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NEWS ITEM TEXT 2020

GRAMMAR

DIRECT and INDIRECT SPEECH

The sentences written between the quotation marks (“…”) are called direct speech. The
sentences show the exact words said by the source(s).

These are the rules on how to turn direct speech into indirect ones (reported speech).

1. We use ‘a reporting verb’ like ‘say’, ‘state’ ‘remark’, ‘explain’, etc. If this verb is in
present tense, it’s easy. We just put ‘she says’ and then the sentence.

• Direct speech : She says, “I like ice cream.”
• Indirect speech: She says that she likes ice cream.
We don’t need to change the tense, though probably we do not need to change the ‘person’
from ‘I’ to ‘she’, for example. We also may need to change words like ‘my’ and ‘your’.

• Direct speech : She says, “I like your bag.”
• Indirect speech : She says that she likes my bag.

2. If the reporting verb is in past tense, we usually change the tense in the indirect speech
(reported speech), such as if the direct speech is in past tense, the indirect speech is in past
perfect tense.

Please remember that a news item text is reported in the past form of verbs. See the following
example.

• Direct speech : The victim was hit by a three-meter-long iron block and died at the
scene,” the witnesss said.
• Indirect speech : The witnesss said that the victim had been hit by a three-meter –long
iron block and had died at the scene.

These are the examples of direct and indirect speech.

DIRECT SPEECH INDIRECT SPEECH

Present simple tense Past simple tense

Ex. She said, ”I like ice cream.” Ex. She said that she liked ice cream.

Present continuous tense Past continuous tense

Ex. She said, “I am living in London.” Ex. She said that she was living in London.

Past simple tense Past perfect tense

Ex. She said, “I bought a car.” Ex. She said that she had bought a car.

Past continuous tense Past perfect continuous tense

Ex. She said, “I was walking along the Ex. She said that she had been walking

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