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✘ To serve as a review of direct and indirect
speech.
✘ to make a relatively dense topic interesting.
✘ to incorporate various techniques while
teaching reported speech.
✘ To enable the participants prepare students to
use grammar effectively in their daily lives.
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Grammar is an integral part of a language.Teaching
grammar, therefore, includes preparing students to
use grammar effectively in their daily lives.
This module contains various techniques, activities
for the teachers to introduce the concept of reported
speech.The purpose of these techniques is for
students to do activities that allow them topractise
grammar through speaking and writing.
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cannot be learned through rules alone. Language
learners need to use the language to become
fluent, and not just learn about it. They need to
see and hear lots of examples of language being
used, in order to understand how it is used.To use
grammar effectively, students need to be able to
practise it in different kinds of speaking and
writing situations – not just grammar exercises or
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Now , Let’s read the following lines.
A little boy asked a black sheep if it had any wool.
The sheep politely confirmed that it had three
bags full of wool.
Can you identify the rhyme song ? Yes ! It is Baa
Baa Black sheep in the reported form. It’s your
turn to think of similar interesting rhymes or
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CHECK YOUR UNDERSTANDING
1. There are _______ways in which a speaker can express his
ideas and statements.
2.The speech in which the substance of the speaker’s speech
is given is known as ___________.
3.The verb initiating the speech of the speaker is known as a)
The auxiliary verb b)reporting verb c)modal verb
4.The reporting verb and the reported speech are separated
by a
a) ‘comma’ b)period c)colon d)parantheses
5. If the reporting verb is in present tense or future tense,
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Dear friends,
Teaching students reported or indirect speech can
be complicated by the all the changes that are
required when moving from direct speech into
reported speech.
It is a very rich grammar area to teach because:
It can involve considerable manipulation of form.
It’s a very easy piece of grammar to locate and
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Provide students with a chart of the principal
changes in reported speech
(i.e. will -> would, present perfect -> past perfect,
etc.).
Ask students to practice the reported speech by
beginning with a reported speech worksheet or by
asking them to change sentences in the textbook
from direct to reported speech.
Once students have become comfortable with
direct to indirect speech transformations, practice
A further aspect of reported speech at the
Higher Secondary level is encouraging students
to use other reporting verbs beyond "say" and
"tell".
Words like informed, affirmed, apologised,
greeted, enquired, etc. must be used in
reported forms.
✘ Dear teachers, Let me suggest a few activities
that may come handy when you teach reported
speech.
✘ The first activity is simple and easy. REVERSI
✘ Prepare cards with reported speech on one side
and direct speech of the same sentence on the
other. Students have to correctly say what is on
the other side to turn it over and score one point
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✘ Shiva to Devi : I was very upset that David broke my
pen yesterday
✘ Devi to David : Shiva said that he had been very upset
that you (David) had broken his pen the previous day
✘ David to Devi : Tell him that I am very sorry.
✘ Devi to Shiva : David apologises for his action.
✘ Next, let’s see an another interesting activity for our students
wherein the student should listen carefully to the reported form
and identify the role played by the speaker.
✘ Give the students a list of people they have probably been
spoken to by in their lives (e.g. teachers, policemen, postman,
parents, doctor ) or brainstorm such a list onto the board.
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Students report some events, functions or even a
cricket commentary. The student conveys the
message of the speaker in reported form.
E.g : The chief guest congratulated the winners
and wished them to come up in their lives.
1. Shanthi said, "I want to renew my account."
A. Shanthi said that he wanted to renew his account.
B. Shanthi said that he will renew his account.
C. Shanthi said that I wanted to renew my account.
D. Shanthi said he wanted to renewed his account.
2. Gokul said, "Why did you charge me?"
A. Gokul asked that why have you charged me.
B. Gokul asked why we had charged him.
C. Gokul asked why we charge him.
D. Gokul asked if we charged him
3. Samira asked me, “May I borrow your dictionary?”
A. Samira asked me if she may borrow my dictionary.
B. Samira asked me if she could borrow my
dictionary.
C. Samira asked me if I could borrow her dictionary.
D. Samira asked me if I had borrowed her dictionary.
4. ‘He was working here” she said
A. He said that had been working here.
B. She said he had been working there.
C. She said he was working there.
D. She said that he had worked here.
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Assign the following quiz for your students.
You may download them as pdf too.
https://quizizz.com/admin/quiz/570ff58e7623fdde0cc48869/reported-speech
https://www.learnenglishfeelgood.com/reported-speech-mixed1.html
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Summary
Here is a chart to help you to visualize the basic
tense changes during the transformation of
sentences from direct speech into indirect
speech.
1. High School English Grammar & Composition- By Wren and Martin
2.https://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/grammar/intermediate-to-upper-intermediate/
reported-speech
3.The Principles of English Grammar: With Comprehensive Outlines, and a Concise
and Progressive System of Analysis and Parsing, for Schools and College- Thomas
Rhys.
