Reported Speech

Introduction to Reported Speech

Reported speech or indirect speech is the second-hand account of what has been spoken by someone else (direct speech). In the above example, Amit’s friend reports what their teacher had said in the classroom.

Inverted commas (“…”) are used for indicating direct speech, i.e., for showing the exact words spoken by the speaker.

For example:

Teacher: “I will give a test on reported speech tomorrow.”

There are two ways of reporting this direct speech.

I. Direct reported speech: By using the exact words of the speaker.

The teacher said, “I will give a test on reported speech tomorrow.”

As you would have noticed, there is not much difference between direct speech and direct reported speech. Both make use of the inverted commas, thereby indicating that the exact words of the speaker have been used.

However, the use of the reporting verb (‘said’ in this case) in the latter differentiates it from the former.

II. Indirect reported speech: By using one’s own w…