direct speech reports someone’s

Direct and indirect speech

indirect speech reports someone’s

wording

meaning

forms of speech quotations

quotations usually involve two clausesquotations usually involve two clauses

whose saying (=reporting clause)

the saying

eg

John said I’m going home

John said that he was going home

direct

indirect

exceptexcept free direct speech

(1 clause)

clause 1 clause 2

The two clauses – who said + what they said –can occur in any order, i.e.

direct speech: reporting someone’s

wording

‘What’s going on?’ Ali demanded.

Ali demanded, ‘What’s going on?’

and…

who saidwhat was said

what was said

who said

Subject and verb order in the reporting clause can be reversed IF the reporting clause comes last

‘What’s going on?’ demanded Ali .

SV

‘What’s going on?’ Ali demanded. S V

punctuation in direct speech punctuation in direct speech

‘I am going home,’ said John, ‘Are you coming?’

punctuation marks are placed inside the quotation marks

comma before

or after the quoted words;

words within words

a quote within a quote is enclosed in quotation marks that are not the same as those already in use

a quote within a quote is enclosed in quotation marks that are not the same as those already in use

e.g. “What did Ma say?” asked Mei.

“Ma said ‘Come home’,” Ali replied.

indirect speech: reporting someone’s

meaningJohn said (that) he was going home.

The two clauses – who said + what they said –

cannot occur in any order; the reporting clause (i.e. the one that

identifies who said) must come first.

warning

grammatical features of indirect speech

When we say something we identify persons, things, places and times with reference to the speech situation.

e.g. Sue said, “I stayed here last year”

I stayed here last year

Sue Ai Lee

When we report the meaning of the

saying through indirect speech, we

must transform all references to the

speech situation - time, place and

persons.e.g. Sue said she had stayed there the year before

transforming references to persons

people refer to themselves using the

personal pronoun (I/me). This 1st

person pronoun has to be

transformed into a 3rd person

pronoun (he/she)

pronouns (personal and demonstrative) in indirect speech

e.g.

John said he was coming

John said, “I am coming.”

“I know this trick of yours,” said Alice

Alice said she knew that trick of his.

tomorrow becomes the following day

yesterday the day before

(the previous day)

today/tonight that day/night

here there

time and place in indirect speech

direct indirect

e.g.

time and place in indirect speech

John said, “I can walk here

tonight.”

John said he could walk there that night.

present tense becomes past tense

present continuous

past continuous

present perfect

past perfect

can could

shall/will should/would

may/might might

must/ has to had to

tense/modality in indirect speech

direct indirect

tense / modality in indirect speech

John said, “I am

coming.”John said he was coming

John said, “We left yesterday.” John said they had

left the day before.

John said, “We must go tomorrow.”

John said they had to go the next day.

reported questions in indirect speech

“When will he be coming?” she asked

She asked when he would be coming

in most question forms the order of Subject and auxiliary verb is: auxiliary followed by Subject, e.g.

in most question forms the order of Subject and auxiliary verb is: auxiliary followed by Subject, e.g.

When a question is reported indirectly then the order is Subject followed by auxiliary, e.g. When a question is reported indirectly then the order is Subject followed by auxiliary, e.g.

Aux

Aux

S

S

reported commands

Help yourselves He told (invited) them to help themselves

He told (invited) us to help ourselves

“Help yourselves,” he said

in free direct sp

eech

the reportin

g

clause (who sa

id)

disappears

free direct speech

‘Coming out tonight?’‘No, I’ve got to work.’

a literary device

free indirect speech

She wouldn’t go out tonight, she thought. She had work to do.

free indirect speech has features of both direct & indirect speech

the reporting

clause can come

after the quote;

the quote contains

mixed references to

time, place and

persons.

She wouldn’t go out tonight, she thought. She had work to do.

Active and passive1.The boy chased the girl. 2. The girl was chased by the boy.

in clause 1 the –er role is expressed by a noun phrase – The boy

in clause 2 the –er role is expressed by a prepositional phrase – by the boy

clause 1 is in the active;

clause 2 is in the passive.

the do-er of the action – the chaser – is the boy

why use the passive?

to speak impersonally, without assigning someone or something the responsibility for the event.

e.g. The girl was chased.

The window was smashed.

This makes our message seem detached

and objective

Making the active sentence passive

passive

subject

active

The boy saw the girl (didn’t he?)

The girl was seen by the boy (wasn’t she?)

verb object

subject verb object

not all verbs can be expressed as either active or passive. Some verbs can only be expressed as active, i.e. most intransitive verbs, e.g.

warning

The ship sailed at midnight

common errors

• inverting subject and auxiliary in reported questions, e.g.

When will they be coming?

She asked when would they be coming.

She asked when they would be coming.

• Dad, today the teacher asked me if I had any brothers or sisters.

• That’s nice of her to take an interest in you. What did she say when you told her you are an only child?

• She said, “Thank goodness.”

At a restaurant

• Waiter, what are these coins doing in my soup?

• Well, sir, you said you would stop coming to this restaurant unless there was some change in the meals.

• What kind of ants can be found in houses?• OccupANTS

• A teacher asked his class to write an essay about a football match. A minute later all the students were writing except for one child.

• The teacher looked at her paper.

• It said, “The game was cancelled because of rain.”

• Why are you putting a bandage on your pay cheque?

• Because my salary has just been cut.

Task a)Lin said she did not know why she had been so honoured, although she said that she had been wearing all her badges from when she was in the air force. She described how, when they had got on the plane, the crew had taken her on first, carrying her on with a lift. She recalled that when she first boarded, she and the pilot had been the only people sitting in the plane.

Changing from direct to indirect speech

• make incomplete/unpunctuated sentences into complete/punctuated sentences.

• Omit filler words such as really and er.• Use a range of verbs to precede or follow.

what was spoken, e.g. described, recalled.• Change from first person to third person.• Change from present to past, past to past

perfect

text in direct speech vs text in indirect speech

• Direct:• informal• immediate• creates sense of

character• sometimes

difficult to follow

• Indirect:• formal• removed• less sense of

character• easier to follow

Task b)1. No one wants to take the blame for losing the

file2. The play is considered an object in its own

right, distinct from its author3. There is no single subject for this statement4. He was not injured deliberately, or by an

animate agent, so there is no clear subject5. Someone must have broken the window, but

the structure suggests that no one wants to take responsibility for it, or the agent is not known

6. Who conducted the research is not considered relevant.

7. The passive is used to sound factual.8. This is reporting a scientific fact, with

no need to know who did the heating.

changing from passive to active

Regrettably, your file has been

lost.

Regrettably, (I regret that) I lost your file.

I will pay you $5000 so that you can replace it.

you will be paid $5000 so that it can be replaced.

Shakespeare wrote

Macbeth in 1606.

Macbeth was written

in 1606.

“The pilot must have seen the badges on my jacket,” said Lin.

Lin surmised/speculated that the pilot had seen the badges on her jacket.

Lin claimed that the pilot had almost certainly seen the badges on her jacket.

certainty (opinion) must;

surmise; speculate

“I’m in a wheelchair so I must be lifted into the plane,” explained Lin.

Lin explained that, because she was in a wheelchair, she had to be lifted into the plane.

Lin explained that, because she was in a wheelchair, she must be lifted into the plane

0bligation;must;

have to

“I’m in a wheelchair so I must be lifted into the plane,” explained Lin.

Lin explained that, because she is in a wheelchair, she must be lifted into the plane.

0bligation;must;

have to

Lin explained that, because she is in a wheelchair, she has to be lifted into the plane.