Tema 30. El discurso directo y el discurso indirecto.

TEMA 30. EL DISCURSO DIRECTO Y EL DISCURSO INDIRECTO.

1. Introduction.

2. Direct Speech.

3. Indirect Speech

3.1. Main changes

3.2. Types of reported clauses

4. Free indirect speech

5. Conclusion

6. Bibliography.

1. Introduction

When one wishes to report what someone else has said or

thought, we can either quote the words directly, that is to say, use

Direct Speech i.e. She says: “ Fruit is best eaten in season” or we

may adapt the words according to the circumstances in which they

are quoted, that is, use Indirect Speech, i.e. “She said that fruit is

best eaten in season”.

In ordinary conversation, we use Indirect Speech much more often

than Direct Speech. This is because we usually do not know, or

cannot remember, the exact words that someone said. Therefore, this

topic is of the outmost importance for us teachers, since Indirect

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Tema 30. El discurso directo y el discurso indirecto.

Speech can be used as a tool for communication in our daily

conversation.

As regards as to wether use the term “indirect” or “reported”

speech, there are authors_ like Sylvia Chalker_ who make a

distintion between them. However, as I will be following Quirk, I will

use his terminology, namely, “direct” vs. “indirect”.

2.Direct Speech.

In direct speech we reapeat the exact words that the reported

has uttered,i.e. He said, “I have lost my umbrella”.

There are two clauses joined by a comma or colon. The

reporting clause contains the reporting verb_ He said_, and the quote

clause is the exact repetition of the speaker´s words enclosed in

quotation marks_ “I have lost my umbrella”_.

The reporting clause may occur before, within or after the quote

clause, i.e. Mrs Dalloway said, “I will buy the flowers myself”, we

have an example of initial reporting clause. If, on the contrary, we

placed the reporting quote before the reporting clause, _ “I will buy

the flowers myself”, Mrs Dalloway said_ then we would have an

example of final reporting clause. When dealing with final reporting

clauses, we must bear in mind that a subject-verb inversion may

occur, _ “I will buy the flowers myself”, said Mrs Dalloway. However,

this inversion is rather unusual and archaic when the subject is a

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Tema 30. El discurso directo y el discurso indirecto.

pronoun, i.e. “But you’ll have to be up with the lark”, she said. In this

example saying “said she”, would be impossible.

A medial reporting clause is very unsual, since normally it only

appears in literary language. However, the reporting clause does not

stand in the middle of the quote clause, but between a disjunct or a

conjunct and the clause. I.e. “Frankly”, said Mr Ramsey, “I don’t

understand her”. Note that in here inversion is common.

Reporting clauses are often omitted in the representation of

conversation in fiction writing when the identity of the speakers is

obvious from the context. Quotation marks are sometimes omitted

too. Reporting clauses and quotation marks are regularly omitted in

written plays, formal reports of meetings, and in some types of

headlines; instead the name of the speaker, either in capitals or

italics followed by a colon or period, prefaces the direct speech. I.e.

LORD DARLINGTON: No, we are all in the gutter, but some of us are

lookin at the stars.( from Oscar Wilde’s play Lady Windermere’s Fan).

The most common reporting verb used in direct speech is “say”.

However, there are many others as for example, add, announce,

comment, confess, explain, observe, promise, beg, cry, conclude,

exclaim, an so on so forth. In addition there are numerous other

verbs indicating the manner of speaking that are occasionally used

with direct speech, for example: falter, murmur, mumble, mutter,

snap, sneer, sob.

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Tema 30. El discurso directo y el discurso indirecto.

3. Indirect Speech.

In indirect speech, we give the exact meaning without using the

speaker’s words, which appear as a subordiante clause depending on

the reporting verb. The quotation marks dissapear, but this is by no

means the only change. When the report is conveyed through the

indirect speech, we can specify changes in wording that are required

because the situation of the utterance by the reporter may differ in

certain respects from that of the utterance by the original

speaker.These differences affect the tense forms of the verbs (known

as Back-shift), time references (yesterday, today), place references

( here, there), personal pronous, the demonstratives “this/these”,

and some verbs such as go/come.

Back-shift is the most important of these changes. The change

of tenses occur because there is a difference in time between the

moment when the speakers says the sentence and the moment in

which the sentence is reported. When the reporting verb is in the past

tense, the main transformations are as follows.

If the verb of the quoted clause is in the present tense, this will

change to past, i.e: “I am reading upstairs”, she said , will turn into

“She said she was reading upstairs”. Or “I am fed up with this

situation”, she said, will become “She said she was fed up with that

situation”.

If the verb of the quoted clause is in the past, it will change to

past perfect, i.e. “The exhibition finished last week”, explained Ann,

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Tema 30. El discurso directo y el discurso indirecto.

will become “Ann explained that the exhibition had finished the

preceeding week.”

The same will occur if the verbs of the quoted clause are either

in present perfect or past perfect, i.e: “I’ve arrived already!”,

exclaimed Ann, will be in indirect speech: “Ann exclaimed that she

had already arrived”. If the verb is in past perfect, it will remain so,

for English grammar does not allow for any way of expressing a time

before the past perfect tense. For example, “The whole house had

been ruined”, said the landlord, will change into “The landlord said

that the whole house had been ruined”.

However, the rule of back-shift can be ignored when the time-

reference of the original utterance is valid at the time of the reported

utterance or it is a permanent situation. Then, we will use a present

tense or a present perfect. For example: The teacher said: “Water

boils at 100ºC”, will turn into “The teacher said that water boils at

100ºC”, with no change in the tense.

If, on the other hand, the reporting verb is in the present, there

is no tense change: She keeps saying, “I am a failure”, will no change

the verb “She keeps saying she is a failure”.

Regarding modal auxiliaries, in general we can say that the

modal auxiliaries follow the same back-shift rule. Those forms which

have a “past”, change for this past tense, and those which do not

have one, or are considered to be the past tense of any other modal,

remain unchanged. Thus, Can changes to could.E.g. I can swim

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Tema 30. El discurso directo y el discurso indirecto.

changes to He said he could swim. May changes to might, will to

would, and shall to should.

Again, if the verb of the reporting clause is in the present tense,

the modal auxiliary in the subordinate clause remains unchanged.

E.g: “I can speak French and German”, “She says she can speak

French and German”.

However, there are some modal verbs that suffer different

changes, for example Must, when expressing obligation, it is changed

to “had to” in indirect speech. E.g: “You must be in by ten tonight”,

his parents told him, turns into His parents told him he had to be in

by ten that night, in indirect speech. But it remains unchanged when

it expresses deduction. E.g: He said he must be about 40.

Pronouns, possessives and demonstratives suffer a

distancing effect. Thus, demonstratives meaning “nearness” become

the corresponding words denoting “remoteness”. This>that and thes>

those.

If the identities of the person speaking and the person adressed

are not identical in the situations of the original and reported

utterances, the personal pronouns need to be changed. Pronoun shift

requires the shift of the 1st and 2nd person pronouns to 3rd person

pronouns or to nouns, when the person referred to in the original

utterance are absent in the reported utterance:

“I will behave myself”, he promised > He promised that he’d behave

himself.

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“You are beautiful”, he whispered> He whispered that she was

beautiful.

First and second person pronouns are used as appropriate to the

reporting situation. E.g: “I am your friend”, he said to me> He said to

me that he was my friend. (Bob reporting). Similarly, in reporting to

Margaret a statement about herself: “Margaret is very clever”, Tom

said to me > Tom told me that you are very clever.

Adverbs also change in order to signal remoteness, both in time

and place. The most important changes being:

DIRECT SPEECH INDIRECT SPEECH

Now then

Today that day

Yesterday the day before/ the

previous day

Tomorrow the following day

Last the previous

Next/On (+day week) the following ...

The day after tomorrow in two day’s time

The day before yesterday two days before

Ago before/ previously

Here there

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Tema 30. El discurso directo y el discurso indirecto.

Finally, the verb “come” is substituted by” go “ in indirect

sentences, since it indicates a spatial relationship to the speaker. E.g:

I’ll come tonite> He said he would go that night.

Sentences in indirect speech are grouped according to the

original speech act uttered by the speaker. The main types of

reported clauses are: statements, questions, commands,

exclamations and suggestions.

Statements are reported by making them a that-clause. All the

examples stated above are statements and, therefore, accomplish all

the rules discussed. Usually, the conjunction “that” is omitted and

the reporting verbs are “say” or “tell”. Eg: “I would like travel more

often”, he said > He said (that) he would like to travel more often.

Questions’ most often reporting verb is “ask” . When reporting

a question, we must bear in mind:

1. Questions are converted into independent clauses, so

thet the word order of questions is not kept, becaming

thus the word order of a statement. Eg: “What are you

doing?”, she asked me > She asked me what I was

doing.

2. The question mark is not used.

3. There are two different kinds of questions, namely,

“Yes/no questions” and “wh-questions”. In the first

type, “f” or “whether” are used as conjuctions. The

difference is that “wether” expresses alternative

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possibility. Eg: “Can you swim?”, she asked me. > She

asked me if I could swim.

The “wh-questions”, the wh-word works as

subordinating conjunction. Eg: “When will the plane

leave?”, she asked> She asked me when the plane

would leave.

As commands have no finite verb, the rules above cannot be

applied. Several changes are necessary:

1. The introductory verb “say” is replaced

by a verb of command or request, such as “tell” (being

the most frequent), “order”, “command”, “ask”... indirect

commands have a wide assortment of introductory verbs,

depending on the relationship of the people concerned. Eg:

D: He said, “Do it at once, please.”

I: He ordered me/ commanded me/ told me/

requested me/ Begged me/ entreated me/ shouted at me/

urged me... to do it at once.

2. The introductory verb of the indirect

command must be followed immediately by the person

addressed. So that in cases such as He said, “Go away”, it is

necessary to include a noun or pronoun in the inderect speech:

He told him/ the boy to go away.

3. The imperative form of the verb changes to the

corresponding infinitive form, and pronouns and possessive

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adjectives, adverbs of place and time change as in statements

and questions. Eg: She said, “Shut the door after you,

children”. > She told the children to shut the door after them.

The negative commands are expressed by placing “not” before

the infinitive. Eg: He said, “Don’t sit on my hat”. > He told them

not to sit on his hat”.

There are two other ways of expressing indirect

commands. Using “say” as introductory verb plus the

construction “was/were + infinitive”. Although, this construction

is less forceful. Eg: He said, “Sit down, John”. > He said (that)

John was to sit down.

Another alternative could be the construction “order + should +

infinitive”. Eg: He said, “Keep silent, children”. > He ordered

that the children should keep silent.

Exclamations become statements_ and therefore, the

exclamation mark disappears_ in indirect speech, and there are

various ways for this transformation to take place.

1. Exclamations with “How” or “What a” are expressed with

constructions such as “He said it was ...” Eg: “How a

beautiful carpet”, he said > He said it was a beautiful carpet.

2. Interjections are normally reported as follows. Eg: “How

pretty you look today”, he said. > He exclaimed that she

looked pretty that day”.

3. Other expressions. Eg: “Thank you”> She thanked me.

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“Good Morning”> He greeted me/

wished me a good morning.

“Congratulations”> He congratulated

me.

“Damn”> He swore.

“Liar”> He called me a liar.

4. “Yes/no” are expressed in indirect speech with the subject +

the appropriate auxiliary verb. Eg: “Do you live here?No.>

He asked me wether I lived here and I answered that I

didn’t.

Suggestions such as “Let’s go to the cinema”, can either be

followed by a gerund: He suggested going to the cinema. Or be

followed by “that + subject +Should”: He suggested thet we should

go to the cinema.

“Let’s not” used alone in answer to an affirmative suggestion is

often reported by some phrase such as : “opposed to the idea/ was

against it/ objected to”... Eg: He said, “Let’s sell the house”> He

suggested selling the house but Helen was agains it”.

When “let’s” expresses a call to action, it is usually reported by

“urge/advise/ + object + infinitive”. Eg: The leader said, “Let’s show

the boss we are united” > The leader urged the workers to show the

boss that they were united”.

4. Free indirect speech

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Tema 30. El discurso directo y el discurso indirecto.

Free indirect speech is a very common device of narrative

writing which consists in reporting an utterance indirectly by back-

shifting the verb while omitting (or parenthesing) the reporting

clauses (He said..., etc.) which are the conventional signals of

indirect speech. Eg:

DS: Agnes asked, “Why do they always have to pick on me?

IS: Agnes asked why they always had to pick on her.

FIS: Why did they always (groaned Agnes) have to pick on her?

The convention of free indirect speech is a more flexible

medium for reporting than normal indirect speech. It also aids

concision by allowing the writer to retell someone’s words indirectly

at lenght without having to keep inserting expressions like He

said /exclaimed. FIS, unlike ordinary indirect speech, can

incorporate the question and the exclamation structures of DS. Eg:

Coul he be imagining things? Or So that was their pla, was it!.

The use of free indirect speech for describing “interior

monologue” has become a very widespread practice in the fiction of

the 20th century. It is often used to represent the person’s thoughts,

or “stream of conciousness”, rather than actual speech.

5. Conclusion.

In this topic we have seen the difference between direct and

indirect speech, how to use it and its form. It is important that our

pupils learn how to differenciate and use indirect speech in order for

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them to be fluent and to communicate effectively in the foreign

language.

As for the free indirect speech, students should be able to

recognise it, as a means for understanding and enjoying

contemporary literature.

This topic also falls in the scope of the curriculum for we have

to provide students with a discursive, linguistic and sociocultural

background in order for them to be able to communicate and

participate in habitual communicative situations.

6. Bibliography.

 Chalker, Sylvia: Current English Grammar.Macmillan.

1984

 Quirk et alii: A University Grammar of English. Longman.

1998

 Swan, M: Practical English Usage. O.U.P. 1980.

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