Question

My mother said to me, "who is your best friend?" indirect speech ​

Answer 1

Topic – Direct and indirect speech

GiveN SenteNce:

1. My mother said to me, "who is your best friend?" indirect speech."

AnsweR:

1. My mother asked me who my best friend was.

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How verbs change in reported speech?

Direct Speech⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀Indirect Speech

Simple present⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀Simple past

Present continuous⠀⠀⠀Past continuous

Present perfect⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀Past Perfect

Present perfect Past perfect continuous⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ continuous

Simple past⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀Past perfect

Past continuous⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀Past perfect ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀continuous

Past perfect⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀Past perfect

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Suppose your teacher told you that you were the most intelligent boy in your class. You want to convey this to your parents. You can do it in either of these two ways:

1. My teacher said to me, “You are the most intelligent boy in the class.”
2. My teacher told me that I was the most intelligent boy in the class.

In sentence 1, you have repeated your teacher's exact words. In order to make it clear that you are repeating the words actually spoken by the teacher, they are put within Quotation marks ("... ..."). This method of quoting someone is called Direct Speech or Narration.

In sentence 2, you have put in your own words what the teacher said. This method of quoting someone is called Indirect Speech or Narration.

What is Direct Speech?

• When the exact words used by a speaker are reproduced within Quotation Marks, it is called Direct Speech.

What is Indirect Speech?

• When the substance of a speech is conveyed in the reporter's words, it is called Indirect Speech

Things to Remember in Direct and Indirect Speech:–

In Direct Speech -

1. The exact words of the speaker are put within Inverted Commas (“ ”).
2. The Direct Speech is separated from the remaining sentence by a Comma ( , ).
3. The first word of the Reported Speech begins with a Capital Letter.

In Indirect Speech -

1. No Inverted Commas are used.
2. No Comma is used to separate the Reported speech from the rest of the sentence.
3. A Conjunction, if necessary, is used to join the Reported Speech with the rest of the sentence.
4. The Tense of the Verb undergoes a change. (The Tense of the Verb in the Reported Speech is changed from Present to Past).