Reported Speech: DIRECT INDIRECT (Part 2 & 3)If Reported Verb is in Present/Future Tense / Past Tense WITH EXERCISES: CBSE BASES REPORTED SPEECH

HOW TO CHANGE THE TENSE OF REPORTED SPEECH

It is very important to understand how to change ‘SAY’ differently according to different tenses because one single wrong use of SAY will lead you to a wrong formation of the result, consequently your complete sentences will be marked wrong. So be very much attentive while changing the formation of ‘say ‘ in a Reported Speech.

1. HOW TO CHANGE ‘say’ in PRESENT TENSE

PRESENT

Kind of Sentence	Reporting Verb	Reported Speech	Connector
Assertive	Say  Says Say to Says to   is saying is saying to has/have said has/have said to has /have been saying has/ have been saying to	Say says tell tells is saying is telling has/have said has/have told has/have been saying has/have been telling	that

Sneha says to me,” Nikita likes to play chess very well”

Sneha tells that Nikita likes to play cricket.

Ritu has said, “ I have already won the match.”

Ritu has said that she has already won the match.

Deepak is saying, “ Nitin will come here today”

Deepak is saying that Nitin will go there that day.

Akshara has said to Anshi, I shall cook today. My mother is not fine.

Akshara has informed Anshi that she will cook that day because

her mother is not fine.

FUTURE

HOW TO CHANGE ‘SAY’ IN FUTURE TENSE

Kind of Sentence	Reporting Verb	Reported Speech	Connector
Assertive	Will say Will say to Will have said I will have said to Will/ shall have been saying Will/shall have been saying to	Will say Will tell will have said, Will have told Will/shall have been saying Will / shall have been telling	that

HOW TO CHANGE THE TENSE OF REPORTED SPEECH

PART 1: IF REPORTING VERB IS IN PRESENT OR FUTURE TENSE

1. If Reporting Verb is in Present / Future Tense in Direct speech, there will not be any kind of change of Tense in Reported Speech:

eg.

Sneha says to me,” Nikita likes to play chess very well”

Sneha tells that Nikita likes to play cricket.

Ritu has said, “ I have already won the match.”

Ritu has said that she has already won the match.

Deepak is saying, “ Nitin will come here today”

Deepak is saying that Nitin will go there that day.

Deepika will say, ” Nikhil will be present tomorrow.”

Deepak will say that Nikhil would be present the next day.

I shall say to Siddhant, ” Mohini has failed. Her father has

forbidden her now to study anymore.

I shall tell to Siddhant that Mohini has failed as a result,

her father has forbidden her to study anymore.

Exercise 1

Please first solve the exercise then check the answers through the link given below.

a. I Radha says,” Tapan is a nice boy.”

b. Ankita says, ” They enjoyed the game.”

c. “I can’t beat you.” says Abhimanyu to Arjuna.

d. The teacher will say, ” These boys never complete their work.”

e. Ahana will be saying, ” I met with my best friend here Last year.”

f. Samridhi tells  Sukriti,”Amrita will be playing chess at this time tomorrow.”

g. “If you can not assist me”, says Pushpendra to his friend ” I will not be able to listen

to you in future.”

PART 2: IF REPORTING VERB IS IN PAST TENSE

So if there is a Past Tense in Reporting verb in Direct Speech, the changes in Reported Speech will take place according to the list given below:-

Direct Speech – Indirect Speech

Present Tense –   Past Tense

Past Tense –   Past Perfect

Past Perfect –    No Change

Past Perfect Continuous- No change

Will/Shall   – Would/ Should ( Be attentive to the Person)

Must –  Must / had to

Can –   could

May –   might

Would/could/should/ ought to

Should might/ might have/had to –

No change

CHANGES IN DETAIL :

WITH EACH PART OF TENSE

	DIRECT SPEECH	INDIRECT SPEECH
	Simple Present	Simple Past
	Present Continuous	Past Continuous
	Present Perfect	Past Perfect
	Presnt Perfect Continuous	Past Perfect Continuous

DIRECT SPEECH	INDIRECT SPEECH
Simple Past	Past Perfect
Past Continuous	Past Perfect Continuous
Past Perfect	No Change
Past Perfect Continuos	No Change

DIRECT SPEECH	INDIRECT SPEECH
Will/shall	Would/should
Can	Could
May	Might
Must	Must/ had to
Would/should/could/might/ /ought to /must have/ would have could have/ should have / ought to have	No change
HAPPY LEARNING!

HOW TO CHANGE ‘SAY’ IN REPORTED SPEECH:-

Kind of Sentence	Reporting Verb	Reported Speech	Connector
Assertive	Say  Says Say to Says to Said Said to Told	say says tell Tells ( reports / ) said told (reported)	that

EXAMPLES:

If Reported Speech is in –

Present

Sheetal said  , “ Minakshi likes to fly kite.”

Sheetal said that Meenakshi liked to fly kite.

Akanksha said to Aditya , Minakshi is flying a kite”

Akanksha told Aditya that Minakshi was flying a kite.

Amit said to Anshu , “ Antima has finished her coffee.”

Amit told Anshu that Antima had finished her coffee.

If Reported Speech is in –

Past  

Sheetal said  , “ Minakshi liked to fly kite.”

Sheetal said that Minakshi had liked to fly kite.

Akanksha said to Aditya , Minakshi was flying a kite”

Akanksha told Aditya that Minakshi had been flying a kite.

Amit said to Anshu , “ Antima had finished her coffee.”

Amit told Anshu that Antima had finished her coffee.

If Reported Speech is in –

Future  

Sheetal said  , “ Minakshi will  fly a kite.”

Sheetal said that Minakshi would fly a kite.

Akanksha said to Aditya , Minakshi will be flying a kite”

Akanksha told Aditya that Minakshi would be flying a kite.

Amit said to Anshu , “ Antima will have finished her coffee.”

Amit told Anshu that Antima would have finished her coffee.

If Reported Speech is in Modal Verbs:-

HOW TO CHANGE MODALS

DIRECT SPEECH	INDIRECT SPEECH
Will/shall	Would/should
Can	Could
May	Might
Must	Must/ had to
Would/should/could/might/ /ought to /must have/ would have could have/ should have / ought to have	No change

Examples:

Nikita said to me, ” I can not help you right now.”

Nikita told me that she could not help me right then .

Swati said , “I would like to have coffee. “

Swati said that that she would like to have coffee.

UNIVERSAL TRUTH SCIENTIFIC FACTS / HABITUAL SENTENCES

With universal truth/ general or scientific facts/ habitual sentences,

we must never change the Tense of Reported Speech

The teacher said to the students , “ The sun itself is a star.”

The teacher told the students that the sun itself is a star.”

Arjun said  , “ The cat runs after the rat.”

Arjun said  that the cat runs after the rat.

Rahul said to Ankur, “ Avishka always comes late.”

Rahul to Ankur that Avishka always comes late.

Sukriti said to Sanskrti , “Amisha use to have walk early morning .”

Sukriti told Sanskriti that Amisha use to have a walk early morning.

Exercise 2

Please first solve the exercise then check the answers through the link given below.

1. Richard said, “Julia is writing a letter.”
2. Ananya said to me. “He swims very well.”
3. The sage said,” God loves all .”
4. “ Ananya has been writing a poem for the last 2 hours”, said Disha to Nisha.
5. The musician  said, “True music pours out from the hearts naturally.”
6. Divya said, “ God saves those who save themselves.”
7. He said, “ Angel has completed her work.”
8. Ritvik said to me, I shall leave for  Vijayanagar soon.”
9. “Cynthia is the Moon goddess according to Greek mythology.”, told the teacher to her students.
10. “Nikita,”said Ashu to Gazala, “had not met with her sister yet.”