direct and indirect speech in English

Reported speech:

• If the reporting verb is in the Present or Future tense (e.g., say, will say) there is no change in the tense of the verb in the Indirect speech.
  James says, “I eat an apple”.
  James says that he eats an apple”. 
• If Reporting Verb is in the Past Tense. the tense of the verbs in the reported speech or Indirect Speech must be generally changed.

1. Present Tense in the Direct becomes past tense.

Present tense: Ahmed said, “I write a letter”.
past tense: Ahmed said that he wrote a letter.

2.Past Tense in the direct becomes past perfect.

  Rachid said, “I bought a pen yesterday”.
Rachid said that she had bought a pen the day before.

3.Present Continuous in the direct becomes past continuous.
Jamal said, “I am going to school”.
Jamal said that he was going to school.

4.Past Continuous in the direct becomes past perfect continuous.
Farid said, “I was playing chess with my friend”.
Farid said that he had been playing chess with his friend.

5.Present Perfect in the direct becomes past perfect.
Kamal said, “I have finished my home work”.
kamal said that he had finished his home work.

6.Present Perfect Continuous in the direct becomes past perfect continuous.
He said, “I have been writing a short story”.
He said that he had been writing a short story.

7.‘Will’ and ‘Shall’ are changed to ‘would’.
He said, “I will go to Fes tomorrow”. 
He said that he would go to Fes the next day.

8.Modals in reported speech :

Direct speech	indirect speech
will would must had to shall should may might can could ought to	would  would must/ had to had to should should might might could could ought to

Farid said, “I must go now”.
Farid said that he must/ had to go then. 

9 . Expressions of time and place in reported speech

Direct speech	indirect speech
now  here  this  these  ago  thus  today  tonight  yesterday  tomorrow  last week  next week	then  there  that  those  before   so  that day  that night  the day before/ the previous day  the next day/ the following day  the week before  the week after

10.Statement in reported speech :
Rules :

• Remove the quotation marks in the statement
• Use the conjunction ‘that’
• Change the reporting verb ‘say to’ into ‘tell’
• Change the reporting verb ‘said to’ into ‘told’

Note:

• He said that (correct)
• He told me that (correct)
• He told that (Incorrect)

1. “I will travel tomorrow” said Samir
Samir said he would travel the following day.

2. “You can use my car” said Ahmed to Ali 
Ahmed  told Ali that he could use his car.

3. He says, “I am happy to be here this morning”
He says that he is happy to be there that morning.

4. “I‘m going to the market now” said James
James said that he was going to the market then.

11.Imperative Sentence (Order or Request)in reported speech.
Rules :

• Remove the quotation mark in an Imperative sentence.
• Use ‘to’ if it is an affirmative sentence. (without don‘t)
• Use ‘not to’ if the sentence begins without Don‘t.
• Don‘t use ‘that’
• Omit the word ‘please’. Use the word ‘request’ instead of ‘say’.
• If the direct speech contains a request or a command, the reporting verb (say, said) change to tell, request, order, command etc. In its correct tense.

1. “Don‘t play in the class” said the teacher to the boys. 

The teacher advised the boys not to play in the class.

2.“Please give me a pen to copy this essay” the student said to them.
The student requested them to give him a pen to copy that essay .

3. “Be careful” said he to her.

He ordered her to be careful.

4. “Bring me a cup of tea” said Jane to John.

Jane asked John to bring her a cup of tea.

12.Interrogative Sentence (Questions) in reported speech.
Rules :

• Remove the quotation marks and question mark in the interrogative sentence.
• Use ‘if’ or ‘whether’ if the sentence inside the quotation marks begins with a helping verb (Auxiliary verb).
• Use the given interrogative word (what, when, where, why, who, whom, whose, which, now etc.) if it does not begin with the helping verb.
• Don‘t use ‘that’
• Changing the reporting verb (say, said) into ‘ask’ or ‘inquire’ in its correct tense.
• Omit helping verb like ‘do, does, did’. But don’t omit them when they are with ‘not’.

1. “Won’t you help me to write a paragraph?” said I to my friend.
I asked my friend if he would not help me to write a paragraph. 

2. Samir said to Fatima, “Why did not you attend the English class yesterday”?
Samir asked Fatima why she had not attended the English class the day before.

3.“How often do you go to school?” said Samir to Fatima.
Samir asked Fatima how often she went to school.

4. Fatima said to Samir, “Do you like reading books?”
Fatima asked Samir if he liked  reading books. 

how to form conditional sentences in English

Conditional:

1. Zero conditional:

− When you heat ice, it melts/ if you heat ice, it melts

● Form : When/ If+ S + verb in the present simple, S + verb in the present simple

● Use : Zero conditional is used to express a fact or a general issue .

2. Conditional type :“I”:

− If I have money, I will buy a car .

● Form : if + S +Verb in the present simple, S + will + infinitive of the verb

● Use : conditional type “I” is used to indicate that something is possible and also very likely to be fulfilled in the future .

3. Conditional type: “II”:

− If I had money, I would/ could/ might buy a car.

● Form : If + S +Verb in the past simple, S + would/ could/ might ….+ infinitive of the verb

● Use : conditional type “II” is used to indicate that something is possible, but very unlikely to be fulfilled at present time.

4. Conditional type“III”:

If i had revised my lessons, i would /could/ might have passed the exam

I would/could/might have passed the exam if i had revised my lessons

Form:

● If + S + past perfect, S+ would/ could/ might… + have + past participle of the verb.

● S + would/ could/ might…+ have + past participle of the verb + if + S + past perfect

→ a third conditional sentence consists of two clauses: an if-clause and the main clause:

− If the if-clause comes first, a comma is usually used.

− If the if-clause comes second, there is no need for a comma.

use : the third conditional is used to talk about things which didn’t happen in the past. It is often used to express criticism and regret .

Example	Explanation
If you had driven more carefully, you wouldn’t have had an accident	→ Criticism : you had an accident because you didn’t drive carefully.
If we had played a little better, we could have won the game	→ regret : we didn’t play well, so we lost the game

5) The difference between “when” and “if” in conditional sentences:

● “If” → is used for something that, according to the speaker might happen (he is not sure).

e.g: we can spend the afternoon on the beach if the weather is fine.

● “When” → is used for something that, according to the speaker, will happen (he is sure).

e.g: I will clean up the kitchen right away when I’m back from work 

how to form the passive voice in English

The passive voice:

1) Uses of the passive voice:

a) We use the passive voice when we want to focus on the action rather than who is doing the action.

e.g: Three apples are eaten by Ahmed

b)   The passive voice is used when what or who causes the action is unknown or unimportant

e.g: Three apples are eaten

2)   Rules of the passive voice:

a.   The passive of an active tense is formed by putting the verb “be” into the same tense as the active verbs and adding the past participle of the active verb. The subject of the active verb becomes the agent of the passive verb.

b.   A sentence containing a direct and indirect object could have two passive forms.

e.g:  Ahmed gave her a book ............   she was given a book/  a book was given to her

c.   In colloquial speech “get” is sometimes used instead of “be”:

e.g: the eggs were broken  ↔  the eggs got broken 

d.   Active tenses and their passive equivalents :

Tenses	Active form	Passive form
Simple present	Jane  writes a letter/ letters	S	A letter is written
		P	letters are written
Present continuous	Jane is writing a letter/ letters	S	A letter is being written
		P	letters are being written
Simple past	Jane wrote a letter / letters	S	A letter was written
		P	Letters were written
Past continuous	Jane was writing a letter / letters	S	A letter was being written
		P	Letters were being written
Present  perfect simple	Jane has written a letter/ letters	S	A letter has been written
		P	Letters have been written
Past perfect simple	Jane had written a letter / letters	S	A letter had been written
		P	Letters had been written
future	Jane will write a letter/ letters	S	A letter will be written
		P	Letters will be written

e.   With modals (must, may, should, would, could, might…….) the passive is formed in this way:

Modal+ be + the past participle of the verb

e.g:  you must pay the bill  ...........  the bill must be paid

you should respect your teacher  ........... your teacher should be respected

f.   With verbs such as “say, think, believe, assume, show, consider, expect,require….” The passive is formed in two ways.

e.g: people say that mobile phones are harmful to children’s health

----  It is said/ believed/ thought that mobile phones are harmful to children’s health.

----- Mobile phones are said/ believed/ thought to be harmful to children’s health.

  g.   The passive voice with questions:

active	passive
What did they steal? When/where/why did he paint it? Is he preparing the party? Who painted it?	What was stolen? When/where/why was it painted? Is the party being prepared by here? Who was it painted by?