Direct speech and indirect speech Direct/Quoted speech is saying exactly what someone has said.

It appears within quotation marks ("...") and should be word for word. Direct speech repeats, or quotes, the exact words spoken. When we use direct speech in writing, we put the words spoken between inverted commas ("___") and there is no change in these words. We may be reporting something that's being said NOW, or telling someone later about a previous conversation.

Indirect/Reported speech is enclosing what the person said. It doesn't use quotation marks and doesn't have to be word for word. Indirect speech is usually used to talk about the past. When we use indirect speech, we dont use inverted comas. We should change the tense of the words spoken. We use reporting verbs for example say, ask, and we may use the word that to introduce the reported words. For example: When we report an intention, hope or promise, we use an appropriate reporting verb followed by a that-clause or a to-infinitive: Direct Speech He said, "I'll pay you the Indirect Speech money He promised to pay me the money the next day. He promised that he would pay me the money the next day.

tomorrow."

When we want to report an order, we can use a verb like tell with to-clause: Indirect Speech The doctor told me to stop smoking. The policeman ordered him to get out of the car.

Direct Speech The doctor said to me, "Stop smoking!" "Get out of the car!" said the policeman.

When we want to report a request, we can use a verb like ask with forclause:

Direct Speech The child asked, "Can I have a car?"

Indirect Speech The child asked for a car.

Suggestions are usually reported with a that-clause. That and should are optional in these clauses.

Direct Speech

Indirect Speech

I think you should go to the dentist", said My mother suggested that I should go to my mother the dentist.

Question words are reported by using ask (or another verb like ask) +

question word + clause. <<see also section on Tense Change>> Direct Speech She asked me, Where do u live? He asked me, "What is your name?" Indirect Speech She asked me where I lived. He asked me what my name was.

Yes/No questions: This type of question is reported by using ask + if /

whether + clause: Direct Speech Indirect Speech

He asked me, "Are you Eastern or He asked me whether I was Eastern or Western?" Western.

Active and passive voice

The active voice is the most commonly used in many languages and represents the "normal" case, in which the subject of the verb is the agent. The passive voice is employed in a clause whose subject expresses the theme or patient of the verb. That is, it undergoes an action or has its state changed.

For example: Active voice

Passive voice

To change a sentence from active to passive voice, do the following: 1. Move the active sentence's direct object into the sentence's subject slot

2. Place the active sentence's subject into a phrase beginning with the preposition by

3. Add a form of the auxiliary verb be to the main verb and change the main verb's form

Because passive voice sentences necessarily add words and change the normal doer-action-receiver of action direction, they may make the reader work harder to understand the intended meaning. As the examples below illustrate, a sentence in active voice flows more smoothly and is easier to understand than the same sentence in passive voice.

It is generally preferable to use the ACTIVE voice.

To change a passive voice sentence into an active voice sentence, simply reverse the steps shown above. 1. Move the passive sentence's subject into the active sentence's direct object slot

2. Remove the auxiliary verb be from the main verb and change main verb's form if needed

3. Place the passive sentence's object of the preposition by into the subject slot.

Because it is more direct, most writers prefer to use the active voice whenever possible. The passive voice may be a better choice, however, when

the doer of the action is unknown, unwanted, or unneeded in the sentence Examples

the writer wishes to emphasize the action of the sentence rather than the doer of the action Examples

the writer wishes to use passive voice for sentence variety.