📘 Reported Speech (Indirect Speech) – Rules, Types, and Examples for Students – Practice Test
Select Your Practice Test- Choose Your Difficult Level
Easy – Class 6 & Class 7 – Intermediate – Class 7 & Class 8 – Hard – Class 9 & Class 10
MCQ Test, Self Assessment
| Chapter | Test Type |
|---|---|
| Easy | |
| Intermediate | |
| Hard | |
| Advance |
🔹 What is Reported Speech?
Reported speech (also called indirect speech) is used to tell someone what another person said, without quoting their exact words.
🔸 Direct Speech:
He said, “I am tired.”
🔸 Reported Speech:
He said that he was tired.
🔹 Rules for Changing Direct to Reported Speech
1. Change in Pronouns
Pronouns are changed to match the perspective of the speaker and listener.
| Direct Speech | Reported Speech |
|---|---|
| I → he/she | “I am happy.” → He said he was happy. |
| We → they | “We went home.” → They said they went home. |
| You → I/he/she/they | “You are late.” → She said I was late. |
2. Change in Tense (Backshifting)
Tense usually shifts one step back in time if the reporting verb is in the past.
| Direct Speech Tense | Reported Speech Tense | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Present Simple | Past Simple | “I eat pizza.” → He said he ate pizza. |
| Present Continuous | Past Continuous | “I am reading.” → She said she was reading. |
| Present Perfect | Past Perfect | “I have finished.” → He said he had finished. |
| Past Simple | Past Perfect | “I saw it.” → She said she had seen it. |
| Will | Would | “I will go.” → He said he would go. |
| Can | Could | “I can swim.” → She said she could swim. |
🔸 No tense change if the reporting verb is in the present, future, or unchanged past context.
3. Change of Time and Place
| Direct Speech | Reported Speech |
|---|---|
| now | then |
| today | that day |
| tomorrow | the next day |
| yesterday | the day before |
| here | there |
| this | that |
| next week | the following week |
4. Reporting Questions
- Use asked or wanted to know.
- Change question format to statement form (no question marks).
- Use if or whether for yes/no questions.
Examples:
- Direct: She asked, “Are you coming?”
- Reported: She asked if I was coming.
- Direct: He asked, “Where do you live?”
- Reported: He asked where I lived.
5. Reporting Commands, Requests, and Advice
Use verbs like told, asked, advised, ordered, begged, warned, etc.
Examples:
- Direct: He said, “Please sit down.”
- Reported: He asked me to sit down.
- Direct: The teacher said, “Don’t be late.”
- Reported: The teacher told us not to be late.
🔹 Examples of Reported Speech
| Direct Speech | Reported Speech |
|---|---|
| “I am hungry,” she said. | She said she was hungry. |
| “We have finished our homework,” they said. | They said they had finished their homework. |
| “Do you like music?” he asked. | He asked if I liked music. |
| “Why are you crying?” she asked. | She asked why I was crying. |
| “Go to bed now!” my mom shouted. | My mom shouted at me to go to bed. |
🔹 Exercises
🔸 A. Convert into Reported Speech
- She said, “I am going to the market.”
- John said, “We will win the game.”
- He said, “I have never seen this movie.”
- Anna said, “I saw him yesterday.”
- The teacher said, “Open your books.”
- She asked, “Are you okay?”
- He said, “This is my house.”
- They asked, “Where are you going?”
- Tom said, “I can finish it today.”
- “Don’t touch that!” she warned.
🔸 B. Answers
- She said she was going to the market.
- John said they would win the game.
- He said he had never seen that movie.
- Anna said she had seen him the day before.
- The teacher told us to open our books.
- She asked if I was okay.
- He said that was his house.
- They asked where I was going.
- Tom said he could finish it that day.
- She warned me not to touch that.
