Rules for changing Direct Speech into Indirect Speech

Rule:1. The adverbs of nearness should be put into those of distance.

Direct Speech	-	Indirect Speech
now	-	Then
here	-	There
this	-	That
these	-	Those
ago	-	Before
thus	-	So
to-day	-	that day
to-night	-	that night
yesterday	-	the day before (or) the previous day
tomorrow	-	the next day (or) the following day
last week	-	the week before
next week	-	the week after

Rule: 2. Tenses.

• If the reporting verb is in the Present or Future tense (e.g., say, will say) there is no change in the tense of the verb in the Indirect speech.
  Antony says, “I eat a mango”. (D.S.)
  Antony says, that he eats a mango”. (I.S.)
• If Reporting Verb is in the Past Tense. The tense of the verbs in the reported speech or Indirect Speech must be generally changed.

1. Present Tense in the Direct becomes p.ast tense.
Johnsi said, “I write a letter”. (D.S)
Johnsi said that she wrote a letter. (I.S)

2. Past Tense in the direct becomes past perfect or remains unchanged.
Angel said, “I brought a pen yesterday”. (D.S)
Angel said that she had bought a pen the day before. (I.S)

3. Present Continuous in the direct becomes past continuous.
John said, “I am going to church”. (D.S)
John said that he was going to church. (I.S)

4. Past Continuous in the direct becomes past perfect continuous.
Nelson said, “I was playing cricket”. (D.S)
Nelson said that he had been playing cricket. (I.S)

5. Present Perfect in the direct becomes past perfect.
Kamal said, “I have done my home work”. (D.S)
Nelson said that he had done his home work. (I.S)

6. Present Perfect Continuous in the direct becomes past perfect continuous.
He said, “I have been reading a novel”. (D.S)
He said that he had been reading a novel. (I.S)

7. ‘Will’ and ‘Shall’ are changed to ‘would’.
He said, “I will go to London tomorrow”. (D.S)
He said that he would go to London the next day. (I.S)

8.

may	-	Might
can	-	Could
must	-	had to (or) must

Johnsi said, “I must go now”. (D.S)
Johnsi said that she must (or) had to go then. (I.S)

Exception to the above rule:
If the direct speech contains the Universal Truth, the tense of the direct speech remains unchanged even if the reporting verb is in the past.

The teacher said, “The sun rises in the East”. (D.S)
The teacher said that the sun rises in the East. (I.S)

Statement (or) Assertive Sentence
Rules:

• Remove the quotation marks in the statement
• Use the conjuction ‘that’
• Change the reporting verb ‘say to’ into ‘tell’
• Change the reporting verb ‘said to’ into ‘told’

Note: