Page 6 - Mind Map - Notes

Rule 8 – Direct Speech to Indirect Speech Conversion – Punctuations

1. In direct speech, the words actually spoken should be in (‘’) quotes and always begin with a
capital letter.

Example: She said, “I am the best.”

1. Full stop, comma, exclamation or question mark, are placed inside the closing inverted
commas.

Example: They asked, “Can we sing with you?”

1. If direct speech comes after the information about who is speaking, a comma is used to
introduce the speech, placed before the first inverted comma.

Direct speech example: He shouted, “Keep quiet!”
Direct speech example: “Thinking back,” he said, “she didn’t expect to win.” (Comma is used to
separate the two direct speeches and no capital letter to begin the second sentence).

Rule 9 – Direct Speech to Indirect Speech Conversion – Change of Time

1. In direct speeches, the words that express nearness in time or place are changed to words
that express distance in indirect speech. Such as :
• Now becomes then

• Here becomes there

• Ago becomes before

• Thus becomes so

• Today becomes that day
• Tomorrow becomes the next day

• This becomes that

• Yesterday becomes the day before

• These become those

• Hither becomes thither
• Come becomes go

• Hence becomes thence

• Next week or month becomes following week/month

Examples:

Direct: He said, ‘His grandmother came yesterday.’

Indirect: He said that his grandmother had come the day before.
Rules of converting Indirect Speech into Direct Speech

The following rules should be followed while converting an indirect speech to direct speech: