Grammar (Direct and Indirect Speech)

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In today’s English Language class, We will be learning about Direct and Indirect Speech. We hope you enjoy the class!

 

 

Direct and Indirect Speech

 

Direct speech refers to the quoting by a speaker or writer, of the actual utterance of another speaker or writer. It contains all the actual words used by the original speaker.

Things to note about direct speech are:

1. After the subject (speaker) and the verb, put a comma.
2. Put quotation marks before you start writing the first words of his speech
3. Write in capital the first letter of the first words of his speech
4. Put the appropriate punctuation mark at the end of the speech. e.g., a full stop, a question mark, or an exclamation mark.
5. Finally, close the speech with a quotation mark.

 

Rules Governing Indirect Speech

1. After mentioning the speaker (subject) and the verb, the reported speech is introduced with the conjunction ‘that; where appropriate
2. All the verbs in the present tense in a quotation must be changed to past tense, e.g, says to said; has to had; is to was; can to could; may to might; shall to should; will to would; but the verb must not be changed if it expresses a permanent truth or customary fact. E.g. He said that the world is round.
3. All pronouns must be changed to the third person, e.g. I to he; me to him/her; we to they; our to their.
4. All words of nearness must be changed to corresponding words of remoteness e.g. now to then, here to there; this to that; these to those; yesterday to the previous day, tomorrow to the next day, last week to the previous week and next year to the following year.

 

Study the examples below:

 

Evaluation: Do practice exercise sixteen of English Grammar for JSCE pg 70-72

Reading Assignment: Read more on Direct and Indirect Speech from English Grammar by Olatunbosun.

Reference: Countdown English Language by Ogunsanwo

Weekend Assignment: Effective English page 236-237, question 25-44

 

 

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In our next class, we will be learning about Active and Passive Voices. We are very much eager to meet you there.

 

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