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Com Skills Lesson 4
Com Skills Lesson 4
Com Skills Lesson 4
YEAR 1
SEMESTER 1
WEEK. 4
TOPIC Direct and Indirect
Speech
LECTURER Khalil Ibrahim Abdul-
Rahman Fofanah
DIRECT AND INDIRECT/REPORTED SPEECH
What is a Direct Speech?
A speech is said to be direct when the exact words of a speaker
or writer are being re-echoed or re-written by another person in
speech/utterance or writing. In speech, direct speech is identified
or is made known to the audience or readers by the use of the
phrase, quote and unquote or, and I quote. In writing, direct
speech is identified by the use of the quotation marks (‘….’)
What is a Indirect Speech?
A speech is said to be indirect when the exact words of a
speaker or writer are transformed into other words, maintaining
the same meaning but has some changes in structure.
BASIC RULES FOR REPORTING
When reporting, the following techniques/guide lines should be
taken into consideration/account:
1. VERB.
In reporting, when the present tense is used in the direct
speech, it most times changes in the indirect/report form.
This however is not the case when the idea in the direct
speech is one that is said to be habitual, or generally
accepted, regular event, or of universal truth.
The verbs in the direct speech change as follows:
Example
(i) ‘I am here to see you’, said the man```.(Direct speech)
The man said that he was there to see you (Indirect speech)
(ii) ‘I eat rice every day’, said the man (Direct speech)
The man said that he eats rice every day (Indirect speech)
(vi) ‘We have gone home’, said the old man (Direct Speech)
The old man said that they had gone home. (Indirect speech)
Note
When changing the pronoun used in the Direct speech, such as, ‘I’; there is
the need to change the verb form as well; as demonstrated in the examples
above.
2. THE PRONOUN
The pronouns in the direct speech change as follows in the indirect speech
(b)‘I have an unparalleled beauty’ , Susan said to her friend (speaker and
person spoken to)
Susan told her friend that she had an unparalleled.
However, the tone of the voice, the mood, the punctuation marks (?, !), the
choice of words are other determinants for the introductory phrases for
indirect speech.
(a)……..asked…..whether……
(b)……asked…..if………..
Examples
’ill you go with me to the house?’ ,said John to Mary
John asked Mary whether/if she would go with him to the house
(a)…….ordered…..to…..
(a) ……instructed…..to…..
Example
Example