Direct to Indirect Speech

★Speech/ Narration: Speech is the process of describing a story to an audience. Direct to Indirect speech happens when we report narrated speech to someone in our own words.

Speeches are narrated in two ways:

1- Direct Speech: When someone narrates a commentary using the exact words of the speaker.

ex: Sayed said, "I'm teaching English online."

2- Indirect Speech: When someone narrates a commentary of the speaker in his own words.

ex: Sayed said to her that he was teaching English online.

In the above example of Direct Speech, the narrator said what Sayed exactly said but in the example of Indirect Speech the narrator said Sayed's commentary in his own words.

★Basic structures of direct speech:

To change direct speech into indirect, one must have a clear sense of the basic structures of direct speech. Here, I'm trying to show some basic structure of direct speech.

(ⅰ)- Reporting Speech(,) + "Reported Speech"

ex: Saif said to me, "Where do you live?"

(ⅱ)- "Reported Speech" + Reporting Speech.

ex: "Do you say your prayer?" Alif said.

Structures of Reporting Speech:

(ⅰ)- sub(Speaker) + Reporting verb(say, said, replied, etc)

ex: Alex said

(ⅱ)- sub(Speaker) + Reporting verb + to + obj(Listener) 

ex: Halena said to John

(ⅲ)- Reporting verb + Obj(Speaker)

ex: Said Halena

note: Reported speeches are always placed in Inverted Comma.

★The basic structure of Indirect Speech:

To make changes direct to indirect speech, one needs to know the basic structure of indirect speech in every step.

(ⅰ)- Sub(speaker) + Rep. verb + obj(listener) + conjunction + sub + verb + obj (.)

ex: Pitter asked me if  I was ill.

note: This structure may not be used as the same in all respects.

★Basic rules of Direct Speech to Indirect Speech:

I'll change the form of speech by following five steps:

Indirect structure: sub + R.v + obj + conj + sub + verb + obj (.)

step-1: Subject and Object

step-2: Reporting verb and Conjunction

step-3: Subject

step-4: verb

step-5: object

Step-1: We have to analyze the direct speech and try to find out the speaker and listener of the Reported Speech. Then the subject will follow the speaker and the object will follow the listener.

Step-2: Read the reported speech and make it clear what sentence has been used there. Then Reporting verb and Conjunction will be used according to the sentence of the reported speech.

★Direct Narration to Indirect Narration (Sentences)

 Step-3: At first, we've to analyze the subject used in the reported speech.

-If the subject is 1st person, we'll use the subject according to the speaker, 

-If the subject is 2nd person, we'll use the subject according to the listener,

-If the subject is 3rd person, there will be no change.

note: Subject in the indirect speech will be used in pronoun form.

Step-4: Read the reported speech and try to understand what tense is used in the direct speech. Then tense will be used in the indirect speech according to some narration changing rules.

★Direct to Indirect Speech (Tenses)

Direct Speech	Indirect Speech
Present Indefinite	Past Indefinite
Present Continuous	Past Continuous
Present Perfect	Past Perfect
Present P. Continuous	Past P. Continuous
Past Indefinite	Past Perfect
Past Continuous	Past P. Continuous
Past Perfect	Past Perfect
Past P. Continuous	Past P. Continuous
Future tense	Future in Past
Shall/will/can/may	Should/would/could/might
Should/would/could/might	Should/would/could/might

Step-5: At last, we have to find out whether there have any pronouns or changeable words in the reported speech. If there have, we have to change them according to some narration changing rules. Otherwise, there has been no change.

★Forms of Personal Pronoun:

Subjective	Possessive Adjective	Objective	Possessive Pronoun
I	My	Me	Mine
We	Our	Us	Ours
You	Your	You	Yours
He	His	Him	His
She	Her	Her	Hers
They	Their	Them	Theirs
It	its	it	its

★Changeable Words:

Direct Narration	Indirect Narration
This	That
These	Those
Here	There
Come	Go
Ago	Before
Now	Then
Today	That day
Tonight	That night
Tomorrow	The following day
Next week	The following week
Next year	The following Year
Yesterday	The Previous day
Last night	The previous night
Last week	The previous week
Last month	The previous month

Exercise: (Practice yourself then match with the following answer)

1. Rajon says, "I am sick."
2. " The earth moves around the Sun, "The scientist said,
3. " I will do my best," Kamal said.
4. Sabbir said to me,  "I met with you yesterday."
5. " I did not explain the matter," John said to me.
6. Mitu said, "That is mine."
7. Saed said to me, "Are you busy now?"
8. Nipa said to Rahul, "Where are you going?"
9. He asked, "What happened last night?"
10. Tarannum said to her, "Did you come to our house yesterday?"
11. Fahim said to her, "Have you had your breakfast?"
12. Munni said to me, "you look sick, don't you?"
13. "Don't make a laugh loudly," the teacher said.
14. The mother said to the son, "Go home at once."
15. Pitter said to me, "Follow the instructions as I tell you"
16. Mamun said. "Please don't talk with me."
17. He said to me, "Let's go a long drive"
18. Rafi said, "Let him do the work"
19. "Either play well or lose the match," my uncle said to me.
20. The bagger said to me, "May Allah be your side."
21. They said, "Long live our Prime Minister."
22. Konka said, "How beautiful the baby is!
23. "What an interesting man Nazrul is!" Said the man.
24. Tanvir said, "Alas! he is no more,"
25. Tuhin said, "What a good idea!"

Exercise (Advanced):

1. Shima said, "Yes, sir, I have completed my assignment."
2. The receptionist said to the client, "Sir, Thank you."
3. Tanim said to me, "Good morning."
4. Mamun said, "Goodbye, Priya."
5. He said, "I'm very lucky today, friends."
6. She said to me, "By my mother, I'll never hurt you again."

Direct to Indirect Speech (Answer):

1. Rajon Says that he is sick.
2. The scientist said that the earth moves around the Sun.
   
3. Kamal said that he would do his best.
4. Sabbir told me that he had met with me the previous day.
5. John told me that he had not explained the matter. 
6. Mitu said that it was her,
7. Saed asked me if I was busy then,
8. Nipa asked Rahul where he was going.
9. He asked what had happened the previous night.
10. Tarannum asked her if she(h) had gone to their house the previous day.
11. Fahim asked her if she had had her breakfast.
12. Munni asked me if I looked sick and hoped that I did.
13. The teacher ordered not to make a laugh loudly.
14. The mother ordered the son to go home at once.
15. Pitter ordered me to follow the instructions as he told me.
16. Mamun requested not to talk with him.
17. He proposed to me that we should go a long drive.
18. Rafi said that he might do the work.
19. My uncle advised me either to play well or to lose the match.
20. The bagger prayed that Allah might be my side.
21. They wished that their Prime Minister might long live.
22. Konka Exclaimed with joy that the baby was very beautiful.
23. The man wondered that Nazrul was a very interesting man.
24. Tanvir exclaimed with sorrow that he was no more.
25. Tuhin exclaimed with joy that it was a very good idea.

Answer (Advanced):

1. Shima politely replied in the affirmative and said that she had completed her assignment.
2. The receptionist politely thanked the client.
3. Tanim wished me good morning.
4. Mamun bade Priya goodbye.
5. Addressing as friends, he said that he was very lucky that day.
6. Swearing by her mother, she told me that she would never hurt me again.

note: Actually, changing narration is a big part of English grammar. Here we have to apply grammatical rules in almost every word. So, to learn the process of direct to indirect speech, we've to practice it as much as possible. In this post, I have just tried to focus on the essential rules of changing narration that will make narration easier for you.