English for Today by Ganiu Abisoye Bamgbose (GAB)
REPORTED SPEECH
This is when a speaker’s speech is reported by paraphrasing the words in the speech. It is different from a direct speech where quotation marks are used to mark the actual speech of the speaker. Changing a direct speech to an indirect one requires the knowledge of the following rules:
1. Indirect speeches begin with saying verbs such as ‘He asked’, ‘He said that’, ‘He concluded that’ etc.
2. When the direct speech is in present tense, the reported speech will take the past tense: ‘I am happy’ said the boy- The boy said that he was happy.
Note: When the direct speech is an eternal truth, the tense of the verb does not change in the reported speech: ‘Sugar is sweet’ said the Biology teacher- The Biology teacher said that Sugar is sweet.
To be continued…
Ganiu Abisoye Bamgbose (GAB)
Academic Advisor, Distance Learning Centre, University of Ibadan;
&
Doctoral Student of English, University of Ibadan.
