What I Have Learned On a separate sheet of paper, answer the following questions 1. What is the importance of learning about direct and reported speech? 2. How can you apply what you have learned on your daily life?
Direct and indirect speech can be a source of confusion for English learners. Let's first define the terms, then look at how to talk about what someone said, and how to convert speech from direct to indirect or vice-versa.
You can answer the question What did he say? in two ways:
by repeating the words spoken (direct speech)
by reporting the words spoken (indirect or reported speech).
1.).Indirect speech
Reported or indirect speech is usually used to talk about the past, so we normally change the tense of the words spoken. We use reporting verbs like 'say', 'tell', 'ask', and we may use the word 'that' to introduce the reported words. Inverted commas are not used.
She said, "I saw him." (direct speech) = She said that she had seen him. (indirect speech)
"That" may be omitted:
She told him that she was happy. = She told him she was happy.
2.).Say" and "tell"
Use 'say' when there is no indirect object:
He said that he was tired.
Always use 'tell' when you say who was being spoken to (i.e. with an indirect object):
He told me that he was tired.
3.).Talk" and "speak"
Use these verbs to describe the action of communicating:
He talked to us.
She was speaking on the telephone.
Use these verbs with 'about' to refer to what was said:
