Direct & Indirect Speech

Direct Speech uses the exact words spoken by someone, enclosed in quotation marks. Indirect Speech reports what someone said without using their exact words

Direct - He said, "I am happy." Indirect - He said that he was happy

Remove quotation marks and add 'that' after reporting verb 2. Change pronouns according to subject and object 3. Shift tense backward (present becomes past, past becomes past perfect) 4. Change time expressions (today → that day, yesterday → the day before) 5.

Change place references (here → there, this → that) Tense Conversion Formula: Present Simple → Past Simple Present Continuous → Past Continuous Present Perfect → Past Perfect Past Simple → Past Perfect Will → Would Can → Could May → Might

Students forget to change pronouns correctly. The #1 error is keeping 'I' as 'I' instead of changing it according to the subject

'I' in direct speech becomes 'he/she' in indirect speech based on who is speaking. Also, students often miss changing time expressions like 'today' to 'that day'

Type 1: Simple statements (70% of questions) Type 2: Questions and commands (20% of questions) Type 3: Exclamatory sentences (10% of questions) For interrogative sentences, use 'asked' instead of 'said' and convert question structure to statement structure. For imperative sentences, use 'told/ordered/requested' and add 'to' before the verb.