Reported Speech (Indirect Speech)
Reported Speech is used to tell someone what another person said without using their exact words. It’s a crucial grammar topic for the SSC CGL exam.
1. Basic Changes: Direct vs. Reported Speech
- Direct Speech: The exact words of the speaker, enclosed in quotation marks. Example: She said, “I am busy.”
- Reported Speech: Reporting the essence of what was said without quotation marks. Example: She said that she was busy.
2. Important Tense Change Rules (The Golden Rule)
When the reporting verb (e.g., said, told) is in the past tense, the tense of the verb in the reported speech changes.
| Direct Speech (Tense) | Reported Speech (Tense) | Example (Direct) | Example (Reported) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Simple Present | Simple Past | He said, “I like apples.” | He said that he liked apples. |
| Present Continuous | Past Continuous | She said, “I am cooking.” | She said that she was cooking. |
| Present Perfect | Past Perfect | They said, “We have finished.” | They said that they had finished. |
| Present Perfect Continuous | Past Perfect Continuous | He said, “I have been waiting.” | He said that he had been waiting. |
| Simple Past | Past Perfect | She said, “I bought a car.” | She said that she had bought a car. |
| Past Continuous | Past Perfect Continuous | He said, “It was raining.” | He said that it had been raining. |
| Will / Shall | Would | She said, “I will help you.” | She said that she would help me. |
| Can | Could | He said, “I can swim.” | He said that he could swim. |
| May | Might | They said, “It may rain.” | They said that it might rain. |
Exception: If the reporting verb is in the Present or Future tense, or if the reported speech states a universal truth, habitual fact, or historical fact, the tense does NOT change.
- Direct: He says, “I am the best.”
- Reported: He says that he is the best. (Reporting verb ‘says’ is in present tense)
- Direct: The teacher said, “The sun rises in the east.” (Universal Truth)
- Reported: The teacher said that the sun rises in the east.
3. Pronoun Change
Pronouns change according to the sense of the sentence. A simple rule is to see who the pronoun refers to.
- First-person pronouns (I, we, me, us, my, our) in the direct speech change according to the subject of the reporting verb.
- Second-person pronouns (you, your) change according to the object of the reporting verb.
- Third-person pronouns (he, she, it, they, his, her) usually do not change.
Example: Rohan said to me, “Your book is on my table.”
Reported: Rohan told me that my book was on his table.
4. Change in Time and Place Words
| Direct Speech | Reported Speech |
|---|---|
| Now | Then |
| Today | That day |
| Tomorrow | The next day / The following day |
| Yesterday | The previous day / The day before |
| Last night | The previous night |
| Next week | The following week |
| Here | There |
| This | That |
| These | Those |
| Ago | Before |
5. Types of Sentences
A. Reporting Statements
Use the conjunction ‘that‘. The reporting verb ‘said to’ often changes to ‘told‘.
- Direct: He said to me, “I cannot solve this problem.”
- Reported: He told me that he could not solve that problem.
B. Reporting Questions
Use the conjunctions ‘if‘ or ‘whether‘. The sentence structure becomes like a statement (Subject + Verb). No auxiliary verbs (do, does, did) are used. The reporting verb ‘said’ changes to ‘asked‘, ‘enquired‘, etc.
- Direct: She said to me, “Are you coming?”
- Reported: She asked me if I was coming.
- Direct: The man said, “Where is the post office?”
- Reported: The man asked where the post office was.
C. Reporting Commands & Requests
Use the infinitive ‘to‘. The reporting verb changes to ‘ordered‘, ‘commanded‘, ‘requested‘, ‘advised‘, ‘told‘, etc. The structure is: Verb + Object + To + Verb (Infinitive).
- Direct: The officer said to the clerk, “Leave the room immediately.”
- Reported: The officer ordered the clerk to leave the room immediately.
- Direct: She said to me, “Please help me.”
- Reported: She requested me to help her.
D. Reporting Exclamations & Wishes
The reporting verb changes to ‘exclaimed‘, ‘applauded‘, ‘wished‘, ‘prayed‘, etc. Exclamatory words like ‘alas’, ‘hurrah’, ‘what a’, ‘how’ are replaced with words like ‘exclaimed with joy/sorrow’ or ‘applauded saying’.
- Direct: He said, “Alas! I am ruined.”
- Reported: He exclaimed with sorrow that he was ruined.
- Direct: She said, “What a beautiful painting!”
- Reported: She exclaimed that it was a very beautiful painting.