Banking Notes / English Language / Chapter 19
Chapter 19 of 20

Direct & Indirect Speech

Converting quoted speech into reported speech — tense backshifting, pronoun changes, and time/place word adjustments in one unified system.

📖 ~9 min read ✍️ Banking English Language

Introduction

Direct speech quotes someone's exact words ("I am busy," she said); indirect (reported) speech conveys the same meaning without quotation marks (She said that she was busy). Conversion generally requires three coordinated changes: tense, pronouns, and time/place words.

Tense Backshift Rule

Direct (Present)Indirect (Shifts back one step)
Simple PresentSimple Past
Present ContinuousPast Continuous
Present PerfectPast Perfect
Simple PastPast Perfect
willwould
cancould

Time & Place Word Changes

DirectIndirect
todaythat day
tomorrowthe next day / the following day
yesterdaythe previous day / the day before
thisthat
herethere
Q. Convert to indirect speech: He said, "I will finish the report tomorrow."
"Will" shifts to "would"; "tomorrow" shifts to "the next day"; pronoun "I" shifts to match the subject "he." Answer: He said that he would finish the report the next day.
Q. Convert to indirect speech: She said, "I have completed my work."
Present Perfect ("have completed") shifts back to Past Perfect ("had completed"); pronoun adjusts accordingly. Answer: She said that she had completed her work.
⚠️ Key Insight: If the reporting verb is in the present tense ("says," "tells"), the tense inside the quoted speech does NOT need to shift back — the full backshift rule applies only when the reporting verb itself is in the past tense ("said," "told").
✅ Practice Focus: Applying the tense backshift table accurately · Time/place word conversion · Pronoun adjustment matching the new subject · Recognising when backshift does NOT apply.

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