ZeePedia

REPORTED SPEECH:Indirect Questions, Direct commands

<< MODIFIERS AND SENTENCE TYPES:COMPOUND SENTENCES
GRAMMATICAL SENTENCE – ISSUES:SUBJECT-VERB AGREEMENT >>
img
Journalistic Writing ­ MCM310
VU
LECTURE 14
REPORTED SPEECH
Direct Speech
Indirect Speech:
The speaker said, "When the inquiry was set
The speaker said that when the inquiry had
up  last  year,  the  Government  was
been set up in the preceding year the
prompted by both national and local
Government had been prompted by both
motives."
national and local motives.
Indirect Speech (also referred to as 'reported speech') refers to a sentence reporting what someone has said. It
is almost always used in spoken English.
If the reporting verb (i.e. said) is in the past, the reported clause will be in a past form. This form is usually one
step back into the past from the original.
For example:
He said the test was difficult.
She said she watched TV every day.
Jack said he came to school every day.
If simple present, present perfect or the future is used in the reporting verb (i.e. says) the tense is retained.
For example:
He says the test is difficult.
She has said that she watches TV every day.
Jack will say that he comes to school every day.
If reporting a general truth the present tense will be retained.
For example: The teacher said that phrasal verbs are very important.
RULES FOR CHANGING DIRECT INTO INDIRECT:
1. Pronoun Change:
First person pronoun according to the
Subject
Second person pronoun according to
Object.
Third person pronoun
No change.
Subject Pronoun:
Possessive Pronoun:
Object Pronoun:
First Person:
First Person:
First Person:
I
My
Me
We
Our
Us
Second Person:
Second Person:
Second Person:
You
Your
You
Third Person:
Third Person:
Third Person:
He
His
Him
She
Her
Her
It
Its
It
They
Their
Them
47
img
Journalistic Writing ­ MCM310
VU
For example:
1. He said, "I like you."
He told me that he liked me.
2. He said, "I will accept your offer."
He told me that he would accept my offer.
2. Adjective and adverb changes:
·  This
becomes
That
·
These
becomes
Those
·
Here
becomes
There
·
Now
becomes
Then
·
Today
becomes
That day
·
Yesterday
becomes
Preceding day or previous day
·
Tomorrow
becomes
Next day or following day
3. Verb changes:
·  See (pres.)
becomes
saw (past)
·
Saw
had seen
·
Is seen
was seen
·
Has seen
had seen
·
Was seeing
had been seen
·
Shall /will
should/would
·
Be
were
·
Can/may
could/might
For example:
·  Direct speech:
"In many parts of the country farmers who were formerly ploughing nearly all their land now have most of
it under grass."
·  Indirect speech:
He said that in many parts of the country farmers who had formerly been ploughing nearly all their land
then had most of it under grass
Indirect Questions
When reporting questions, it is especially important to pay attention to sentence order. When reporting yes/no
questions connect the reported question using 'if'. When reporting questions using question words (why, where,
when, etc.) use the question word.
For example:
·  She asked, "Do you want to come with me?" BECOMES She asked me if I wanted to come with
her.
48
img
Journalistic Writing ­ MCM310
VU
·  Dave asked, "Where did you go last weekend?" BECOMES Dave asked me where I had gone the
previous weekend.
·
He asked, "Why are you studying English?" BECOMES She asked me why I was studying English.
·
"Will he come?" BECOMES He asked would he come.
Direct commands:
"Give all the help you can." BECOMES He asked that they should give all the help they could. Or He
asked them to give all the help they could. Or Let them give all the help they could.
Desires:
·  "Hurrah! We have won the match." BECOMES They exclaimed with joy that they had won the match.
Check again:
He said, "I live in Paris."
He said he lived in Paris.
He said, "I am cooking dinner."
He said he was cooking dinner.
He said, "I have visited London twice."
He said he had visited London twice.
He said, "I went to New York last week."
He said he had gone to New York the week before.
He said, "I had already eaten."
He said he had already eaten.
He said, "I am going to find a new job."
He said he was going to find a new job.
He said, "I will give Jack a call."
He said he would give Jack a call.
Source: http://esl.about.com/od/grammarintermediate/a/reported_speech.htm
49
Table of Contents:
  1. INTRODUCTION TO JOURNALISTIC WRITING:Practical, THINGS TO KNOW
  2. QUALITIES OF GOOD WRITERS
  3. QUALITIES OF GOOD WRITERS
  4. QUALITIES OF GOOD WRITING:Achieve appropriate readability:
  5. QUALITIES OF GOOD WRITING:Be concise, Be creative, Be correct
  6. THE PROCESS OF WRITING:INVENTION, WHEN YOU START TO WRITE
  7. THE PROCESS OF WRITING II:ORGANIZING, DRAFTING, REVISING
  8. ALL ABOUT WORDS:HOW WORDS ARE FORMED?:SUFFIXES
  9. DICTIONARY-A WRITER’S LANGUAGE TOOL:KINDS OF INFORMATION
  10. PARTS OF SPEECH:Noun Gender, Noun Plurals, Countable Nouns
  11. BASIC CLAUSE PATTERNS
  12. ACTIVE AND PASSSIVE VOICE
  13. MODIFIERS AND SENTENCE TYPES:COMPOUND SENTENCES
  14. REPORTED SPEECH:Indirect Questions, Direct commands
  15. GRAMMATICAL SENTENCE – ISSUES:SUBJECT-VERB AGREEMENT
  16. GRAMMATICAL SENTENCE – ISSUES II:SENTENCE FRAGMENTS
  17. EFFECTIVE SENTENCE:PARALLELISM, NEEDED WORDS, SHIFTS
  18. STYLE: GUIDELINE AND PITFALLS I:COLLOQUIAL VS FORMAL, CIRCUMLOCUTION
  19. STYLE: GUIDELINE AND PITFALLS II:AMBIGUITY, REDUNDANCY, EUPHEMISM:
  20. PARAGRAPH WRITING: TYPES AND TECHNIQUES:STRUCTURE
  21. PARAGRAPH WRITING: TYPES AND TECHNIQUES:Putting on Our Play
  22. ESSAY WRITING:VARIOUS STRATEGIES FOR ESSAYS, PROMPTS
  23. SIGNAL WORDS:Non word Emphasis Signals
  24. EXPOSITORY WRITING:LOGICAL FALLACIES, APPEAL TO EMOTION
  25. THE WRITING STYLES: REPORT and NARRATIVE WRITING, SHORT REPORTS
  26. THE WRITING STYLES: DESCRIPTIVE AND PERSUASIVE WRITINGS, Observation
  27. RESEARCH WRITING AND DOCUMNETING SOURCES:Handling Long Quotations
  28. Summary and Précis Writing:CHARACTERISTICS OF GOOD SUMMARY
  29. Punctuation:THE PERIOD, THE COMMA, THE SEMICOLON, THE COLON
  30. MECHANICS:ABBREVIATIONS, NUMBERS, SPELLING, THE HYPHEN
  31. READING SKILLS FOR WRITERS:EDUCATED READING, STEPS
  32. PARTS OF A NEWSPAPER:Box-out, By-line, Caption, Exclusive, Feature
  33. THE LANGUAGE OF THE NEWSPAPERS II:BROADSHEET NEWSPAPER
  34. News Writing and Style I:WHAT TO LOOK FOR IN A NEWSPAPER
  35. NEWS WRITING II:Accuracy, Clarity, Style, Qualities of Effective Leads
  36. EDITORIAL WRITING:WRITING AN EDITORIAL:STRUCTURING AN EDITORIAL
  37. WRITING FEATURES:GENERATING FEATURE STORY IDEAS
  38. WRITING COLUMNS:Column and a news report, Purpose, Audience
  39. WRITING ARTICLES FOR NEWSPAPERS:The Heading, The Lead
  40. WRITING ANALYSIS:purpose, scope, method, results, recommendations
  41. LETTERS TO EDITORS:Four important aspects about letters, Organizing letters
  42. BROADCAST AND WEB NEWS WRITING:WRITE CONCISELY, BROADCAST STYLE
  43. WRITING PRESS RELEASE, REVIEWS AND OBITUARIES:Summary of Content:
  44. THE ART OF INTERVIEWINGS
  45. FINAL THOUGHTS:Practical, Job-Related, Social, Stimulating, Therapeutic