reported speech dialogue examples

100 Reported Speech Examples: How To Change Direct Speech Into Indirect Speech

Reported speech, also known as indirect speech, is a way of communicating what someone else has said without quoting their exact words. For example, if your friend said, “ I am going to the store ,” in reported speech, you might convey this as, “ My friend said he was going to the store. ” Reported speech is common in both spoken and written language, especially in storytelling, news reporting, and everyday conversations.

Reported speech can be quite challenging for English language learners because in order to change direct speech into reported speech, one must change the perspective and tense of what was said by the original speaker or writer. In this guide, we will explain in detail how to change direct speech into indirect speech and provide lots of examples of reported speech to help you understand. Here are the key aspects of converting direct speech into reported speech.

Reported Speech: Changing Pronouns

Pronouns are usually changed to match the perspective of the person reporting the speech. For example, “I” in direct speech may become “he” or “she” in reported speech, depending on the context. Here are some example sentences:

• Direct : “I am going to the park.” Reported : He said he was going to the park .
• Direct : “You should try the new restaurant.” Reported : She said that I should try the new restaurant.
• Direct : “We will win the game.” Reported : They said that they would win the game.
• Direct : “She loves her new job.” Reported : He said that she loves her new job.
• Direct : “He can’t come to the party.” Reported : She said that he couldn’t come to the party.
• Direct : “It belongs to me.” Reported : He said that it belonged to him .
• Direct : “They are moving to a new city.” Reported : She said that they were moving to a new city.
• Direct : “You are doing a great job.” Reported : He told me that I was doing a great job.
• Direct : “I don’t like this movie.” Reported : She said that she didn’t like that movie.
• Direct : “We have finished our work.” Reported : They said that they had finished their work.
• Direct : “You will need to sign here.” Reported : He said that I would need to sign there.
• Direct : “She can solve the problem.” Reported : He said that she could solve the problem.
• Direct : “He was not at home yesterday.” Reported : She said that he had not been at home the day before.
• Direct : “It is my responsibility.” Reported : He said that it was his responsibility.
• Direct : “We are planning a surprise.” Reported : They said that they were planning a surprise.

Reported Speech: Reporting Verbs

In reported speech, various reporting verbs are used depending on the nature of the statement or the intention behind the communication. These verbs are essential for conveying the original tone, intent, or action of the speaker. Here are some examples demonstrating the use of different reporting verbs in reported speech:

• Direct: “I will help you,” she promised . Reported: She promised that she would help me.
• Direct: “You should study harder,” he advised . Reported: He advised that I should study harder.
• Direct: “I didn’t take your book,” he denied . Reported: He denied taking my book .
• Direct: “Let’s go to the cinema,” she suggested . Reported: She suggested going to the cinema .
• Direct: “I love this song,” he confessed . Reported: He confessed that he loved that song.
• Direct: “I haven’t seen her today,” she claimed . Reported: She claimed that she hadn’t seen her that day.
• Direct: “I will finish the project,” he assured . Reported: He assured me that he would finish the project.
• Direct: “I’m not feeling well,” she complained . Reported: She complained of not feeling well.
• Direct: “This is how you do it,” he explained . Reported: He explained how to do it.
• Direct: “I saw him yesterday,” she stated . Reported: She stated that she had seen him the day before.
• Direct: “Please open the window,” he requested . Reported: He requested that I open the window.
• Direct: “I can win this race,” he boasted . Reported: He boasted that he could win the race.
• Direct: “I’m moving to London,” she announced . Reported: She announced that she was moving to London.
• Direct: “I didn’t understand the instructions,” he admitted . Reported: He admitted that he didn’t understand the instructions.
• Direct: “I’ll call you tonight,” she promised . Reported: She promised to call me that night.

Reported Speech: Tense Shifts

When converting direct speech into reported speech, the verb tense is often shifted back one step in time. This is known as the “backshift” of tenses. It’s essential to adjust the tense to reflect the time elapsed between the original speech and the reporting. Here are some examples to illustrate how different tenses in direct speech are transformed in reported speech:

• Direct: “I am eating.” Reported: He said he was eating.
• Direct: “They will go to the park.” Reported: She mentioned they would go to the park.
• Direct: “We have finished our homework.” Reported: They told me they had finished their homework.
• Direct: “I do my exercises every morning.” Reported: He explained that he did his exercises every morning.
• Direct: “She is going to start a new job.” Reported: He heard she was going to start a new job.
• Direct: “I can solve this problem.” Reported: She said she could solve that problem.
• Direct: “We are visiting Paris next week.” Reported: They said they were visiting Paris the following week.
• Direct: “I will be waiting outside.” Reported: He stated he would be waiting outside.
• Direct: “They have been studying for hours.” Reported: She mentioned they had been studying for hours.
• Direct: “I can’t understand this chapter.” Reported: He complained that he couldn’t understand that chapter.
• Direct: “We were planning a surprise.” Reported: They told me they had been planning a surprise.
• Direct: “She has to complete her assignment.” Reported: He said she had to complete her assignment.
• Direct: “I will have finished the project by Monday.” Reported: She stated she would have finished the project by Monday.
• Direct: “They are going to hold a meeting.” Reported: She heard they were going to hold a meeting.
• Direct: “I must leave.” Reported: He said he had to leave.

Reported Speech: Changing Time and Place References

When converting direct speech into reported speech, references to time and place often need to be adjusted to fit the context of the reported speech. This is because the time and place relative to the speaker may have changed from the original statement to the time of reporting. Here are some examples to illustrate how time and place references change:

• Direct: “I will see you tomorrow .” Reported: He said he would see me the next day .
• Direct: “We went to the park yesterday .” Reported: They said they went to the park the day before .
• Direct: “I have been working here since Monday .” Reported: She mentioned she had been working there since Monday .
• Direct: “Let’s meet here at noon.” Reported: He suggested meeting there at noon.
• Direct: “I bought this last week .” Reported: She said she had bought it the previous week .
• Direct: “I will finish this by tomorrow .” Reported: He stated he would finish it by the next day .
• Direct: “She will move to New York next month .” Reported: He heard she would move to New York the following month .
• Direct: “They were at the festival this morning .” Reported: She said they were at the festival that morning .
• Direct: “I saw him here yesterday.” Reported: She mentioned she saw him there the day before.
• Direct: “We will return in a week .” Reported: They said they would return in a week .
• Direct: “I have an appointment today .” Reported: He said he had an appointment that day .
• Direct: “The event starts next Friday .” Reported: She mentioned the event starts the following Friday .
• Direct: “I lived in Berlin two years ago .” Reported: He stated he had lived in Berlin two years before .
• Direct: “I will call you tonight .” Reported: She said she would call me that night .
• Direct: “I was at the office yesterday .” Reported: He mentioned he was at the office the day before .

Reported Speech: Question Format

When converting questions from direct speech into reported speech, the format changes significantly. Unlike statements, questions require rephrasing into a statement format and often involve the use of introductory verbs like ‘asked’ or ‘inquired’. Here are some examples to demonstrate how questions in direct speech are converted into statements in reported speech:

• Direct: “Are you coming to the party?” Reported: She asked if I was coming to the party.
• Direct: “What time is the meeting?” Reported: He inquired what time the meeting was.
• Direct: “Why did you leave early?” Reported: They wanted to know why I had left early.
• Direct: “Can you help me with this?” Reported: She asked if I could help her with that.
• Direct: “Where did you buy this?” Reported: He wondered where I had bought that.
• Direct: “Who is going to the concert?” Reported: They asked who was going to the concert.
• Direct: “How do you solve this problem?” Reported: She questioned how to solve that problem.
• Direct: “Is this the right way to the station?” Reported: He inquired whether it was the right way to the station.
• Direct: “Do you know her name?” Reported: They asked if I knew her name.
• Direct: “Why are they moving out?” Reported: She wondered why they were moving out.
• Direct: “Have you seen my keys?” Reported: He asked if I had seen his keys.
• Direct: “What were they talking about?” Reported: She wanted to know what they had been talking about.
• Direct: “When will you return?” Reported: He asked when I would return.
• Direct: “Can she drive a manual car?” Reported: They inquired if she could drive a manual car.
• Direct: “How long have you been waiting?” Reported: She asked how long I had been waiting.

Reported Speech: Omitting Quotation Marks

In reported speech, quotation marks are not used, differentiating it from direct speech which requires them to enclose the spoken words. Reported speech summarizes or paraphrases what someone said without the need for exact wording. Here are examples showing how direct speech with quotation marks is transformed into reported speech without them:

• Direct: “I am feeling tired,” she said. Reported: She said she was feeling tired.
• Direct: “We will win the game,” he exclaimed. Reported: He exclaimed that they would win the game.
• Direct: “I don’t like apples,” the boy declared. Reported: The boy declared that he didn’t like apples.
• Direct: “You should visit Paris,” she suggested. Reported: She suggested that I should visit Paris.
• Direct: “I will be late,” he warned. Reported: He warned that he would be late.
• Direct: “I can’t believe you did that,” she expressed in surprise. Reported: She expressed her surprise that I had done that.
• Direct: “I need help with this task,” he admitted. Reported: He admitted that he needed help with the task.
• Direct: “I have never been to Italy,” she confessed. Reported: She confessed that she had never been to Italy.
• Direct: “We saw a movie last night,” they mentioned. Reported: They mentioned that they saw a movie the night before.
• Direct: “I am learning to play the piano,” he revealed. Reported: He revealed that he was learning to play the piano.
• Direct: “You must finish your homework,” she instructed. Reported: She instructed that I must finish my homework.
• Direct: “I will call you tomorrow,” he promised. Reported: He promised that he would call me the next day.
• Direct: “I have finished my assignment,” she announced. Reported: She announced that she had finished her assignment.
• Direct: “I cannot attend the meeting,” he apologized. Reported: He apologized for not being able to attend the meeting.
• Direct: “I don’t remember where I put it,” she confessed. Reported: She confessed that she didn’t remember where she put it.

Reported Speech Quiz

Thanks for reading! I hope you found these reported speech examples useful. Before you go, why not try this Reported Speech Quiz and see if you can change indirect speech into reported speech?

Learn How To Write Reported Speech Dialogue Correctly

How do you write reported speech dialogue?

When you start to learn to write dialogue, it seems simple. All you need to do is add a reporting verb or dialogue tag.

You probably learned this at high school. When a character speaks lines of dialogue, you put a double quotation mark at the beginning and end.

But if you use reported speech, you need to include a tense shift.

What’s the difference between dialogue writing and reported speech?

Most dialogue uses active speech. It is what a character says.

But reported speech dialogue is when a character says what another character said.

Let’s look at the difference.

Direct dialogue

When you write dialogue , you are using direct speech.

You are using the exact words that the character says, and then adding a dialogue tag to say who spoke the words.

“I’m going into town this morning. I should be back before dinner,” she said.

The reporting verb is almost always in the simple past verb tense, which is the general rule for fiction writing.

It doesn’t matter which tense the dialogue is using.

It can be present continuous, present perfect , or present simple.

“I’m having friends over for dinner tomorrow night,” he said.

“I’ve had friends over for dinner quite often,” he said.

“I have friends over for dinner all the time,” he said.

You can also use the present simple tense for reporting verbs in some circumstances.

It is when you want to say that someone says something often or all the time.

“When I get older, I think I’ll travel the world,” she says.

“I’m going to buy a Ferrari one day,” he always says.

But you wouldn’t use the present dialogue form in most fiction writing.

Reported speech dialogue

In reported speech or indirect speech , we may not necessarily use the exact words of the speaker.

It is often used to convey small talk or gossip about what other people said.

It is also used to paraphrase long speeches or extended discourse.

We can use both past and present tense in reported speech. But again, the past is much more common.

She said she was going into town that morning and that she should be back before dinner. Past form

He always says that he is going to buy a Ferrari one day. Present form

You need to format dialogue with punctuation and quotation marks. But you write reported speech as a standard sentence.

You include the attribution and reporting verb without punctuation.

When you use the past form, you need to pay special attention to the tense shift.

No matter what tense the original utterance used, reported speech always uses the past.

It is because it is something someone said in the past. It is an action that occurred in the past, so we refer to it as a past event.

Tense shift examples

Compare the difference between these direct and indirect sentences.

I want to go to Norway. He said he wanted to go to Norway.

She will pass her exam for sure. He told me that she would pass her exam for sure.

They wanted to buy a new house but didn’t get the loan. Tom told me that they had wanted to buy a new house but didn’t get the loan.

The general rule is that active speech in present or future tenses shifts back to the past simple.

When active speech is in the present perfect, it shifts back to the past perfect.

But for past simple active speech, it can shift back to past perfect, or stay in the past simple.

In all forms, the relative pronoun, that , is optional.

Using reported speech dialogue in writing

When you incorporate reported speech within a character’s dialogue, you need to keep the tense shift.

Here are some reporting dialogue examples.

“Have you seen Jillian lately?” Mary asked.

“Oh, yes. I saw her yesterday, and she told me that she was going to France next month ,” Anne replied.

“I didn’t feel well this morning, so I called my boss to let him know. There is an important meeting this afternoon. But my boss said that it was okay and that he would get someone else to take the minutes . I still feel guilty, though,” Jane said. 

“I saw Michelle this morning, and she told me that she had been waiting for days for the results of her blood test . I’m not sure what’s wrong, but she looked worried,” Susan said.

As you can see in the reported speech dialogue examples above, the parts that are indirect reported speech retain the correct past form.

The rest of the direct written dialogue can be in any tense or form the speaker uses.

Punctuating your dialogue

There are five basic aspects of good dialogue punctuation.

1. All punctuation is inside the quotation marks.

These include full stops (periods), commas, question marks, and exclamation marks.

Jim said, “I’m not aware of it”. Wrong Jim said, “I’m not aware of it.” Correct

“I don’t know what to think”, she said. Wrong “I don’t know what to think,” she said. Correct

“Where did he go”? she asked. Wrong “Where did he go?” she asked. Correct

“Get out of here”! he shouted. Wrong “Get out of here!” he shouted. Correct

2. Using an em dash or ellipsis.

We use em dashes to indicate a speaker was interrupted. You add an ellipsis when a speaker’s words trail off, or when an utterance is incomplete.

“I was planning on buying–” she started. “No way! I told you we need to save money,” he said.

“It’s funny when you think about things, and well …” Anne said. “You think too much, Anne,” Mary said.

3. Start a new paragraph for a new speaker.

It is confusing for a reader if the dialogue runs on in the same paragraph.

When there is a new speaker in dialogue, always start in a new paragraph.

4. Quotation marks for long dialogues

Dialogues are usually short and sharp.

But you might have a piece of dialogue that is more of an oration, and you need to divide it into paragraphs.

You can use an opening and closing quotation mark for the whole dialogue.

Another option is to add one opening quotation mark at the beginning of each new paragraph and then close the final paragraph.

5. Don’t mix quotation mark styles.

It is up to you whether you use curly, straight, double, or single quotations.

In his book, Cloudsteet, Tim Winton uses no quotation marks at all for the dialogue. But it is still great dialogue.

Generally, readers won’t mind what your choice is.

But they will be distracted or confused if you mix different types of quotation marks.

It isn’t an easy check as you are proofreading. But there is an easy way to make sure you are consistent.

Try using an online writing app to help you.

If you use Prowritingaid, you can check your whole manuscript by ticking Dialogue Tags Check in your combo settings.

For Grammarly users, you can find any errors in your Correctness tab.

It will show you any quotation mark inconsistencies.

Once you know how to write active dialogue and reported speech, it is easy to combine the two into reported dialogue.

Just remember that dialogue is active speech.

But reported speech is indirect, so it always needs to use backward tense shift into the past.

The most critical part of good dialogue writing is your use of correct and consistent punctuation .

When you get it right, a reader doesn’t notice it. They become blind to it.

But if you have inconsistencies, it stands out and can become annoying.

Related Reading: Are Question Tags Effective In Your Dialogue Writing?

About The Author

Derek Haines

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Report the dialogue: reported speech conversation

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Read the following conversation and report the dialogue in the reported speech.

Mike: "What are you doing here, Liz? I haven't seen you since June." Liz: "I've just come back from my holiday in Ireland." Mike: "Did you enjoy it?" ...

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Reported speech exercises with answers and grammar rules.

How to report a dialogue

If we report a conversation, we use a reporting verb ('say' and 'tell' are the most common, but there are a lot of other verbs like 'claim', 'admit', 'explain'...). If the reporting verb is in the past tense ( I said that... He told us that... ), we have to change the following:

• Tenses "I am hungry," I said. - I said I was hungry. "Sarah went to hospital," Terry said. - Terry said that Sarah had gone to hospital. "Jim has gone away," Betty told me. - Betty told me that Jim had gone away. "We will try it again," we promised. - We promised we would try it again.
• Pronouns They called us," said Tom. - Tom said they had called them. "I like this," Sarah told me. - Sarah told me she liked that.
• Time and place Harry: "She will come tomorrow." - Harry said she would come the next day. My brother: "I arrived at Warsaw yesterday." - My brother told me that he had arrived at Warsaw the day before. "I'll be here on time," he said. - He said he would be there on time.
• Word order in reported questions "How old are you?" asked Peter. - Peter wanted to know how old I was. "What did you do?" asked my mum. - My mum asked what I had done. "Will you catch a bus?" I asked my sister. - I asked my sister if she would catch a bus.

• Prepositions
• Compound Words
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• Participles
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• Conjunctions
• Interjections
• Subject & Predicate
• Phrasal Verbs
• Sentence Patterns
• Idioms and Phrases
• Spot the Errors
• Punctuations
• American & British
• Questions Tags
• Reported Speech
• Abbreviations & Acronyms
• Rephrasing of Sentences
• Syllabification
• Types of Sentences
• Direct & Indirect
• Degrees of Comparison
• Prefix & Suffixes
• Figures of Speech
• Relative Clause
• REPORTED SPEECH
• General Rules in Speech
• Reported Speech Examples
• Reported Speech Exercises
• My Vote For Reported Speech
• Good Average

Dialogue Reporting Examples

Read the following examples and find out how the utterance of the speaker is reported.

30+ Examples.

The Participle

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• What is a Pronoun?
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Learning Competency

What are idioms? Idioms can be defined as a group of words having a meaning different from the individual meanings of each word in the group.

Reported Speech: Rules, Examples, Exceptions

👉 Quiz 1 / Quiz 2

Advanced Grammar Course

What is reported speech?

“Reported speech” is when we talk about what somebody else said – for example:

• Direct Speech: “I’ve been to London three times.”
• Reported Speech: She said she’d been to London three times.

There are a lot of tricky little details to remember, but don’t worry, I’ll explain them and we’ll see lots of examples. The lesson will have three parts – we’ll start by looking at statements in reported speech, and then we’ll learn about some exceptions to the rules, and finally we’ll cover reported questions, requests, and commands.

So much of English grammar – like this topic, reported speech – can be confusing, hard to understand, and even harder to use correctly. I can help you learn grammar easily and use it confidently inside my Advanced English Grammar Course.

In this course, I will make even the most difficult parts of English grammar clear to you – and there are lots of opportunities for you to practice!

Backshift of Verb Tenses in Reported Speech

When we use reported speech, we often change the verb tense backwards in time. This can be called “backshift.”

Here are some examples in different verb tenses:

Reported Speech (Part 1) Quiz

Exceptions to backshift in reported speech.

Now that you know some of the reported speech rules about backshift, let’s learn some exceptions.

There are two situations in which we do NOT need to change the verb tense.

No backshift needed when the situation is still true

For example, if someone says “I have three children” (direct speech) then we would say “He said he has three children” because the situation continues to be true.

If I tell you “I live in the United States” (direct speech) then you could tell someone else “She said she lives in the United States” (that’s reported speech) because it is still true.

When the situation is still true, then we don’t need to backshift the verb.

He said he HAS three children

But when the situation is NOT still true, then we DO need to backshift the verb.

Imagine your friend says, “I have a headache.”

• If you immediately go and talk to another friend, you could say, “She said she has a headache,” because the situation is still true
• If you’re talking about that conversation a month after it happened, then you would say, “She said she had a headache,” because it’s no longer true.

No backshift needed when the situation is still in the future

We also don’t need to backshift to the verb when somebody said something about the future, and the event is still in the future.

Here’s an example:

• On Monday, my friend said, “I ‘ll call you on Friday .”
• “She said she ‘ll call me on Friday”, because Friday is still in the future from now.
• It is also possible to say, “She said she ‘d (she would) call me on Friday.”
• Both of them are correct, so the backshift in this case is optional.

Let’s look at a different situation:

• On Monday, my friend said, “I ‘ll call you on Tuesday .”
• “She said she ‘d  call me on Tuesday.” I must backshift because the event is NOT still in the future.

Review: Reported Speech, Backshift, & Exceptions

Quick review:

• Normally in reported speech we backshift the verb, we put it in a verb tense that’s a little bit further in the past.
• when the situation is still true
• when the situation is still in the future

Reported Requests, Orders, and Questions

Those were the rules for reported statements, just regular sentences.

What about reported speech for questions, requests, and orders?

For reported requests, we use “asked (someone) to do something”:

• “Please make a copy of this report.” (direct speech)
• She asked me to make a copy of the report. (reported speech)

For reported orders, we use “told (someone) to do something:”

• “Go to the bank.” (direct speech)
• “He told me to go to the bank.” (reported speech)

The main verb stays in the infinitive with “to”:

• She asked me to make a copy of the report. She asked me  make  a copy of the report.
• He told me to go to the bank. He told me  go  to the bank.

For yes/no questions, we use “asked if” and “wanted to know if” in reported speech.

• “Are you coming to the party?” (direct)
• He asked if I was coming to the party. (reported)
• “Did you turn off the TV?” (direct)
• She wanted to know if I had turned off the TV.” (reported)

The main verb changes and back shifts according to the rules and exceptions we learned earlier.

Notice that we don’t use do/does/did in the reported question:

• She wanted to know did I turn off the TV.
• She wanted to know if I had turned off the TV.

For other questions that are not yes/no questions, we use asked/wanted to know (without “if”):

• “When was the company founded?” (direct)
• She asked when the company was founded.” (reported)
• “What kind of car do you drive?” (direct)
• He wanted to know what kind of car I drive. (reported)

Again, notice that we don’t use do/does/did in reported questions:

• “Where does he work?”
• She wanted to know  where does he work.
• She wanted to know where he works.

Also, in questions with the verb “to be,” the word order changes in the reported question:

• “Where were you born?” ([to be] + subject)
• He asked where I was born. (subject + [to be])
• He asked where was I born.

Reported Speech (Part 2) Quiz

Learn more about reported speech:

• Reported speech: Perfect English Grammar
• Reported speech: BJYU’s

If you want to take your English grammar to the next level, then my Advanced English Grammar Course is for you! It will help you master the details of the English language, with clear explanations of essential grammar topics, and lots of practice. I hope to see you inside!

I’ve got one last little exercise for you, and that is to write sentences using reported speech. Think about a conversation you’ve had in the past, and write about it – let’s see you put this into practice right away.

Master the details of English grammar:

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About the author.

Shayna Oliveira

Shayna Oliveira is the founder of Espresso English, where you can improve your English fast - even if you don’t have much time to study. Millions of students are learning English from her clear, friendly, and practical lessons! Shayna is a CELTA-certified teacher with 10+ years of experience helping English learners become more fluent in her English courses.

Reported Speech

Perfect english grammar.

Reported Statements

Here's how it works:

We use a 'reporting verb' like 'say' or 'tell'. ( Click here for more about using 'say' and 'tell' .) If this verb is in the present tense, it's easy. We just put 'she says' and then the sentence:

• Direct speech: I like ice cream.
• Reported speech: She says (that) she likes ice cream.

We don't need to change the tense, though probably we do need to change the 'person' from 'I' to 'she', for example. We also may need to change words like 'my' and 'your'. (As I'm sure you know, often, we can choose if we want to use 'that' or not in English. I've put it in brackets () to show that it's optional. It's exactly the same if you use 'that' or if you don't use 'that'.)

But , if the reporting verb is in the past tense, then usually we change the tenses in the reported speech:

• Reported speech: She said (that) she liked ice cream.

* doesn't change.

• Direct speech: The sky is blue.
• Reported speech: She said (that) the sky is/was blue.

Click here for a mixed tense exercise about practise reported statements. Click here for a list of all the reported speech exercises.

Reported Questions

So now you have no problem with making reported speech from positive and negative sentences. But how about questions?

• Direct speech: Where do you live?
• Reported speech: She asked me where I lived.
• Direct speech: Where is Julie?
• Reported speech: She asked me where Julie was.
• Direct speech: Do you like chocolate?
• Reported speech: She asked me if I liked chocolate.

Click here to practise reported 'wh' questions. Click here to practise reported 'yes / no' questions. Reported Requests

There's more! What if someone asks you to do something (in a polite way)? For example:

• Direct speech: Close the window, please
• Or: Could you close the window please?
• Or: Would you mind closing the window please?
• Reported speech: She asked me to close the window.
• Direct speech: Please don't be late.
• Reported speech: She asked us not to be late.

Reported Orders

• Direct speech: Sit down!
• Reported speech: She told me to sit down.
• Click here for an exercise to practise reported requests and orders.
• Click here for an exercise about using 'say' and 'tell'.
• Click here for a list of all the reported speech exercises.

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Reported speech: statements

Do you know how to report what somebody else said? Test what you know with interactive exercises and read the explanation to help you.

Look at these examples to see how we can tell someone what another person said.

direct speech: 'I love the Toy Story films,' she said. indirect speech: She said she loved the Toy Story films. direct speech: 'I worked as a waiter before becoming a chef,' he said. indirect speech: He said he'd worked as a waiter before becoming a chef. direct speech: 'I'll phone you tomorrow,' he said. indirect speech: He said he'd phone me the next day.

Try this exercise to test your grammar.

Grammar B1-B2: Reported speech 1: 1

Read the explanation to learn more.

Grammar explanation

Reported speech is when we tell someone what another person said. To do this, we can use direct speech or indirect speech.

direct speech: 'I work in a bank,' said Daniel. indirect speech: Daniel said that he worked in a bank.

In indirect speech, we often use a tense which is 'further back' in the past (e.g. worked ) than the tense originally used (e.g. work ). This is called 'backshift'. We also may need to change other words that were used, for example pronouns.

Present simple, present continuous and present perfect

When we backshift, present simple changes to past simple, present continuous changes to past continuous and present perfect changes to past perfect.

'I travel a lot in my job.' Jamila said that she travelled a lot in her job. 'The baby's sleeping!' He told me the baby was sleeping. 'I've hurt my leg.' She said she'd hurt her leg.

Past simple and past continuous

When we backshift, past simple usually changes to past perfect simple, and past continuous usually changes to past perfect continuous.

'We lived in China for five years.' She told me they'd lived in China for five years. 'It was raining all day.' He told me it had been raining all day.

Past perfect

The past perfect doesn't change.

'I'd tried everything without success, but this new medicine is great.' He said he'd tried everything without success, but the new medicine was great.

No backshift

If what the speaker has said is still true or relevant, it's not always necessary to change the tense. This might happen when the speaker has used a present tense.

'I go to the gym next to your house.' Jenny told me that she goes to the gym next to my house. I'm thinking about going with her. 'I'm working in Italy for the next six months.' He told me he's working in Italy for the next six months. Maybe I should visit him! 'I've broken my arm!' She said she's broken her arm, so she won't be at work this week.

Pronouns, demonstratives and adverbs of time and place

Pronouns also usually change in indirect speech.

'I enjoy working in my garden,' said Bob. Bob said that he enjoyed working in his garden. 'We played tennis for our school,' said Alina. Alina told me they'd played tennis for their school.

However, if you are the person or one of the people who spoke, then the pronouns don't change.

'I'm working on my thesis,' I said. I told her that I was working on my thesis. 'We want our jobs back!' we said. We said that we wanted our jobs back.

We also change demonstratives and adverbs of time and place if they are no longer accurate.

'This is my house.' He said this was his house. [You are currently in front of the house.] He said that was his house. [You are not currently in front of the house.] 'We like it here.' She told me they like it here. [You are currently in the place they like.] She told me they like it there. [You are not in the place they like.] 'I'm planning to do it today.' She told me she's planning to do it today. [It is currently still the same day.] She told me she was planning to do it that day. [It is not the same day any more.]

In the same way, these changes to those , now changes to then , yesterday changes to the day before , tomorrow changes to the next/following day and ago changes to before .

Do this exercise to test your grammar again.

Grammar B1-B2: Reported speech 1: 2

Language level

Hello Team. If the reporting verb is in the present perfect, do we have to backshift the tenses of the direct speech or not?    For example: He has said, "I bought a car yesterday."    

1- He has said that he bought a car yesterday.

2- He has said that he had bought a car the previous day.

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Hello Ahmed Imam,

It's not necessary to backshift the verb form if the situation being reported is still true. For example:

"I'm a doctor"

She told me she is a doctor. [she was a doctor when she said it and she is still doctor now]

She told me she was a doctor. [she was a doctor when she said it and may or may not still be a doctor now]

The reporting verb in your example would be 'said' rather than 'has said' as we are talking about a particular moment in the past. For the other verb both 'bought' and 'had bought' are possible without any change in meaning. In fact, when the verb is past in the original sentence we usually do not shift the verb form back.

The LearnEnglish Team

Hello again. Which one is correct? Why?

- He has said that he (will - would) travel to Cairo with his father.

The present perfect is a present form, so generally 'will' is the correct form.

In this case, assuming that the man said 'I will travel to Cairo', then 'will' is the correct form. But if the man said 'I would travel to Cairo if I had time to do it', then 'would' would be the correct form since it is part of a conditional statement.

I think you were asking about the first situation (the general one), though. Does that make sense?

Best wishes, Kirk LearnEnglish team

Thank you for the information. It states that If what the speaker has said is still true or relevant, it's not always necessary to change the tense. I wonder if it is still correct to change the tense in this example: 'London is in the UK', he said. to He said London was in the UK. Or  it has to be the present tense. 

Hello Wen1996,

Yes, your version of the sentence is also correct. In this case, the past tense refers to the time the speaker made this statement. But this doesn't mean the statement isn't also true now.

Good evening from Turkey.

Is the following example correct: Question: When did she watch the movie?

She asked me when she had watched the movie. or is it had she watched the movie. 

Do Subjects come before the verbs? Thank you. 

Hello muratt,

This is a reported question, not an actual question, as you can see from the fact that it has no question mark at the end. Therefore no inversion is needed and the normal subject-verb word order is maintained: ...she had watched... is correct.

You can read more about this here:

https://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/grammar/b1-b2-grammar/reported-speech-questions

Thank you for your response.

Hello Sir, kindly help with the following sentence-

She said, "When I was a child I wasn't afraid of ghosts." 

Please tell me how to write this sentence in reported/ indirect speech.

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• B1-B2 grammar

Reported speech

Daisy has just had an interview for a summer job. 

Instructions

As you watch the video, look at the examples of reported speech. They are in  red  in the subtitles. Then read the conversation below to learn more. Finally, do the grammar exercises to check you understand, and can use, reported speech correctly.

Sophie:  Mmm, it’s so nice to be chilling out at home after all that running around.

Ollie: Oh, yeah, travelling to glamorous places for a living must be such a drag!

Ollie: Mum, you can be so childish sometimes. Hey, I wonder how Daisy’s getting on in her job interview.

Sophie: Oh, yes, she said she was having it at four o’clock, so it’ll have finished by now. That’ll be her ... yes. Hi, love. How did it go?

Daisy: Well, good I think, but I don’t really know. They said they’d phone later and let me know.

Sophie: What kind of thing did they ask you?

Daisy: They asked if I had any experience with people, so I told them about helping at the school fair and visiting old people at the home, that sort of stuff. But I think they meant work experience.

Sophie: I’m sure what you said was impressive. They can’t expect you to have had much work experience at your age.

Daisy:  And then they asked me what acting I had done, so I told them that I’d had a main part in the school play, and I showed them a bit of the video, so that was cool.

Sophie:  Great!

Daisy: Oh, and they also asked if I spoke any foreign languages.

Sophie: Languages?

Daisy: Yeah, because I might have to talk to tourists, you know.

Sophie: Oh, right, of course.

Daisy: So that was it really. They showed me the costume I’ll be wearing if I get the job. Sending it over ...

Ollie: Hey, sis, I heard that Brad Pitt started out as a giant chicken too! This could be your big break!

Daisy: Ha, ha, very funny.

Sophie: Take no notice, darling. I’m sure you’ll be a marvellous chicken.

We use reported speech when we want to tell someone what someone said. We usually use a reporting verb (e.g. say, tell, ask, etc.) and then change the tense of what was actually said in direct speech.

So, direct speech is what someone actually says? Like 'I want to know about reported speech'?

Yes, and you report it with a reporting verb.

He said he wanted to know about reported speech.

I said, I want and you changed it to he wanted .

Exactly. Verbs in the present simple change to the past simple; the present continuous changes to the past continuous; the present perfect changes to the past perfect; can changes to could ; will changes to would ; etc.

She said she was having the interview at four o’clock. (Direct speech: ' I’m having the interview at four o’clock.') They said they’d phone later and let me know. (Direct speech: ' We’ll phone later and let you know.')

OK, in that last example, you changed you to me too.

Yes, apart from changing the tense of the verb, you also have to think about changing other things, like pronouns and adverbs of time and place.

'We went yesterday.'  > She said they had been the day before. 'I’ll come tomorrow.' >  He said he’d come the next day.

I see, but what if you’re reporting something on the same day, like 'We went yesterday'?

Well, then you would leave the time reference as 'yesterday'. You have to use your common sense. For example, if someone is saying something which is true now or always, you wouldn’t change the tense.

'Dogs can’t eat chocolate.' > She said that dogs can’t eat chocolate. 'My hair grows really slowly.' >  He told me that his hair grows really slowly.

What about reporting questions?

We often use ask + if/whether , then change the tenses as with statements. In reported questions we don’t use question forms after the reporting verb.

'Do you have any experience working with people?' They asked if I had any experience working with people. 'What acting have you done?' They asked me what acting I had done .

Is there anything else I need to know about reported speech?

One thing that sometimes causes problems is imperative sentences.

You mean like 'Sit down, please' or 'Don’t go!'?

Exactly. Sentences that start with a verb in direct speech need a to + infinitive in reported speech.

She told him to be good. (Direct speech: 'Be good!') He told them not to forget. (Direct speech: 'Please don’t forget.')

OK. Can I also say 'He asked me to sit down'?

Yes. You could say 'He told me to …' or 'He asked me to …' depending on how it was said.

OK, I see. Are there any more reporting verbs?

Yes, there are lots of other reporting verbs like promise , remind , warn , advise , recommend , encourage which you can choose, depending on the situation. But say , tell and ask are the most common.

Great. I understand! My teacher said reported speech was difficult.

And I told you not to worry!

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Reported Speech: Dialogue Writing Practice Questions CBSE Class 10 Grammar

• Post last modified: 25 February 2024
• Post category: Grammar Exercises / School Grammar

Reporting the narration is done two ways – Direct or Indirect. The CBSE Class 10 Gramar syllabus includes this reporting in dialogue forms. After that an exercise with blanks to be filled to transform the whole conversation in indirect form. Here are given practice exercises to help practice Dialogue reporting.

Click here for more such grammar study materials

Dialogue Reporting Practice Questions

Q. read the conversation between a teacher and student and complete the passage that follows. (cbse set 2, 2022) .

Neha: I’m really looking forward to the class picnic tomorrow. Namita: Yes, after a long time we will be meeting our friends and teachers.

Neha told Namita (1) ______________ looking forward to the class picnic _____________. Namita agreed that after a long time (2) ______________ friends and teachers.

(1) that she was really, the next day (2) they would be meeting their

Q. Read the conversation and complete the passage that follows: (OD 2022)

Ritika: Can I borrow your Math book for a couple of days? Mohit: Yes certainly, I have already studied for the test tomorrow. Ritika asked Mohit (1) ……………. for a couple of days. Mohit agreed and said that (2) ……………. .

(1) if she could borrow his Math book (2) he had already studied for the test the next day.

Q. Read the conversation between a teacher and student and complete the passage that follows. (Term 2 SQP 2021-22) 

Biology Teacher: I instructed you to draw the diagram of bacteria. Why did you submit a blank sheet?   Sameer: Sir, I had drawn the diagram of bacteria, but you can’t see it because it is not visible to the naked eye 

The biology teacher had instructed Sameer to draw the diagram of a bacterial cell and asked him (a) ……..… a blank sheet. Sameer respectfully answered that he had drawn the diagram but (b) …….…. to the naked eye. 

(a) why he had submitted (b) he/ the teacher couldn’t see it because it is not visible

Q. Read the following dialogue between a mother and her son. Complete the paragraph that follows by filling in the gaps appropriately. (2012)

Marie: Did you see my new umbrella? Isn’t it fine? Tony: Yes, it is! Did you buy it from the mall? Marie: No, your father has brought it for me.

Marie asked her son Tony (a) …………… and she wanted to know whether it was a fine one. Tony agreed and asked his mother (b) …………… His mother replied in the negative and added that (c) ……………

(a) if he had seen her new umbrella (b) if she had bought it from the mall (c) his father had brought it for her.

Note: A sentence in Simple Past (verb 2nd form or Did + Verb 1st form) need not always be converted to Past Perfect (had + Verb 3rd form) . But it is safe to convert to Past Perfect as others (evaluators) may not be knowing it. Even CBSE marking schemes seem to follow the safe rule i.e. Changing Past Tense to past Perfect tense. An example is given below.

Direct: He said, “I saw the thief myself.”

Indirect: he said that he had seen the thief himself. (The safe rule to follow) OR He said that he saw the thief himself. (It is also correct – but mostly not followed)

Q. Read the following dialogue between Garima and Karan. Complete the paragraph that follows by filling in the gaps appropriately. [AI 2011]

Garima: So, after a decade in the industry, are you truly ‘satisfied’? Karan: I love the film industry. It has its flaws though. Garima: What do you mean by this statement? Karan: We are a bunch of competitive, ambitious, sometimes petty people. But the passion cements us together.

Garima asked Karan if after a decade in the industry (a) _________. Karan told her (b) _________ although it had its flaws. Garima then enquired (c) _________. Karan explained that they were a bunch of competitive, ambitious, sometimes petty people but the passion cemented them together.

(a) he was truly ‘satisfied’ (b) that he loved the film industry (c) what he meant by that statement

Q. Choose the correct options to fill in the blanks to complete Venu’s narration. [SQP 2020]

I saw Supanddi standing in the field. When I -(A)- doing there, he -(B)- he was trying to win a Nobel prize. I was confused and enquired how standing in the rice field would help him do so. He stumped me by saying that he -(C)- won Nobel prizes had all been outstanding in their fields!

(A) (a) exclaimed what he was (b) told him what he was (c) asked him what he was (d) says to him about what (B) (a) ordered that (b) refused that (c) questioned that (d) replied that (C) (a) has heard that people who has (b) was hearing that people who were (c) had heard that people who had (d) did hear that people who had

(A) – (c) (B) – (d) (C) – (c)

Q. Choose the correct options to fill in the blanks to complete the narration of Patty’s conversation with Charlie. [SQP 2020]

Charlie: Dear Santa, here is a list if what I want. Patty: How do you suppose Santa Claus can afford to give away all those toys? Charlie: Promotion! Don’t kid yourself……Everything these days is promotion! I will bet if the truth were brought about, you will find that he’s being financed by some big eastern chain!

While making the list of what Charlie wanted from Santa Claus, he asked Patty how …..(A)….. all those toys. She said that …..(B)….. and that it was possible as Santa …..(C)….. big eastern chain.

(A) (a) Santa Claus could afford to give away    (b) will give away (c) gave away (d) giving away

(B) (a) everything these days were promotion (b) everything these days was promotion (c) everything those days was promotion (d) everything these days was going to be promotion

(C) (a) was financing by some big eastern chain (b) had been financed by some big eastern chain (c) was being financed by some big eastern chain (d) will be financed by some big eastern chain

(A) – (a) (B) – (c) (C) – (c)

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Gap filling: cloze test exercises english grammar for school classes, active and passive voice practice questions cbse/icse english grammar, reported speech: exclamatory sentences practice questions with answers, letter writing – grammar for cbse/icse and state boards, this post has 66 comments.

Thank you for question These were excellent and also improved my spech

It’s speech not spech

clapings it is speech

thank you it will help with my exam preparation

Thanks. New questions are also added from time to time.

Thanks a lot for these questions it helped me to be thorough with the exam pattern.

Are you from India:)

thanks for those questions

Why are there so many mistakes in the given questions?The names of the people in the conversation and the names of the people in the related question are completely different.Pls chk and rectify.It is confusing the kids and the purpose of these practice questions is totally defeated.

Thank you for informing us of the mistakes. We have done the required corrections. I hope all is well now.

page 2 question 3 there is a name error plz rectify it as soon as possible to avoid more confusion

Thank you for informing us of the mistake. The required correction has been done- ‘Mohan’ has been replaced by ‘Vinnet’ in the last line of the question.

Please add more questions

In the second question (page 1) , answer to the first part is wrong as Did changes to had + verb’s 3rd form.

Thank you for referring to the issue. We have updated the post and added a ‘note’ section.

Thanks a lot! These were truly of great help! Excellent questions!

It was very helpful ☺️. Thanks ncert tutorials

Really, it was very helpful.

Sir, i wanted to know where “it” is changed to “that” . I have this confusion as there are many questions where it is changed to that..but in many questions there is “it” only.

Sir, In Question no. 4 , please check the answers of option (c) , (f) , (h) why there is “been”

‘Had been’ is used in place ‘was and were’.

Sir, In question 7 (a), How could ‘may’ change into ‘could’?

Thanks for pointing out the error. We have made the required correction.

It was nice to have such a exercise to practice….

Sir, In question 8(d), It should be ‘ she had been talking’ instead of ‘ she has been talking’

The correction done. Thank You Ayush for sparing time to help us clean the exercises out of mistakes.

Why are you using Wrong English ?

Why are you using Wrong English ? Please use correct English to teach. Thank you.

Please give proper reference. I would do required corrections or elaborate upon your issue.

Thank you for this. Please add more. And I think there are some mistakes please do check and correct them. Thanks again🙌

thank you, Elena, and after reports of some errors corrections also have been done. If future reports received, required corrections will be done.

in the fifth page 4th ques there will be what he had been reading as past progressive changes to past perfect progressive

Thank you Sarthak for informing us of the error. Corrections done and the question has also been modified with one more filling gap (d).

thank u for giving a lot of questions this was useful for my class 10 board term 2 exam

thank you so much

Tomorrow is board

Yess all the bestt

I have my english board exam tomorrow, and this helped me a lot

thank you soo much. this site is the only one that consists of grammar questions based on the format of the board exams

it helped me a lot to prepare for my term 2 board exam of english. LOOKING FORWARD TO SCORE 40/40

Best of Luck Aishwarya 👍👍

best of luck to me to plz saaaayyyyy Subscribe to Jonja hi Jonja

Ok, Best of luck to you also 👍👍

Thank you sir , Your questions on reported speech have helped me a lot to study for my exam.

EXCELLENT QUESTIONS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! KEEP IT UP………………..

Sir in question no. 3(b) the past tense of buy should be bought and not brought.Pls make the changes.

Correction done 😊.

I love the lessons for they are smart enough to learn personally.

I would like to show my gratitude …….this website was really good and helpful 👍 and more comfortable

Very nice examples They helped me a lot in my exam preparation

thanks for sharing this information

Questions were very helpful and amazing also… Thanks for such practice question..

Good questions thank you

sir on page 1 Q 2 it should be “for tomorrow’s test” instead of “the test tomorrow”.

Hi Arnav, it is written as ‘for the test tomorrow’ so no problem.

Thanks too much this is awesome for my test this help me more

Thank you admin blog. Very good

Please add longer questions

there some questions with mistakes arun and rohit question pls rectrfy the mistakes thanks it helped me a lot because it was my todays homework i referred and completed it Thank you

We revisited the question mentioned by you but did not find any error. May be you have any doubt. Feel free to ask us about that.

Pls take a look at the first question Isnt ‘will’ supposed to be changed to ‘would’

Correction done

THANKS, IT WAS AWESOME…

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Direct and Indirect Speech: Useful Rules and Examples

Are you having trouble understanding the difference between direct and indirect speech? Direct speech is when you quote someone’s exact words, while indirect speech is when you report what someone said without using their exact words. This can be a tricky concept to grasp, but with a little practice, you’ll be able to use both forms of speech with ease.

Direct and Indirect Speech

When someone speaks, we can report what they said in two ways: direct speech and indirect speech. Direct speech is when we quote the exact words that were spoken, while indirect speech is when we report what was said without using the speaker’s exact words. Here’s an example:

Direct speech: “I love pizza,” said John. Indirect speech: John said that he loved pizza.

Using direct speech can make your writing more engaging and can help to convey the speaker’s tone and emotion. However, indirect speech can be useful when you want to summarize what someone said or when you don’t have the exact words that were spoken.

To change direct speech to indirect speech, you need to follow some rules. Firstly, you need to change the tense of the verb in the reported speech to match the tense of the reporting verb. Secondly, you need to change the pronouns and adverbs in the reported speech to match the new speaker. Here’s an example:

Direct speech: “I will go to the park,” said Sarah. Indirect speech: Sarah said that she would go to the park.

It’s important to note that when you use indirect speech, you need to use reporting verbs such as “said,” “told,” or “asked” to indicate who is speaking. Here’s an example:

Direct speech: “What time is it?” asked Tom. Indirect speech: Tom asked what time it was.

In summary, understanding direct and indirect speech is crucial for effective communication and writing. Direct speech can be used to convey the speaker’s tone and emotion, while indirect speech can be useful when summarizing what someone said. By following the rules for changing direct speech to indirect speech, you can accurately report what was said while maintaining clarity and readability in your writing.

Differences between Direct and Indirect Speech

When it comes to reporting speech, there are two ways to go about it: direct and indirect speech. Direct speech is when you report someone’s exact words, while indirect speech is when you report what someone said without using their exact words. Here are some of the key differences between direct and indirect speech:

Change of Pronouns

In direct speech, the pronouns used are those of the original speaker. However, in indirect speech, the pronouns have to be changed to reflect the perspective of the reporter. For example:

• Direct speech: “I am going to the store,” said John.
• Indirect speech: John said he was going to the store.

In the above example, the pronoun “I” changes to “he” in indirect speech.

Change of Tenses

Another major difference between direct and indirect speech is the change of tenses. In direct speech, the verb tense used is the same as that used by the original speaker. However, in indirect speech, the verb tense may change depending on the context. For example:

• Direct speech: “I am studying for my exams,” said Sarah.
• Indirect speech: Sarah said she was studying for her exams.

In the above example, the present continuous tense “am studying” changes to the past continuous tense “was studying” in indirect speech.

Change of Time and Place References

When reporting indirect speech, the time and place references may also change. For example:

• Direct speech: “I will meet you at the park tomorrow,” said Tom.
• Indirect speech: Tom said he would meet you at the park the next day.

In the above example, “tomorrow” changes to “the next day” in indirect speech.

Overall, it is important to understand the differences between direct and indirect speech to report speech accurately and effectively. By following the rules of direct and indirect speech, you can convey the intended message of the original speaker.

Converting Direct Speech Into Indirect Speech

When you need to report what someone said in your own words, you can use indirect speech. To convert direct speech into indirect speech, you need to follow a few rules.

Step 1: Remove the Quotation Marks

The first step is to remove the quotation marks that enclose the relayed text. This is because indirect speech does not use the exact words of the speaker.

Step 2: Use a Reporting Verb and a Linker

To indicate that you are reporting what someone said, you need to use a reporting verb such as “said,” “asked,” “told,” or “exclaimed.” You also need to use a linker such as “that” or “whether” to connect the reporting verb to the reported speech.

For example:

• Direct speech: “I love ice cream,” said Mary.
• Indirect speech: Mary said that she loved ice cream.

Step 3: Change the Tense of the Verb

When you use indirect speech, you need to change the tense of the verb in the reported speech to match the tense of the reporting verb.

• Indirect speech: John said that he was going to the store.

Step 4: Change the Pronouns

You also need to change the pronouns in the reported speech to match the subject of the reporting verb.

• Direct speech: “Are you busy now?” Tina asked me.
• Indirect speech: Tina asked whether I was busy then.

By following these rules, you can convert direct speech into indirect speech and report what someone said in your own words.

Converting Indirect Speech Into Direct Speech

Converting indirect speech into direct speech involves changing the reported speech to its original form as spoken by the speaker. Here are the steps to follow when converting indirect speech into direct speech:

• Identify the reporting verb: The first step is to identify the reporting verb used in the indirect speech. This will help you determine the tense of the direct speech.
• Change the pronouns: The next step is to change the pronouns in the indirect speech to match the person speaking in the direct speech. For example, if the indirect speech is “She said that she was going to the store,” the direct speech would be “I am going to the store,” if you are the person speaking.
• Change the tense: Change the tense of the verbs in the indirect speech to match the tense of the direct speech. For example, if the indirect speech is “He said that he would visit tomorrow,” the direct speech would be “He says he will visit tomorrow.”
• Remove the reporting verb and conjunction: In direct speech, there is no need for a reporting verb or conjunction. Simply remove them from the indirect speech to get the direct speech.

Here is an example to illustrate the process:

Indirect Speech: John said that he was tired and wanted to go home.

Direct Speech: “I am tired and want to go home,” John said.

By following these steps, you can easily convert indirect speech into direct speech.

Examples of Direct and Indirect Speech

Direct and indirect speech are two ways to report what someone has said. Direct speech reports the exact words spoken by a person, while indirect speech reports the meaning of what was said. Here are some examples of both types of speech:

Direct Speech Examples

Direct speech is used when you want to report the exact words spoken by someone. It is usually enclosed in quotation marks and is often used in dialogue.

• “I am going to the store,” said Sarah.
• “It’s a beautiful day,” exclaimed John.
• “Please turn off the lights,” Mom told me.
• “I will meet you at the library,” said Tom.
• “We are going to the beach tomorrow,” announced Mary.

Indirect Speech Examples

Indirect speech, also known as reported speech, is used to report what someone said without using their exact words. It is often used in news reports, academic writing, and in situations where you want to paraphrase what someone said.

Here are some examples of indirect speech:

• Sarah said that she was going to the store.
• John exclaimed that it was a beautiful day.
• Mom told me to turn off the lights.
• Tom said that he would meet me at the library.
• Mary announced that they were going to the beach tomorrow.

In indirect speech, the verb tense may change to reflect the time of the reported speech. For example, “I am going to the store” becomes “Sarah said that she was going to the store.” Additionally, the pronouns and possessive adjectives may also change to reflect the speaker and the person being spoken about.

Overall, both direct and indirect speech are important tools for reporting what someone has said. By using these techniques, you can accurately convey the meaning of what was said while also adding your own interpretation and analysis.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is direct and indirect speech?

Direct and indirect speech refer to the ways in which we communicate what someone has said. Direct speech involves repeating the exact words spoken, using quotation marks to indicate that you are quoting someone. Indirect speech, on the other hand, involves reporting what someone has said without using their exact words.

How do you convert direct speech to indirect speech?

To convert direct speech to indirect speech, you need to change the tense of the verbs, pronouns, and time expressions. You also need to introduce a reporting verb, such as “said,” “told,” or “asked.” For example, “I love ice cream,” said Mary (direct speech) can be converted to “Mary said that she loved ice cream” (indirect speech).

What is the difference between direct speech and indirect speech?

The main difference between direct speech and indirect speech is that direct speech uses the exact words spoken, while indirect speech reports what someone has said without using their exact words. Direct speech is usually enclosed in quotation marks, while indirect speech is not.

What are some examples of direct and indirect speech?

Some examples of direct speech include “I am going to the store,” said John and “I love pizza,” exclaimed Sarah. Some examples of indirect speech include John said that he was going to the store and Sarah exclaimed that she loved pizza .

What are the rules for converting direct speech to indirect speech?

The rules for converting direct speech to indirect speech include changing the tense of the verbs, pronouns, and time expressions. You also need to introduce a reporting verb and use appropriate reporting verbs such as “said,” “told,” or “asked.”

What is a summary of direct and indirect speech?

Direct and indirect speech are two ways of reporting what someone has said. Direct speech involves repeating the exact words spoken, while indirect speech reports what someone has said without using their exact words. To convert direct speech to indirect speech, you need to change the tense of the verbs, pronouns, and time expressions and introduce a reporting verb.

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• List of Adjectives
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• English Grammar
• Reported Speech

Reported Speech - Definition, Rules and Usage with Examples

Reported speech or indirect speech is the form of speech used to convey what was said by someone at some point of time. This article will help you with all that you need to know about reported speech, its meaning, definition, how and when to use them along with examples. Furthermore, try out the practice questions given to check how far you have understood the topic.

Table of Contents

Definition of reported speech, rules to be followed when using reported speech, table 1 – change of pronouns, table 2 – change of adverbs of place and adverbs of time, table 3 – change of tense, table 4 – change of modal verbs, tips to practise reported speech, examples of reported speech, check your understanding of reported speech, frequently asked questions on reported speech in english, what is reported speech.

Reported speech is the form in which one can convey a message said by oneself or someone else, mostly in the past. It can also be said to be the third person view of what someone has said. In this form of speech, you need not use quotation marks as you are not quoting the exact words spoken by the speaker, but just conveying the message.

Now, take a look at the following dictionary definitions for a clearer idea of what it is.

Reported speech, according to the Oxford Learner’s Dictionary, is defined as “a report of what somebody has said that does not use their exact words.” The Collins Dictionary defines reported speech as “speech which tells you what someone said, but does not use the person’s actual words.” According to the Cambridge Dictionary, reported speech is defined as “the act of reporting something that was said, but not using exactly the same words.” The Macmillan Dictionary defines reported speech as “the words that you use to report what someone else has said.”

Reported speech is a little different from direct speech . As it has been discussed already, reported speech is used to tell what someone said and does not use the exact words of the speaker. Take a look at the following rules so that you can make use of reported speech effectively.

• The first thing you have to keep in mind is that you need not use any quotation marks as you are not using the exact words of the speaker.
• You can use the following formula to construct a sentence in the reported speech.
• You can use verbs like said, asked, requested, ordered, complained, exclaimed, screamed, told, etc. If you are just reporting a declarative sentence , you can use verbs like told, said, etc. followed by ‘that’ and end the sentence with a full stop . When you are reporting interrogative sentences, you can use the verbs – enquired, inquired, asked, etc. and remove the question mark . In case you are reporting imperative sentences , you can use verbs like requested, commanded, pleaded, ordered, etc. If you are reporting exclamatory sentences , you can use the verb exclaimed and remove the exclamation mark . Remember that the structure of the sentences also changes accordingly.
• Furthermore, keep in mind that the sentence structure , tense , pronouns , modal verbs , some specific adverbs of place and adverbs of time change when a sentence is transformed into indirect/reported speech.

Transforming Direct Speech into Reported Speech

As discussed earlier, when transforming a sentence from direct speech into reported speech, you will have to change the pronouns, tense and adverbs of time and place used by the speaker. Let us look at the following tables to see how they work.

Here are some tips you can follow to become a pro in using reported speech.

• Select a play, a drama or a short story with dialogues and try transforming the sentences in direct speech into reported speech.
• Write about an incident or speak about a day in your life using reported speech.
• Develop a story by following prompts or on your own using reported speech.

Given below are a few examples to show you how reported speech can be written. Check them out.

• Santana said that she would be auditioning for the lead role in Funny Girl.
• Blaine requested us to help him with the algebraic equations.
• Karishma asked me if I knew where her car keys were.
• The judges announced that the Warblers were the winners of the annual acapella competition.
• Binsha assured that she would reach Bangalore by 8 p.m.
• Kumar said that he had gone to the doctor the previous day.
• Lakshmi asked Teena if she would accompany her to the railway station.
• Jibin told me that he would help me out after lunch.
• The police ordered everyone to leave from the bus stop immediately.
• Rahul said that he was drawing a caricature.

Transform the following sentences into reported speech by making the necessary changes.

1. Rachel said, “I have an interview tomorrow.”

2. Mahesh said, “What is he doing?”

3. Sherly said, “My daughter is playing the lead role in the skit.”

4. Dinesh said, “It is a wonderful movie!”

5. Suresh said, “My son is getting married next month.”

6. Preetha said, “Can you please help me with the invitations?”

7. Anna said, “I look forward to meeting you.”

8. The teacher said, “Make sure you complete the homework before tomorrow.”

9. Sylvester said, “I am not going to cry anymore.”

10. Jade said, “My sister is moving to Los Angeles.”

Now, find out if you have answered all of them correctly.

1. Rachel said that she had an interview the next day.

2. Mahesh asked what he was doing.

3. Sherly said that her daughter was playing the lead role in the skit.

4. Dinesh exclaimed that it was a wonderful movie.

5. Suresh said that his son was getting married the following month.

6. Preetha asked if I could help her with the invitations.

7. Anna said that she looked forward to meeting me.

8. The teacher told us to make sure we completed the homework before the next day.

9. Sylvester said that he was not going to cry anymore.

10. Jade said that his sister was moving to Los Angeles.

What is reported speech?

What is the definition of reported speech.

Reported speech, according to the Oxford Learner’s Dictionary, is defined as “a report of what somebody has said that does not use their exact words.” The Collins Dictionary defines reported speech as “speech which tells you what someone said, but does not use the person’s actual words.” According to the Cambridge Dictionary, reported speech is defined as “the act of reporting something that was said, but not using exactly the same words.” The Macmillan Dictionary defines reported speech as “the words that you use to report what someone else has said.”

What is the formula of reported speech?

You can use the following formula to construct a sentence in the reported speech. Subject said that (report whatever the speaker said)

Give some examples of reported speech.

Given below are a few examples to show you how reported speech can be written.

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Reported Speech Examples

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Reported speech provides a challenge for most learners of English. The shifting tenses and changes to both pronouns and modal verbs take time to learn and practice to use effectively. This practice is key because reported speech requires accuracy on the part of the speaker. Even minor errors can make it difficult for the listener to understand when the action in the reported speech occurred.

When working with reported speech, it is helpful to have the students work through the sentence by identifying the following grammar aspects of the direct speech that is to be converted to reported speech.

1.     Identify the type of sentence. Is it a statement, a command, or a question?

• This will determine the reporting verb used, such as said , told , or asked .

2.     Identify the verb tense used in the direct speech as the verb tenses will backshift when being changed to reported speech.

• Note: Although it is not standard, some native speakers may not change present tense into past tense for facts. For example “Mt. Everest is the tallest mountain in the world” can change to “She said Mt. Everest is the tallest mountain in the world.”

3.     Identify the pronoun and change it accordingly. For example, “I like soccer” requires a change of pronoun to he or she “She said she likes soccer”.

4.     Identify any times and/or places. These will need to be changed when converting to reported speech. For example, “I will come there after class” changes to “She told me she would come here after class.”

In this month’s Teacher’s Corner, we will showcase four activities that can be used to practice reported speech. These activities are designed to give students practice using reported speech in a variety of ways. The activities create opportunities for students to practice reported speech in both spoken and written form.

Week 1 – Reported Speech Overview

Week 2 – Gossip and Rumors

Week 3 – Trace Effects

Week 4 – World News Report

The goal in each of these activities is to provide students opportunities to work through the steps above to convert direct speech to reported speech. Week 1 works with the mechanics of reported speech and centers on an interview activity. Week 2 encourages students to get to know each other better by using a variation of the game “two truths and a lie.” Week 3 provides a variety of reported speech activities that utilize the game Trace Effects . Week 4 gives students the chance to work with reported speech to deliver news reports in the classroom.

Table of Contents

Low-Intermediate to Advanced

Language Focus

Speaking, listening (primary focus); writing (secondary focus)

Students will increase their understanding of reported speech through a matching and interview activity.

• Teacher: whiteboard/chalkboard, markers or chalk, a timing device, a world map for reference, match-up cards (Appendix 1), reported speech interviews worksheet (Appendix 2).
• Students: pencils or pens, notebooks or writing paper.

Preparation

This week’s Teacher’s Corner introduces students to the grammatical structures in reported speech. Students will practice matching direct speech to reported speech and then practice changing direct speech to reported speech via interviews with fellow students.

1.     Read through all the materials carefully.

2.     Print one copy of the reported speech match-up cards found in Appendix 1 for the class activity. For larger classes, multiple copies may be needed.

• There are 39 cards in total. For smaller classes, the match-up activity can be completed in rounds – first the verb tenses and then the modals.

3.     Once the match-up cards have been printed, cut them into individual cards. These cards are in three categories: verb tense (x13 cards), direct speech (x13 cards), and reported speech (x13 cards).

4.     For the interview activity, print enough of the reported speech interviews worksheets in Appendix 2 so that each student has a copy. These print outs do not need to be cut into individual cards.

Part 1 – Reported Speech Match Up

1.     Begin the class activity by having the students stand up and mix themselves around.

2.     Next, give each student one of the 39 cards found in Appendix 1.

• Students should keep their card hidden at the start and not show it to their classmates.
• Instruct the students that when you say “Go!” they should move around the room and match their card with the correct cards held by other students.
• Once they find the students with the matching cards, they should stand in a group.

Note : Students will end up forming groups of three – one student with the verb tense card, one with the direct speech card, and one with the reported speech card. For example:

        Student #1                            Student #2                                                Student #3

3.     Yell “Go!” and have the students mingle and find the students with the correct cards.

4.     Once all of the groups of students have been formed, have them read their card aloud to the rest of class. Have them begin with the verb tense, then the direct speech, and then the reported speech.

5.     Once finished, have the students turn in their cards, mix them up and then play again. Play as many rounds as time permits.

Part 2 – Interviews

1.     Have the students sit down. The first portion of this activity is individual work, so they do not need to sit with a partner or group.

2.     Give each student a copy of the reported speech interviews worksheets found in Appendix 2.

3.     Have the students read through the sheet. Ask them if they have any questions before beginning the writing portion of the activity.

4.     Next, instruct the students to choose 10 out of the 13 possible verb tenses or modals. The students then write 10 questions using the verb tenses or modals that they selected.

• Students should write their questions in the left column under Verb Tenses . For example:

5.     After the students have written their questions, have them find a partner.

6.     Once the students are in pairs, organize each pair into student A or student B.

7.     Student A begins by asking their questions to student B. When student B answers, student A should write down the answer under the column Direct Speech .

8.     Once student A is finished asking questions, have the pair switch roles: Student B asks questions and student A answers the questions. Student B should write down student A’s answers in the Direct Speech column as well.

9.     After the interviews have been completed, have the students return to their seats. Now, each student should take the answers provided by their partner and convert them to reported speech. Instruct them to write down the reported speech in the column on their worksheet labeled Reported Speech .

Part 3 – Information Sharing

1.     Once students have converted their partner’s direct speech to reported speech, have them stand up and find a new partner.

2.     With their new partner, have the students share the answers provided by their previous partner. Circulate around the room to ensure that students are using reported speech.

• For more advanced classes, have them also use reported speech to report the questions they asked as well. For example:  Susan: “I asked Robert if he likes to read. Roberto said he enjoys reading  mystery stories.”

3.     Once each student has reported on the answers of their previous partner, bring the class back together. If time permits, have the students share the answers with the rest of the class.

Appendix 1: Reported Speech Match-Up

Verb Tenses

Appendix 2: Reported Speech Interviews

Students will practice using reported speech through discussing gossip and rumors.

• Teacher: whiteboard/chalkboard, markers or chalk, “Two Truths” Appendix 1.

This week’s Teacher’s Corner is using a variation on the game “Two Truths and a Lie”. The game is simple; each player tells two facts that are true and one that is a lie. The other players must correctly guess which one of the three statements is a lie. In this variation of the game, students will write their statements down on a sheet of paper, trade them with other students, and then use reported speech to share these statements with the class.

• Read through all the materials carefully.
• Print out the “Two Truths and a Lie” cards in Appendix 1. Make enough copies so that each student in class has a statement card. Note : If playing multiple rounds, print enough copies so each student has one card per game.
• Each game will have five rounds. In the first round, student A will talk to his/her partner, reporting on the statements. Their partner (student B) will choose the statement they believe is a lie. Student A will then note on their card student B’s choice in the “Vote for a Lie” table at the bottom of their card. The pair of students will repeat this process for student B’s card. Once both students have noted their partner’s vote, they will find new partners and repeat the process. Once each student has talked to five other students and registered the votes, the game is over.
• After students have played two rounds and have become familiar with the game, encourage them to expand the game to include statements about their favorite celebrities and/or sports stars. For example a student may write:

Lionel Messi has won eight La Liga titles.

Lionel Messi plays for Real Madrid.

Lionel Messi has won three European Golden Shoes.

Part 1 – Two Truths and a Lie Statements Cards

• Tell the students to think about two facts and one untrue fact about themselves. Encourage the students to think carefully so that the lie is difficult to detect!
• Next, pass out the “Two Truths and a Lie” statement card to the students.
• Have the students write down their name at the top of the card and their three statements in the numbered spaces provided. Note : Remind students to mix up their statements. If each student writes the lie as the third statement, the game will become predictable!

Part 2 – “Did you know that…?”

• Next, have each student switch their card with a classmate so that each student now has another student’s card.
• Instruct the students to read the card and convert the statements to reported speech.  For example : Susan writes, “I went to America”, so John should change it to, “Susan said that she has gone to America.  Note : When gossiping in English, the beginning of a sentence is typically altered to make the news more exciting. For example, instead of “Susan said that…” the sentence may begin with a phrase such as, “Did you hear that…”or “Do you think that…” or “I heard that…” While lower level classes may need to practice the more formal structures, more advanced students can use these more informal phrases.
• Next, have the students stand up and find a partner. They can choose any partner except the person who has their original card (and whose card they now have).
• Each student should report the information on the card to their partner. After hearing the three statements, their partner should guess which one is the lie. Each student should mark down their partner’s guess at the bottom of their card.
• Have the students switch and find a new partner and repeat the process.
• After five rounds, have the students find the classmate whose card they have. Have the students share the results with their partner. Note : If time permits, have students volunteer to share their results with the class. Which student had the most believable lie?

Optional Activity

If time permits, have the students play another round. This time, have them create statements about each other or their favorite celebrities or sports stars.

Appendix 1: Two Truths and a Lie

Intermediate to Advanced

Speaking, listening (primary focus); reading (secondary focus)

Students will increase their reported speech skills through role play activities centered on the game Trace Effects .

• Teacher: whiteboard/chalkboard, markers or chalk, computer and projector, computer lab if possible, copies of Trace Effects (online or DVD version). Copies of the Trace Effects Chapter 1 comics, which can be found in the downloads section of this webpage.

This week’s Teacher’s Corner uses the video game Trace Effects to practice reported speech. Trace Effects , like other video games, requires players to solve problems using the information provided. Gathering information in Trace Effects requires asking questions and listening to the answers. This question and answer format makes it an effective way for students to practice reported speech.

This week’s Teacher’s Corner provides a series of activities centered on Trace Effects to help students practice reported speech. If you have never played Trace Effects, you can find it here .

• These activities are best used in a computer lab, if possible. Have students work on the computers in pairs or small groups.
• The fourth activity is an information gap using Chapter 1 of the Trace Effects Comic book. When students are paired for the activity, one student will have the regular version of the comic and his/her partner will have a special version of the same comic. This special version will have some of the text missing. Both are included in the “Downloads” section of this week’s Teacher’s Corner web page.

Trace Telephone – Pairs or Small Groups

1.     Before class, ensure that each computer has a set of headphones.

2.     Have the students form pairs or small groups. Each pair or small group should have a computer on which to work.

3.     Next, have the students go to the webpage Trace Effects . If your school has DVD copies of Trace Effects , or the game is installed on school computers, have the students use that version.

4.     Provide each student a role during gameplay: one student (the controller) should control the mouse and keyboard, while a second student (the reporter) listens to the audio in the headphones.

a.     If playing in small groups, the third student can be the “grammar checker.” Their job is to listen to what they reporter tells the controller and check the reported speech that the reporter uses.

5.     Let the groups begin a game of Trace Effects . The player with the headphones must communicate the responses of the other characters to their partner or group.

a.     If playing as a whole class, have one student come to the front of the class to be the reporter. The remainder of the class can shout out/vote for what should be selected next in the dialogue chain.

Trace Telephone – Class Version

1.     If a computer lab is not available, a similar activity to the one above can be conducted as a whole class.

2.     In this version of the activity, one student works as the controller of the game while another student uses the headphones to listen to the audio.

3.     Taking turns, students come to the front of the class and put on the headphones. The student must listen to the dialogue from the NPCs (Non-Playable Characters) and change the speech they hear to reported speech. Using reported speech, they must tell the class what they heard.

4.     If the student uses reported speech successfully, they continue to be the class reporter. If the student does not use the correct reported speech, the reporter must sit down and a new student comes to the front of the class to assume the role.

a.     Optional: When a student reports the dialogue incorrectly, they can take over controlling the game.

5.     The student who correctly reports the dialogue the most number of times in a row wins!

Trace Summary – Chapter 2

Reported speech is regularly used when summarizing an event or telling a story. In this activity, students will report on the events of Trace Effects Chapter 2.

1.     Place students into pairs or small groups. These pairs/small groups will work together to complete Trace Effects Chapter 2.

2.     Have the students play Chapter 2 of the game.

a.     While students play the chapter, have them take notes about the events in the game.

• Encourage them to take notes on who Trace talks to and what the characters say to Trace.

b.     If students are playing in pairs or small groups, have them take turns at the controls. This chapter of Trace Effects has two scenes: the farmers’ market and a high school. Students can switch turns on the controls when the scene changes.

3.     Once students have completed the chapter, have them provide a summary of the chapter in the form of a story. For example:

Trace asked the woman at the tomato booth if she was Emma Fields. The woman said no and told Trace to ask the people at the corn booth.

4.     Depending on the level of the students, the summary can be presented in class as a spoken activity, or students can take their notes home and write a summary to be presented in class the following day.

Trace Effects – Comic Book

This activity is best completed after students have played Trace Effects Chapter 1. This activity can also benefit from being conducted in a computer lab if possible.

1.     Have the students form pairs of A and B.

2.     Give half the students (student A) copies of the Trace Effects Chapter 1 – Blanks comic book included with this activity.

3.     Give the other half of the class (student B) a copy of the Trace Effects Chapter 1 comic.

4.     Instruct student A to fill in the blanks in their comic by asking student B what was said by the characters with the missing text. Student B should give the missing lines using reported speech. Student A should listen to the reported speech and convert it to direct speech and fill in the words missing in the speech bubbles.

• Note: to extend the activity and give both students in the pair the opportunity to work with reported speech, hand out only half of the comic (pages 3-5) to the students. Then, once the pairs have completed those pages, have them switch roles and to complete the second half of the comic (pages 6-8).

High-Intermediate to Advanced

Speaking, reading (primary focus); writing, listening (secondary focus)

Students will practice using reported speech by giving news reports.

• Teacher: whiteboard/chalkboard, markers or chalk, copies of the article “ Scott Kelly Reflects On His Year Off The Planet ”.

This week’s Teacher’s Corner practices reported speech through reporting on news stories. Reporting on events, such as news stories, allow students to practice a larger variety of verbs when using reported speech.

• Read through all the materials carefully before starting the activity.
• Read the article “ Scott Kelly Reflects On His Year Off The Planet ” before class to identify vocabulary that may be new or challenging to students. Identify the quotes made by astronaut Scott Kelly in the article; students will convert these quotes to reported speech.
• Print a copy of the article for each student to read or, if possible, complete part one of the activity in a computer lab.

Part 1 – In-Class Practice

1.     Pass out copies of the article “ Scott Kelly Reflects On His Year Off The Planet ”, or provide students a link to the article if working in a computer lab.

2.     Have the students read the article.

3.     Once the students have finished reading, have the students underline or highlight the quotes made by astronaut Scott Kelly in the article. If students are reading the article online, have them write the quotes on a sheet of paper.

4.     Next, have the students write a short summary of the article. Instruct them to use at least two quotes from astronaut Kelly. These quotes must be changed to reported speech.

a.     For lower level classes, students can do the summary in pairs or small groups.

b.     Advance classes can use this opportunity not only to practice reported speech but to cite sources as well.

• For example, with Scott Kelly’s quote, "I have taken a lot of pictures because I've been up here for a long time," can be changed to: Kelly told reporters that he had taken a lot of pictures because he had been up there a long time .
• More advanced classes can also use reported speech to summarize what the author of the article wrote, such as: Brumfiel states that when Kelly had returned to Earth he had spent 340 days aboard the International Space Station .

5.     Have students switch summaries with another student. The students read their partner’s summary and analyze how closely it matches the information in the article. Instruct the students to make corrections to any errors they see in the reported speech contained in the summary.

a.     Optional: The summaries can be collected and corrections made to the reported speech.

Part 2 – Homework

1.     Now that students have practice with the in-class article, assign them homework to find a new article on which to report.

2.     Encourage students to find an article on a topic they enjoy. A resource for articles designed for learners of English is Voice of America .

3.     Have the students summarize their article and, as in the class example, include at least two instances of reported speech.

Part 3 – In-Class Report

1.     In the next class, have the students present their article summary to the class. Give each student two minutes to present their summary to the class.

2.     Encourage students not to rely on their writing but to try giving the summary from memory.

Optional variations

1.     Make this a regular activity in your class by requiring students to present a news report each week. Each class period, a set number of students can provide a report, such as two students at the start of each class.

2.     If class time is limited, have the students record their summaries and submit them as audio journals. For ideas on student recordings, see the September 2015 Teacher’s Corner on using Audacity recording software.

For more ways to incorporate global affairs and news into your classroom check out the Teacher’s Corner for March 2016 .

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Question and Answer forum for K12 Students

Reported Speech Dialogue Exercises for Class 10 CBSE With Answers

Reported speech is when we express or say things that have already been said by somebody else.

Basic  English Grammar  rules can be tricky. In this article, we’ll get you started with the basics of sentence structure, punctuation, parts of speech, and more.

We also providing Extra Questions for Class 10 English Chapter wise.

Reported Speech Dialogue Exercises For Class 10 Cbse With Answers PDF

Reporting of the words of a speaker in one’s own words is called Narration. There are two ways of reporting what people say: Direct Speech and Indirect Speech. Direct Speech. The actual words of the speaker using quotation marks are called Direct Speech. Indirect Speech. When we convey the speaker’s words in our own words it becomes Indirect Speech. It is the reporting of speakers’ words, using a saying or asking verbs. In indirect, verbs giving or asking for instructing are often used with a to-infinitive construction. Verbs expressing intention may also be followed by a to-infinitive.

There are basically four types of sentences in which we can convert direct speech into Indirect speech.

• Assertive Sentences (Statements)
• Interrogative Sentences (Questions)
• Imperative Sentences (Commands and Requests)
• Exclamatory Sentences (Strong Feelings)

To convert a Direct speech into an Indirect speech, we have to make some necessary changes. Change No.1. Remove the commas and inverted commas. Use any conjunction.

Change No.2. In Reported Speech, there are some words which show nearness, but they are always converted into words which show distance.

They are as follows:

Note. ‘Come’ is changed into ‘go’ only in that case when any word showing nearness is given with it. Change No. 3. Change of Person. There are three types of Person in English language which are as follows:

Change No. 4. If the reporting verb is in Present or in Future Tense, there is no change in the tense of the Reported Speech. If the reporting verb is in Past Tense, there is always a change in the tense of the Reported Speech, which is as follows:

• Present Indefinite is changed into Past Indefinite
• Present Continuous is changed into Past Continuous
• Present Perfect is changed into Past Perfect
• Present Perfect Continuous is changed into Past Perfect Continuous
• Past Indefinite is changed into Past Perfect
• Past Continuous is changed into Past Perfect Continuous
• Past Perfect and Past Perfect Continuous remain unchanged

In case of Future Tense, there are only four words which are changed, i.e.

Changes based on the types of sentences.

1. Assertive Sentences (Statements) Change No. 1. Remove the commas and inverted commas. Use conjunction ‘that’. Change No. 2. Change the reporting verb ‘say into tell’, ‘says into tell’, ‘said into told’, if the reporting object is given in the sentence. But do not change the reporting verb if the reporting object is not given in the sentence. Change No. 3. ‘Said to’ can be changed into told, replied, informed, stated, added, remarked, asserted, assured, reminded, complained, and reported, according to the meaning. Change No. 4. Always remove “to’ from the reporting speech, e.g.

• He said to me, “I cannot help you in this matter.” He told me that he could not help me in that matter.
• He said, “My sister’s marriage comes off next month.” He said that his sister’s marriage would come off the following month.

2. Interrogative Sentences (Questions)

Change No. 1. Change the reporting verb ‘said ‘or ‘said to’into‘ asked’ or ‘inquired of’. In case of a single question, change it into ‘asked’ but in case of more than one question, change it into “inquired of’. Change No. 2. Use conjunction ‘if’ or ‘whether’ if the reported speech starts with a helping verb. But do not use any conjunction if the reported speech starts with an interrogative word. Change No. 3. Change the Interrogative sense into an Assertive sense. Change No. 4. Remove ‘?’ question mark and use ‘ . ‘full stop, e.g.

• She said to her servant, “Is tea ready for me?” She asked her servant if tea was ready for her.
• She asked me, “Who teaches you English?” She asked me who taught me English.

3. Imperative Sentences (Commands and Requests)

Change No. 1. Change the reporting verb‘said’ or ‘said to’ into ordered, commanded, requested, advised, warned, forbade, suggested, encouraged, persuaded, begged, etc. according to the sense. Change No. 2. Remove the commas and inverted commas, use conjunction ‘to’. Change No. 3. Change the Imperative sense into Infinitive sense. Change No. 4. Remove ‘do not and use ‘not to’ in case of Negative Imperative sentences, e.g.

• The teacher said to me, “Stand up on the bench.”. The teacher ordered me to stand up on the bench.
• The General said to the soldiers, “March forward and attack the foe.” The General ordered the soldiers to march forward and attack the foe.
• The gardener said to the boys, “Do not pluck the flowers.” The gardener forbade the boys from plucking the flowers.

4. Exclamatory Sentences (Strong Feelings)

Change No. 1. Change the reporting verb ‘said’ or ‘said to’ into “exclaimed with joy’ or ‘exclaimed with sorrow’, ‘cry out, “pray’, etc., according to the sense, i.e.

• Exclaimed with joy–in case of Aha! Ha! Hurrah!
• Exclaimed with sorrow–in case of Ah! Alas!
• Exclaimed with surprise–in case of Oh! What! How!
• Exclaimed with regret–in case of Sorry!
• Exclaimed with contempt–in case of Pooh! Pshaw!
• Applauded with saying–in case of Bravo! Hear!

Change No. 2. Use very or great by removing what or how. Change No. 3. Use conjunction ‘that. Change No. 4. Remove exclamatory word and exclamation sign ‘!’ The student must select the verb best suited to the sense or context, e.g.

• They said, “Hurrah! We have won the match.” They exclaimed with joy that they had won the match.
• She said, “Alas! I have lost my bridal ring.” She exclaimed with sorrow that she had lost her bridal ring.
• She said, “How charming the scenery is!” She exclaimed with surprise that it was a very charming scenery.

Reported Speech Exercises Solved Example With Answers for Class 10 CBSE

Diagnostic Test – 29

Mother: Why are you looking so worried? Daughter: My exams are approaching. Mother: When will they start? Daughter: Next month, Mother.

Mother asked her daughter (a) …………………… The daughter replied that (b) …………………… Mother further asked (c) …………………… The daughter told her mother that they would start in the following month.

Answer: (a) why she was looking very worried (b) her exams were approaching. (c) when they would start.

IREX.ai at Earthx 2024: Calvin Yadav's Vision for Ethical AI

D allas, Texas-- Led by the visionary Calvin Yadav, IREX.ai's Ethical AI Platform was of discussion during  Earthx 2024 , generating interest about the responsible use of artificial intelligence in surveillance. Calvin Yadav provided enlightenment in the niche category of " Ethical AI Surveillance " through his company IREX.ai.

In his speech at Earthx 2024,  Calvin Yadav ,  CEO of IREX.ai , articulated the organisation's powerful vision for leveraging AI to benefit and protect communities worldwide. With a strong understanding of the intersection between technology and ethics, Yadav addressed the audience, painting a vivid picture of a future where AI serves as a force for good.

At the heart of IREX.ai's mission lies the Ethical AI Platform, a revolutionary system designed to uphold the highest standards of fairness, transparency, and accountability in AI applications. Unlike traditional AI models that prioritize efficiency and performance above all else, IREX.ai places ethical considerations at the forefront, ensuring that AI systems are developed and deployed in a manner that respects human rights, diversity, and societal well-being.

During his speech, Yadav shared inspiring examples of how IREX.ai's Ethical AI Platform is making a tangible difference in communities around the world. From finding missing children to detecting weapons and wanted vehicles. IREX.ai's solutions are empowering organizations to harness the full potential of AI while safeguarding against potential risks and biases. During this year alone thousands of children have been reported missing and the emergence of Ethical AI, such as IREX is being used as a tool to combat this seemingly growing issue.

What sets IREX.ai apart is its unwavering commitment to inclusivity and collaboration. Recognizing the importance of diverse perspectives in AI development, Yadav emphasized the need for interdisciplinary cooperation and stakeholder engagement. By fostering dialogue between technologists, policymakers, ethicists, and community representatives, IREX.ai has created AI solutions that reflect the values and priorities of the people they serve.

IREX.ai's involvement at Earth 2024 emphasizes the global relevance of Ethical AI in Surveillance, marking a critical juncture where technology and ethics converge on a worldwide scale.

With Earthx 2024 coming to a close, Calvin Yadav's speech on IREX.ai's role on the new era of Ethical AI takes into consideration where the technology becomes community driven, with ethics and protection at the core. 

About IREX.ai

IREX.ai  is a leading provider of artificial intelligence solutions for the security industry. Leveraging advanced machine learning algorithms and computer vision technologies, IREX.ai's innovative platforms empower organizations to detect threats, optimize operations, and enhance safety and security. With a commitment to continuous innovation and excellence, IREX.ai is driving the future of security through the power of AI.

For more information about IREX.ai, please contact [email protected]

Contact Details:

Daniel Eborall

IREX Global Director

[email protected]

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An End to “Safety”

The campus protests have shown us that this idea is flawed at its core..

For the past decade or so, battles over campus “safety” have been fought on the grounds of language and expression: words said in class, readings assigned, art displayed, or speakers invited whom some group of students claimed made them unsafe, even in the absence of physical threats or recognizable danger. Over the past two weeks, as police have raided college campuses and arrested students, faculty, and other protesters from Columbia to UCLA to UT-Austin to Indiana University, and as counterprotesters at UCLA launched violent attacks on students, these real dangers to the safety of students have put the battles over language in a harsh light. Students are being tear-gassed and fired upon with rubber bullets. Professors have been tackled and arrested. The scenes of dozens of armed cops in riot gear marching toward university buildings or rows of tents housing kaffiyeh-clad undergrads have been apocalyptic—especially after some of those same cops did not immediately interfere when a right-wing mob seemed to have attacked a pro-Palestinian encampment, as well as student journalists , at UCLA, resulting in a series of injuries.

Well before the cops got involved, some of the progressive and far-left students protesting the war in Gaza found that the language of “safety” was being used against them, as their ideological opponents have (sometimes justifiably, sometimes not) claimed that the demonstrations are harmful and even dangerous. And these groups gave as good as they got, alleging to be the actual ones in peril, thanks to Islamophobia, accusations of antisemitism, and opposition to the protests, which have drawn counterprotesters and sparked attempts to reveal protesters’ identities either online or, as at Columbia, on the streets, via the use of “ doxxing trucks .”

Right now, national attention is understandably on the actual violence at hand. But that violence, and all of the argument that preceded it, should be the beginning of a serious reconsideration. Well before Israel’s war in Gaza and the U.S. campus protests of it, This is harmful and it makes me unsafe was a familiar claim on college campuses. In the shadow of actual violence, the merely ideologically offensive pales, and the suggestion that even challenging ideas are inherently “unsafe” seems laughable. We should keep it that way.

Most of the pro-Palestinian protests have been peaceful. Some have broken the law and vandalized property , but the gatherings have generally, until very recently, failed to result in bodily injury. But since the police have been brought in, protesters have been arrested with varying degrees of force, with some thrown to the ground, tackled , tear-gassed , fired upon with rubber bullets, or otherwise manhandled by law enforcement called in by the universities. And although the protests have not routinely been violent, many have felt as if they were walking right up to the edge. Jewish students in particular have faced serious threats of violence or heard their classmates argue they should be killed ; some of the groups organizing the protests have cheered on murderous terrorist groups or recast even those who slaughtered innocent civilians as “resistance” fighters. All of these incidents are shocking and appalling—and they stand in sharp contrast to the appeals for intellectual and emotional safety that have increasingly characterized life on college campuses, even in postcollege progressive spaces.

For decades, college administrators and professors have emphasized student safety, promising that students won’t just be physically safe on their campuses but will feel safe. The particulars of what that might entail are necessarily fuzzy, but essentially the message is that students will feel affirmed and that colleges have an obligation to avoid deeply offending student sensibilities, particularly along the lines of identity and religious belief.

Accusations of wrongdoing often fly to the linguistic: acts or words that people find offensive, distasteful, or bigoted are recast as “dehumanizing” or “violent.” Emphasis shifts away from intent, free expression, or even a reasonable interpretation of events onto “harm,” a kind of emotional trump card demanding not just attention but remediation, and to “safety,” which is ostensibly under threat when students are hurt. Last year, students at Macalester College who were offended by the partial nudity in a feminist art exhibition created by an Iranian woman in support of the “ Woman, Life, Freedom ” protests, for example, characterized the work as “dehumanizing,” more than a bit of a stretch. The argument that these images, created by a Muslim Iranian feminist, are “harmful” to “Muslim women who wear the hijab” nevertheless won out: The college put up blackout curtains and warnings to prevent any “non-consensual viewing” of the art and apologized for any “harm to members of our Muslim community.” In 2014 students offended by a University of St. Thomas “hump day” event featuring a camel asserted that the “program [was] dividing people and would make for an uncomfortable and possibly unsafe environment.” Last year, an Ohio Northern University professor who made his own overwrought and frankly silly claims in the pages of the Wall Street Journal, in an op-ed titled “DEI Brings Kafka to My Law School,” was suspended over vague “ complaints and concerns ” and was told to leave campus “to ensure his safety, [and] the safety of others.”

In 2018 students offended by a scheduled speaking event by a conservative antifeminist scholar penned a letter saying that inviting her to campus was an “act of aggression and violence.” Last year, at Hamline University, students offended by a painting shown in an art history class, after the professor’s warning that it depicted the Prophet Muhammad and invitation for students to voice any concerns, complained. The university president responded by not renewing the adjunct professor’s contract and apologizing for the “harm” caused students, saying, “When we harm, we should listen rather than debate the merits of or extent of that harm”; she also emphasized the necessity of Muslim students’ feeling “safe” in the classroom, suggesting that the display of a painting may compromise that ideal.

And although the safety arguments do often come from progressives, conservatives are far from above making them—and unlike progressives, who appeal largely to institutions, many conservatives have gone straight to the legislatures and the courts. Unlike the relatively powerless students who complain to administrators, some of the most powerful conservatives in the country have used claims of danger, harm, and safety to try to ban ideas they don’t like. Tennessee Sen. Marsha Blackburn, for instance, deemed critical race theory “ dangerous for our kids ” in a press release boasting of her efforts to curtail discussions of race in the classroom. Other conservatives have tried to ban “teaching critical race theory”—an idea they seem not to understand and define in absurdly broad terms—in nearly every state in the nation. Former President Donald Trump even took on the issue, putting out an executive order restricting the ways federal employees and contractors could discuss race, even suggesting that talking about racism, racial inequality, and racial privilege “could directly threaten the cohesion and effectiveness” of the U.S. military. The argument that an idea backed up by hundreds of years of history and embraced by thousands of scholars could, if mentioned to soldiers, bring the country’s armed forces to its knees is histrionic beyond parody, the kind of thing that, had it been said on a college campus by a liberal, would engender at least a few days’ worth of right-wing mockery and free speech objections. (Joe Biden has since overturned that executive order.)

Similar objections of harm and dangerousness have been made to ban the boycott, divestment, and sanctions movement, an effort led by pro-Palestinian and anti-Israel groups to get various institutions to cut financial ties with Israel and Israeli companies. BDS is controversial, to say the least, but one doesn’t have to agree with its aims or embrace the radical views of its leaders to see boycotting and fund pulling as a long-standing, legitimate, and nonviolent protest tactic. Many conservatives, though, haven’t just objected to BDS—they’ve tried to ban it. Sen. Tim Scott has said that it “is hateful, disgusting and fuels anti-Semitism ,” while Sen. Marco Rubio called it “economic warfare”; boycotting Israel is now essentially banned in many U.S. states. Campus objections to BDS have also centered on the movement’s being “harmful,” with some students asserting that divestment campaigns make them feel unsafe. ( Others have argued that BDS, and especially its outgrowth, a push for a cultural and academic boycott of Israel, is itself an attempt to shut down the exchange of ideas.)

The list of examples goes on, and this argument is by now a tired one, with anyone paying attention probably entrenched on either side of it: Either students are acting like fragile and entitled snowflakes with a dangerous disregard for free speech and academic freedom, or the kids are doing just fine and this is a moral-panic figment of the reactionary imagination. (The powerful conservatives acting like fragile snowflakes are rarely folded into this analysis.) The reality is probably somewhere in the middle. But it’s difficult to deny that a few troubling concepts have taken hold: that words and ideas are themselves violent, even when those words are not, in fact, threatening or promoting violence; that colleges have an obligation to avoid emotional or psychic “harm” to their students; and that any accusation of harm is a grave one that must be taken seriously and may very well trump concerns like academic independence or free expression.

Students, for the record, did not invent these ideas. Grown-ups did, and they have spent years reinforcing them—including the college administrators who are now calling the cops to physically lay hands on their own students.

These claims of feeling unsafe have proliferated on college campuses since Hamas launched a murderous attack against Israeli civilians, and especially after far too many leftist groups and individuals on campus and off responded by justifying terroristic acts and even cheering them on . Once Israel launched its brutal war of reprisal and pro-Palestinian students responded with protests, the safety-related claims escalated. Some Jewish students said they felt unsafe because of the pro-Palestinian protests, at which many students advocated for the destruction of Israel and some students as well as outsiders veered into the nakedly antisemitic , but which have largely been nonviolent. In response, many of the pro-Palestinian protesters and their defenders have accused Jewish students of “weaponizing” antisemitism, even positing that doing so violates their safety . States and politicians have attempted to shut down pro-Palestinian student groups because of their views—an unconstitutional and outrageous move—and one that students also said made them feel unsafe. (Some universities have suspended these groups for repeatedly breaking the rules, as well as for what they characterized as threats, intimidation, and safety issues.)

Jewish students have reported legitimate safety concerns, including being harassed, threatened, intimidated, and assaulted on campus and near it. Stories proliferate of students who have been spat on , cursed at , called various slurs , or had their kippahs knocked off, among threats of serious violence , including rape and murder, from fellow students. And some of the protests do seem to be infringing on students’ right to an education and equal access to university resources, even if they are not physically threatening. Students have been blocked from accessing community spaces unless they sign on to the protesters’ ideological requirements. A number of schools—Columbia most prominent among them—have canceled classes or switched to hybrid in-person and online learning, a strategy that was justified during a global pandemic but is now difficult to see as anything but impeding the full educational rights of students who deserve the gold standard of learning in class and in person. Some professors have reportedly held classes and office hours in or next to the encampments, a wildly inappropriate move that is vastly unfair to students who either oppose the protests or simply want to learn without being pulled into a complex geopolitical debate. Some students are suing .

But many students, Jewish and non-, have also said that their safety is compromised by ideas they find ugly, bigoted, or unacceptable. The line between anti-Zionism and antisemitism can be blurry, but there is little question that some claims of danger and un-safety have been greatly overstated. Still, as George Packer wrote in the Atlantic of the students making safety claims, “Who could blame them? They were doing what their leaders and teachers had instructed them was the right, the only, way to respond to a hurt.” And he’s correct: Conflating even deep upset or offense with a threat to one’s safety is a strategy that has worked for many other groups of students to get their ideological way because the institutions they attend have for too long pushed a kind of catastrophizing narrative about the harm, violence, and hazards of ugly or even just bad or controversial ideas. Some students may be using these safety concerns cynically, to gain the upper hand in what are now full-blown and multidimensional campus feuds. But many students seem to actually believe that being deeply hurt, even feeling betrayed or socially unwelcome, is a safety threat.

Because these protests have divided the left, and because concerns about antisemitism are legitimate even if not every accusation of it is, this has been more challenging terrain for progressives to navigate. Some who previously cast concerns about campus safety as reactionary hand-wringing are now either noting the potential perils or simply disputing the current safety complaints without situating them in the broader trajectory of campus and progressive discourse and ideology. (Safety claims that are more about emotional hurt than physical danger, after all, are not limited to college students—they’ve cropped up in progressive spaces online, in workplaces, and in advocacy organizations.) Many conservatives who have long mocked or derided students for their sensitivity and claims of harm are now cynically using these same strategies for very different ends: to undermine student expression, to more aggressively crack down on protesters whose views they simply don’t like, to weaken public trust in higher education, and to stick it to the liberal elites they resent (or believe their base resents and wants to see publicly humiliated). And, arguably even worse, many of the same campus leaders who emphasized, encouraged, or at least had long caved to overstated safety claims have actually compromised many students’ physical safety by calling the police, even in situations where the protests were not violent or threatening.

It seems incredibly unfair, after decades of overreach and overprotection, to tell the Jewish students who feel hurt, alienated, or unwelcome by these protests, “Too bad.” And it is unfair; it is currently imposing a larger burden on a minority group of students than has been imposed on many other marginalized groups in the past. But it’s also unjust to perpetuate a strategy that has long undermined free expression and academic freedom, and that has done many students, who are no doubt much more intellectually and emotionally robust than they get credit for, a profound disservice. And the actual violence that has now played out at some protests makes clear that there is indeed a difference between emotional harms and physical ones.

Universities have a legal and moral obligation to protect student safety, to prevent and penalize many forms of discrimination, and to ensure that all students can fully access the education to which they are entitled. Right now, too many schools are failing on these very basic measures. But these institutions also have a moral and educational obligation to make classrooms and campuses intellectually challenging and at times intellectually and emotionally unsafe places, and not bow to vague claims of “harm”—or even deep, sincere, and sympathetic statements of hurt, betrayal, offense, or anger—couched in the language of safety.

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Campus Protests Give Russia, China and Iran Fuel to Exploit U.S. Divide

America’s adversaries have mounted online campaigns to amplify the social and political conflicts over Gaza flaring at universities, researchers say.

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By Steven Lee Myers and Tiffany Hsu

An article on a fake online news outlet that Meta has linked to Russia’s information operations attributed the clashes unfolding on American college campuses to the failures of the Biden administration. A newspaper controlled by the Communist Party of China said the police crackdowns exposed the “double standards and hypocrisy” in the United States when it comes to free speech.

On X, a spokesman for Iran’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Nasser Kanaani, posted a cartoon of the police arresting a young protester in the guise of the Statue of Liberty. “Imprisonment of #freedom in the U.S.A.,” he wrote.

As protests over the war in Gaza have spread across the United States, Russia, China and Iran have seized on them to score geopolitical points abroad and stoke tensions within the United States, according to researchers who have identified both overt and covert efforts by the countries to amplify the protests since they began.

There is little evidence — at least so far — that the countries have provided material or organizational support to the protests, the way Russia recruited unwitting Black Lives Matter protesters to stage rallies before the 2016 and 2020 presidential elections.

Nonetheless, the campaigns have portrayed the United States as a country rived by social and political turmoil. In the past two weeks alone, state media in Russia, China and Iran have produced nearly 400 articles in English about the protests, according to NewsGuard, an organization that tracks misinformation online. The countries have also unleashed a wave of content through inauthentic accounts or bots on social media platforms like X and Telegram or websites created, in Russia’s case, to mimic Western news organizations.

“It’s a wound that our adversaries are going to try to spread salt on because they can,” said Darren Linvill, a director of the Media Forensics Hub at Clemson University, which has identified campaigns by all three countries. “The more we fight amongst ourselves, the easier their life is and the more they can get away with.”

Researchers are concerned that some foreign influence operations are also pivoting toward the presidential election in November, seeking to inflame partisan tensions , denigrate democracy and promote isolationism . All three adversaries have unleashed a deluge of propaganda and disinformation ever since the war over Gaza began in October, seeking to undercut Israel and, as its principal ally, the United States while expressing support for Hamas or the Palestinians generally.

The campus protests, which gained momentum in recent weeks, have allowed them to shift their propaganda to focus on the Biden administration’s strong support for Israel, arguing that it has undermined its international standing while not reflecting popular sentiment at home.

“The policies of the Biden administration are complicating the situation inside the country,” the article on TruthGate, one of a handful of websites that Meta said last year were created by a Russian information operation known as Doppelgänger to spread propaganda under the guise of an American news outlet, said on Wednesday. “In the rush to help our controversial allies, they have completely forgotten about domestic affairs. Now the situation seems irreparable.”

The influence efforts have been tracked by researchers at Clemson and NewsGuard, as well as the Institute for Strategic Dialogue, the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, the Australian Strategic Policy Institute and Recorded Future, a threat intelligence company.

One covert Chinese influence campaign known as Spamouflage , which was first linked to an arm of the Ministry of Public Security in 2019, has also turned its attention to the protests. Some posts on X claimed that the United States was “DISPLAYING TOTALITARIANISM.” Similar language — such as “how could there be such rough police officers in the world” and “expulsion, arrest, suppression!” — echoed across several accounts identified by the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, a research organization in Washington focused on national security.

Max Lesser, a senior analyst for the foundation, described the “high volume” of protest-related content as “a clear example of a foreign adversary actively exploiting an ongoing domestic crisis.”

Many of the accounts linked to Spamouflage share similar content. One on X, with nearly 18,000 followers, retweeted a post from a Chinese diplomat in Pakistan that criticized the police response to student protesters and featured Mandarin-subtitled footage of the campus demonstrations. Its profile photo was an image of Winter, the South Korean pop singer. It listed its location as the United States but typically posted during Asia’s day, while its content frequently included grammatical errors.

Another account on X, which according to Mr. Linvill of Clemson was also linked to Spamouflage, an operation sometimes known as Dragonbridge, reposted a message by a prominent pro-Palestinian organization in New York City calling on protesters to “flood the encampments” at the city’s universities.

The researchers, however, have not detected a direct effort to organize protests or provoke violence. The focus, rather, has been to highlight the divisions that the war in Gaza has exposed in public opinion in the United States — and the potential effect that has on government policy.

Brian Liston, an analyst with Recorded Future, said that in the case of Russia, the campaign “was attempting to stoke tensions on both sides of the protest argument,” alternately praising the protesters and denouncing them as antisemitic.

In many instances, the campaigns are simply amplifying sentiments expressed by the protesters and their supporters. Chen Weihua, an outspoken editor and columnist for China Daily, the official state newspaper in English, has recently reposted messages on X from people like Jill Stein, the presidential candidate of the Green Party, and Cynthia Nixon, the actress from “Sex in the City.”

For China, the scenes of American police officers in riot gear arresting young protesters have particular resonance because of the sharp criticism the Communist government faced from the United States and other democracies when its security forces clashed with protesters in Hong Kong for months in 2019 over the reversal of political freedoms that the government had promised to preserve in the former British colony.

“When Hong Kong students destroyed schools, blocked roads, and threw gasoline bombs, the United States told the Hong Kong government to exercise restraint and not disrupt reasonable demonstrations,” one account linked to Spamouflage declared. “Now facing American students, the police take direct action and arrest them!”

Melanie Smith, the director of research for the Institute for Strategic Dialogue, a research organization that studies online disinformation, polarization and extremism, said China’s efforts had become notably more aggressive toward the Biden administration.

Her organization and others previously identified an incipient effort to undermine President Biden’s re-election prospects. That effort has included creating fake accounts posing as those run by Americans critical of Mr. Biden’s policies.

“Their content is relatively aggressively talking about how young people are unlikely to vote for Biden over this as an issue,” Ms. Smith said of the Chinese response to the protests.

Bret Schafer, a senior fellow at the German Marshall Fund who studies information manipulation, said China, Russia and Iran had different motivations for getting involved. They all, however, benefited from highlighting narratives that damage global perceptions of the United States. State media in Iran, which has long supported Hamas, has posted more about the protests than Russia or China and amplified criticism of the police response from American commentators such as Jackson Hinkle , he said.

The emphasis on the protests follows similar efforts to criticize the $95.3 billion foreign aid package for Israel, Taiwan and Ukraine that Congress passed and Mr. Biden signed last month.

The Information Epidemiology Lab, a research group that studies malign influence campaigns, said the Russian information operation Doppelgänger had been posting content critical of the aid package or focused on the political debate surrounding it. The goal is to portray the United States as an unreliable global ally — some posts claimed that it had abandoned Israel.

Instead, the posts suggested, Israel and other countries should seek new partnerships with Russia and China. Another series of posts shared an article from a website masquerading as Fox News, which claimed that former President Donald J. Trump would “stop the plundering of the U.S. budget.”

Steven Lee Myers covers misinformation and disinformation from San Francisco. Since joining The Times in 1989, he has reported from around the world, including Moscow, Baghdad, Beijing and Seoul. More about Steven Lee Myers

Tiffany Hsu reports on misinformation and disinformation and its origins, movement and consequences. She has been a journalist for more than two decades. More about Tiffany Hsu

Our Coverage of the U.S. Campus Protests

News and Analysis

G.W.U. : Hours before the mayor of Washington, D.C., was scheduled to testify on Capitol Hill about the city’s handling of a pro-Palestinian encampment at George Washington University, police moved to break up the encampment .

U.C.L.A. : A police consulting firm will review a violent confrontation  at the University of California, Los Angeles, in which a group of counterprotesters attacked demonstrators  at a pro-Palestinian encampment while security guards and police officers failed to intervene.

UChicago : Police officers removed the pro-Palestinian encampment  at the University of Chicago, a move that was sure to be closely watched because the school has long considered itself a model for free expression on campus .

Remembering the 1968 Protests:  As Chicago prepares to host the Democratic National Convention , it wants to shed memories of chaos from half a century ago even as the campus protests are growing.

Protests in Europe:  In countries across Europe, students have staged their own pro-Palestinian sit-ins and protests  on the lawns of their universities. And in several instances, the authorities are taking a similar approach to their U.S. counterparts: shutting them down.

Outside Agitators:  Officials in New York City have blamed “external actors” for escalating demonstrations at Columbia, but student protesters reject the claim .

A Spotlight on Student Journalists:  Columbia’s radio station and other student-led news outlets have provided some of the most detailed coverage  of the turmoil engulfing campuses.

Dialogue Guide Definition and Examples

Glossary of Grammatical and Rhetorical Terms

• An Introduction to Punctuation
• Ph.D., Rhetoric and English, University of Georgia
• M.A., Modern English and American Literature, University of Leicester
• B.A., English, State University of New York

In reported speech , a dialogue guide serves to identify the speaker of directly quoted words. Also known as a dialogue tag . In this sense, a dialogue guide is essentially the same as a signal phrase or a quotative frame.

Dialogue guides are usually expressed in the simple past tense, and they are customarily set off from the quoted material by commas.

In the context of small-group communication, the term dialogue guide is sometimes used to refer to a facilitator of group discussions, or to a booklet that provides advice on fostering communication between individuals.

Examples and Observations

• "It's a polite Chinese custom to show you are satisfied," explained my father to our astonished guests. (Amy Tan, "Fish Cheeks." Seventeen magazine, 1987)
• "I'm here," she said , "because I'm a taxpayer, and I thought it was about time that my boys have a look at those animals." (Ralph Ellison, "On Being the Target of Discrimination." The New York Times , April 16, 1989)
• "Look at these," the man from Kentucky said , holding up a rib. "You could take these home and use them to make a skeleton." (Susan Orlean, "Lifelike." The New Yorker , June 9, 2003)
• “'He doesn't want Dijon,' he insisted , waving the waitress off. 'Here'—he shoved a yellow bottle of French's mustard in my direction—'here's some mustard right here.'" (Barack Obama,  The Audacity of Hope . Crown/Three Rivers Press, 2006)
• "Never," said Elie Wiesel , "never shall I forget that night, the first night in the camp, which has turned my life into one long night, seven times cursed and seven times sealed."
• "We gotta call the newspaper," a doctor said . "No," Werner said . He looked straight ahead, not at any of them. "I just want you to sew me up." (Jo Ann Beard, "Werner." Tin House , Fall 2006)
• " Once Steinbrenner said to me  before an Old-Timers Game, 'Get your ass down there and manage the team.'” (Robert Merrill, quoted by Curt Smith in  What Baseball Means to Me . Hachette, 2002)
• The Function of Dialogue Guides "We use quotation marks to identify certain material as an accurate, word-for-word report of someone else's speech or writing. A representation of speech usually has two parts, a  dialogue guide  identifying the speaker and the quote itself: 'I got it down from five to three minutes,' Mr. Brennan said later of his feat ." (Scott Rice, From Reading to Revision . Wadsworth, 1996) 
• Elmore Leonard's Advice on Reporting Dialogue 3. Never use a verb other than "said" to carry dialogue. The line of dialogue belongs to the character; the verb is the writer sticking his nose in. But said is far less intrusive than grumbled, gasped, cautioned, lied. I once noticed Mary McCarthy ending a line of dialogue with “she asseverated,” and had to stop reading to get the dictionary. 4. Never use an adverb to modify the verb "said” . . . . . . he admonished gravely. To use an adverb this way (or almost any way) is a mortal sin. The writer is now exposing himself in earnest, using a word that distracts and can interrupt the rhythm of the exchange. I have a character in one of my books tell how she used to write historical romances "full of rape and adverbs." (Elmore Leonard, "Easy on the Adverbs, Exclamation Points and Especially Hooptedoodle." The New York Times , July 16, 2001)

Alternate Spelling: dialog guide

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• Reported Speech
• Constructed Dialogue in Storytelling and Conversation
• How to Use Indirect Quotations in Writing for Complete Clarity
• Reporting Verbs for English Language Learners
• Words to Use Instead of "Said"
• What Is Attribution in Writing?
• Tom Swifty (Word Play)
• Direct Speech Definition and Examples
• Definition and Examples of Direct Quotations
• Indirect Speech Definition and Examples
• Using Reported Speech: ESL Lesson Plan
• Indirect Speech in the English Language
• Adjectives and Adverbs: A Guide to Usage
• 12 Writers Discuss Writing
• How to Write Interesting and Effective Dialogue