Page 136 - New Grammar with a Smile 6

Direct and

19 Indirect Speech

Warm-up

Insert inverted commas where required.

1. Leena said, I have a headache.

2. The principal said, Meet me tomorrow. I am busy now.

3. Waiter, there’s a fly in my soup, cried Avani.

4. She said, Thank you very much

5. Hurry up, she said to us.

6. Please pass me the jug of water, Ravi said.

7. Mahima said, I go to school by bus.

8. Ravi said, I must reach school on time.

When we report the exact words of the speaker, we use direct speech. When
we report the words of the speaker in our own words, we use indirect speech.

Rules to change a sentence from direct to indirect speech.

1. The inverted commas of direct speech are removed in indirect speech.
2. The comma after the reporting verb is removed in indirect speech.

3. The conjunction that is used to join the reporting verb to the rest of the sentence.

4. The verbs such as said and told (say/tell) which report a speaker’s words are
called reporting verbs. For example,
• Satish said, ‘I am going to watch the match.’
Satish said that he was going to watch the match.

5. However, if the reporting verb is in the present tense, no change in the tense of
the verb of the reported speech takes place. For example,

• Ila says, ‘I want to become an architect.’
Ila says that she wants to become an architect.

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