyes are dry.”

Indirect: My mother advised me to blink often if my eyes were dry.


Direct: The officer said, “March on, don’t stop unless told!”

Indirect: The officer commanded to march on and not to stop unless told.

Given that the English language is covered in the syllabus for the majority of government exams, including SSC, RRB, IBPS, Insurance, and others, candidates for these positions should thoroughly study the ideas and guidelines of direct and indirect speech. Hence, the topic needs to be understood very precisely.  It is one of those topics of English grammar that are essential for not only passing an exam but also for keeping up the day-to-day conversation at your workplace.