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Direct vs. Reported Speech

Direct and reported speech are two different ways to say what someone else said.

In direct speech, we quote the exact words that a person said. We put quotation marks around their words and add a speech tag such as "he said" or "she asked" before or after the quote. For example:

"Are you free tonight?" she asked.
"I failed a test last week," she said.
He asked, "Have you seen any good movies lately?"

We can also use direct speech to say what someone is saying right now, as in: She says, "Hurry up."

Reported speech is another way of saying what someone said, but without quotation marks. Reported speech doesn't usually repeat the words exactly as the person said them. It typically changes the tense of the verbs. For example, if the speaker used a present tense verb, we change it to the past tense. If the speaker used a past tense verb, we change it to past perfect. We also change pronouns and time expressions.

See how the quotations given in direct speech above look in reported speech. Notice the changes in verb tense:

She asked if I was free that night.
She said she had failed an exam the week before.
He asked if I had seen any good movies lately.

Direct vs. Reported Speech Grammar Quiz

  1. He said Paul Nash beautiful pictures of war scenes.

  2. She asked, "Where from."

  3. Marie asked me if I of a good lunch spot.

  4. He told the truck driver that been everywhere.

  5. " in a risk-free trial of a timeshare off the coast of Guadalajara?" asked the saleswoman.

Go Super to see the answers! Go Super!

Direct vs. Reported Speech Lessons:

Zayn Malik

Bad Manners

The Expat Bubble

TV on the Radio

Off My Chest

Star Trek

Where the Wild Things Are

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Comments

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lianxs

lianxs

Philippines

i had seen many candlelights at the park.

11:32 AM Mar 15 2010 |

possitive thinking

Thailand

thanks for lessons

01:42 AM Jan 13 2010 |

L_a_d_a

L_a_d_a

Ukraine

In Ukrainian or Russian we have the same situation with direct and reported speech

12:50 PM Nov 20 2009 |

zz-top

zz-top

Uzbekistan

I never thought about it before, but I guess different languages have different ways to deal with direct vs reported speech…  How do other languages do it differently than English?  Thanks!

06:26 PM Oct 14 2009 |

maibeth

Colombia

thank you

05:50 PM Oct 14 2009 |

turki20

turki20

Saudi Arabia

i think it is a good point to be understood.

but all previuos examples were not enough. thank you so much

11:44 PM Oct 11 2009 |

Shannon Zinn

South Africa

Thank you english Baby! this helped alot!!!!

03:36 PM Oct 11 2009 |

Charise

Charise

Philippines

 

Now am learning, wish to have more lessons to come i mean topics.Have a nice day to all.

02:24 AM Jun 22 2009 |

dirtyboy

Russian Federation

I totaly agree!!! This rule need some exercises.

09:45 PM May 07 2009 |

shkurta

shkurta

Albania

good lessons,..thank you

05:05 PM May 02 2009 |