Verbal Ability - Direct & Reported Speech

Introduction

Direct speech are exact quotes of the speech. They are completely identical transcripts of speech between two people.

For Example

• He said, “Tell me what you know.”

  I said, “I don’t know anything on this topic.”

Reported speech is the way a listener would narrate the incident in front of another person.

For Example

• He asked me to tell what I knew

  I said that I didn’t know anything on that topic.

Direct to Reported Speech

The verbs in present tense will change into their corresponding past tenses in the following manner −

• Simple present to simple past
• Present progressive to past progressive
• Present perfect to past perfect
• Present perfect progressive to past perfect progressive.
• The word “will, shall” will be replaced by “would”.
• The word “can” will be replaced by “could”.

Important

The only action words that will not change its tense are actions that are universal truth.

For Example

• Direct Speech − “The Sun rises in the east.”
• Indirect Speech − He told me that the sun rises in the east.