Reported Speech Part-1

When we report words spoken by others, we do it in two ways:

1. We repeat the same words as spoken by others: Direct Speech

2. We report their words in our own words: Indirect Speech

1. Direct Speech: In Direct Speech, we reproduce the exact words spoken by others. We put the words inside quotation marks.

Example:

Uday said, “I have taken the tablets”.

2. Indirect Speech: Here, we report the words spoken by others in our own words. It’s an indirect way of reporting. So, we call it Indirect Speech. We don’t use quotation marks here.

Example:

Uday said that he had taken the tablets.

Rules for changing a sentence from Direct Speech to Indirect Speech:

1. We remove comma and quotation marks, and replace them with ‘that’

2. The reported verb takes its past form.

3. The pronouns are changed according to the subject and the situation.

(In the above example, said is the reporting verb and have taken is the reported verb.)

Let’s change a few sentences from Direct Speech to Indirect Speech.

1. Alia said, “I am happy”. ( Direct Speech )

Alia said that she was happy. ( Indirect Speech )

2. Fatima said to me, “ You are late”. ( Direct )

Fatima told me that I was late. ( Indirect )

3. He said, “I have finished the novel”. ( Direct )

He said that he had finished the novel. ( Indirect )

4. Haasini said, “I am watching TV now” ( Direct )

Haasini said that she was watching TV then. ( Indirect )

Practice

Transform the following sentences from Direct Speech to Indirect Speech

1. They said to me, “We have brought some gifts for him”.

2. Jyothi said, “I am preparing coffee now”.

3. Simran said, “My brother watches movies a lot”.

4. Meghana said, “He is sorrowful”.

5. He said, “I finished my dinner”.

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Phrase

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Article: The

Let’s learn how to use the definite article ‘ the ’. Usage of the definite article ( ‘the’ ) : 1. Observe the following paragraph: One day, I saw a rat in my house. I thought there were many rats living in our house. So, I brought a cat from my friend’s house. I gave the cat all the food it required. It ate well and moved around the house. But a month after bringing the cat, to my surprise, one day I found the cat playing with the same rat. Now, they have become good buddies. You learn from the above paragraph that when we used ‘rat’ or ‘cat’ and ‘house’ for the first time, we used ‘a’ before them. But, when we used the words for the second or third time, we kept ‘the’ before them. So, the definite article ‘the’ is used before the persons or things that we already know beforehand. 2. ‘The’ is used with a noun whose identity is clear to the listener and the speaker from the context. Our classroom is on the second floor. ( the second floor of our school building ) What is the...

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