Let’s go through the examples to find out the changes.
I. Ronit said, “ I want to go outside”
Ronit said that he wanted to go outside
( here, the pronoun and the tense changed)
So the pronouns and tenses may be changed
II. Jacob said to Varghese, “ I will call you tomorrow “
Jacob told Varghese that he would call him the next day
( here, mainly the timing word tomorrow changed as the next day along with the pronoun and the tense)
So ‘the timing words’ may be changed
III. Tom said, “ Why did my friends insult me ?” ( interrogative sentence)
Tom asked why his friends had insulted him. (declarative sentence)
( Here the sentence totally changed, that is ‘the interrogative direct speech’ is changed as ‘declarative reported speech’ and the possessive adjective ‘my’ is changed as the possessive adjective ‘his’, and also the ‘first person’ object ‘me’ is changed as the ‘third person’ object ‘him’ along with the normal changes in tense and others)
So we can understand that ‘the persons’, ‘possessive adjectives’ and ‘the whole sentence’ may be changed.
IV. Jancy said, “ please, allow me to take the pen. It is mine” ( the underlined is an imperative sentence)
Jancy requested to allow her to take the pen and said that it was hers.
( Here, the ‘bare infinitive’ ‘allow’ is changed as the ‘to- infinitive’ ‘to allow’ and ‘the possessive pronoun’ ‘mine’ is changed as ‘the possessive pronoun’ ‘hers’, along with normal changes in tenses and others)
So, ‘bare- infinitives’ may be changed into ‘to- infinitives’ and ‘the possessive pronouns’ too changed.
Hence, we have to study about these changes in detail to change a ‘Direct speech’ into an ‘Indirect speech’ or ‘Reported speech’.
That is the changes mainly related to;
1 Tenses
2 Pronouns
3 Timing words
4 Sentences
5 Persons
6 Infinitives
7 Possessive adjectives and
8 Possessive pronouns continue reading