How can I practice Indirect Speech?

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Indirect Speech appears in school exams and competitive exams like SSC and Bank PO English sections. Practising with exam-style questions improves accuracy and speed.

Indirect Speech

Advanced Grammar upper_intermediate hard

Reporting the meaning of speech without quotes.

Advanced Grammar — Voice, narration, clauses and conditionals.

Rules

1. Report the meaning without quotation marks. 2. Tenses usually shift back: "I am happy" → she said (that) she was happy. 3. Pronouns and time words change: I→she, today→that day, tomorrow→the next day. 4. Questions: "Where are you going?" → He asked where I was going. 5. Commands: "Sit down" → He told me to sit down.

Explanation

Backshift: present→past, will→would, can→could, now→then. "I am tired" → She said she was tired.

हिंदी में

Indirect speech में शब्दों को बदलकर अर्थ बताया जाता है — काल पीछे खिसकता है, सर्वनाम और समय-शब्द बदलते हैं।

Examples

She said that she was happy. — उसने कहा कि वह खुश थी।
He asked where I was going. — उसने पूछा कि मैं कहाँ जा रहा था।

Common Mistakes

{"mistake":"She said that she is happy (reporting a past statement).","correction":"She said that she was happy.","note":"Reported speech usually backshifts the tense."}

Practice Questions

Q1. She said, "I will help you." → She said that she ___ help me.

would
will
shall
can

Answer: would

💡 Will → would in reported speech.

Q2. Which is written in indirect speech?

He said that he was tired.
He said, "I am tired."
He said, "I was tired."
"I am tired," he said.

Answer: He said that he was tired.

💡 Indirect speech reports without quotation marks.

Q3. Report: He said, 'I have finished my work.'

He said that he had finished his work.
He said that he has finished his work.
He said that he have finished his work.
He said that he had finish his work.

Answer: He said that he had finished his work.

💡 Present perfect shifts to past perfect in indirect speech: 'have finished' → 'had finished'.

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Topic	Level	What it covers
Active & Passive Voice	upper_intermediate	Who does the action (active) vs who receives it (passive).
Direct & Indirect Speech	upper_intermediate	Reporting what someone said, word-for-word or in your own words.
Active Voice	intermediate	The subject performs the action.
Passive Voice	upper_intermediate	The object becomes the subject; the doer moves to "by".
Direct Speech	upper_intermediate	The speaker's exact words inside quotation marks.
Question Formation	elementary	Building yes/no and wh- questions.