DIRECT AND INDIRECT SPEECH

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

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

e.g. He said, “I want to go home”.

Remarks are placed between inverted commas, and a comma or colon is placed immediately before the remark.

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

e.g. He said (that) he wanted to go home.

There is no comma after say in indirect speech; that can usually be omitted after say and tell + object.

When we turn direct speech into indirect, some changes are necessary.

After present, future and present perfect reporting verbs, tenses are usually the same as in the original:

e.g. I’ll tell her your idea is great.

       Tom says he doesn’t want to play any more.

       The government has announced that taxes will be raised.

After past reporting verbs, the verbs of the original speech are usually “backshifted” – made more past. In this case the rule of sequence of tenses is applied. The changes are shown in the following table