indirectreported

Indirect reported speech, also known as indirect speech or reported speech, is a grammatical construction used to convey what someone else has said or thought without quoting them directly. Instead of using the exact words of the original speaker, the sentence is altered to reflect the original meaning within the new sentence's grammatical structure. This typically involves changes to verb tenses, pronouns, and time/place expressions.

For instance, if someone said, "I am going to the store," in indirect reported speech, it might become "She said that she was going to the store." The present tense "am going" shifts to the past tense "was going," and the pronoun "I" changes to "she." Similarly, expressions like "tomorrow" might change to "the next day" or "yesterday" to "the day before," depending on the context of the reporting.

The primary function of indirect reported speech is to integrate reported statements smoothly into the narrative or conversation. It allows for a more fluid retelling of events or dialogues without the interruptions that direct quotes can sometimes cause. While direct speech uses quotation marks to enclose the exact words, indirect speech does not. The reporting verb (e.g., said, told, asked, explained) introduces the reported clause. The precise grammatical changes depend on the tense of the reporting verb and the original tense of the statement being reported. This form of speech is common in both written and spoken communication.