Direct & Indirect Speech
🔒 Log in to trackPronouns, and the time/place word table
🔒 Log in to trackPronouns change by who is speaking to whom (the SONA logic): first person follows the reporter, second person follows the listener, third person never changes.
He said to me, "I will help you with your work" → He told me that he would help me with my work. (I → he: speaker; you → me: listener; your → my.)
He said to Ram, "You must bring your book" → He told Ram that he had to bring his book. (you → he: the listener Ram; your → his.)
The time/place table — every word anchored to the speaker's 'now and here' shifts to the reporter's distance:
| Direct | Indirect |
|---|---|
| now | then |
| today | that day |
| tonight | that night |
| yesterday | the previous day / the day before |
| tomorrow | the next day / the following day |
| the day after tomorrow | two days later |
| last week/month | the previous week/month |
| next week/month | the following week/month |
| ago | before / earlier |
| hence | thence |
| here | there |
| this | that |
| these | those |
| thus | so |
| come | go (when perspective shifts) |
When the reporting verb is in the PRESENT (says, is saying — rare in SSC but tested in Tier 2), neither tense nor time words change: He says, "I am busy today" → He says that he is busy today.
Detailed notes
Pronouns: the SONA rule
- First person (I, we, my, our) follows the reporter — the subject outside the quotes.
- Second person (you, your) follows the listener — the person addressed, usually the object of the reporting verb.
- Third person (he, she, it, they) never changes.
He said to me, 'I will explain the sum to you.' → He told me that he would explain the sum to me. The I belongs to the speaker (he), the you to the listener (me). Say the two anchors aloud — reporter and listener — and the mapping writes itself.
Worked grid: Sita said to Gita, 'You are late.' → Sita told Gita that she was late (you = the listener Gita). The guests said, 'We enjoyed it.' → The guests said that they had enjoyed it (we = the speakers themselves). Track the speaker's gender too: a female speaker's I becomes she, not he.
The time table — learn it as one block
| Direct | Indirect |
|---|---|
| now | then |
| today | that day |
| tonight | that night |
| tomorrow | the next day / the following day |
| yesterday | the previous day / the day before |
| last night / last week | the previous night / the previous week |
| ago | before |
| hence | thence |
| next Monday / next month | the following Monday / the following month |
| thus | so |
The place and demonstrative table
| Direct | Indirect |
|---|---|
| this | that |
| these | those |
| here | there |
| come | go |
| bring | take |
Meet me here tomorrow morning → he asked me to meet him there the next morning. Note come → go shifts only when the speaker's viewpoint moves: reporting 'I will come' from elsewhere turns come into go.
The pairing rule (the real test)
Tense and time words move TOGETHER. An option that writes would visit ... tomorrow — modal shifted, time word left — is wrong, and so is will visit ... the next day. In a well-set item, one wrong option shifts the verb only, one shifts the time word only, and one shifts both. The one that shifts both is the answer.
Three pronoun traps planted in options
- Keeping you/your inside a told-me sentence — the listener was ignored.
- Random promotion: I turned into the wrong person (he instead of she, or her instead of me).
- Number slips: we → he instead of they.
Quick revision
- SONA: 1st person → reporter's subject; 2nd person → the listener; 3rd person untouched.
- tomorrow → the next day; yesterday → the previous day; ago → before; now → then; today → that day; next → the following; last → the previous.
- this → that; these → those; here → there; come → go; bring → take.
- Tense shifted but time word kept (or the reverse) = planted fault; both move together.
- Check the speaker's gender before writing his/her.
Types of questions asked
Every way this subtopic shows up in exams — how to recognise it, the formula or logic to use, and a solved example.
Type 1: SONA pronoun mappingvery common3 practice Q
The quote has I/we/you/my/your and the options differ only in the pronouns (to me / to you / to him; she was / you were).
- Name the reporter (subject outside the quotes) — first-person words take its shape.
- Name the listener (object of said to/told) — second-person words take its shape.
- Third-person words copy straight across; check gender and number before finalising.
Why it works: every pronoun in the quote has exactly one anchor — reporter or listener — so the mapping is mechanical, not a matter of taste.
Example: Select the indirect form: He said to me, 'I will explain the sum to you.'
He told me that he would explain the sum to me. — I anchors to the reporter (he); you anchors to the listener (me). 'To you' forgets the listener; 'that I would explain' swaps the speaker.
Type 2: tomorrow / next → the next / the followingvery common2 practice Q
The quote says tomorrow, next week, next Monday; options keep the word as it is or convert it to the next/the following.
- Scan the quote for forward-pointing time words: tomorrow, next + unit.
- Convert: tomorrow → the next day (or the following day); next Monday → the following Monday.
- Confirm the verb shifted too (will → would) — the pair must move together.
Why it works: forward words are anchored to the day of speaking; once reported later, the anchor moves, so the word must move with it.
Example: Select the indirect form: Mother said, 'I will prepare your favourite dish tomorrow.'
Mother said that she would prepare my favourite dish the next day. — will → would AND tomorrow → the next day; your → my (the listener is the reporter).
Type 3: yesterday / ago / last → the previous / beforevery common2 practice Q
The quote says yesterday, ago, last night/week; options keep ago/last or use the previous/the day before/the night before.
- Scan for backward-pointing words: yesterday, ago, last + unit.
- Convert: yesterday → the previous day; two years ago → two years before; last Sunday → the previous Sunday.
- Check the verb took its step (V2 → had + V3) — ago and ago-keeping options are the planted faults.
Why it works: backward words measure from the day of speaking; from the reporter's later vantage point the same gap reads as 'before'.
Example: Select the indirect form: The old man said, 'I bought this house forty years ago.'
The old man said that he had bought that house forty years before. — bought → had bought; ago → before; this → that. Keeping 'forty years ago' is the planted half-shift.
Type 4: here / this / come → there / that / gocommon2 practice Q
The quote contains place words or demonstratives (here, this, these, come, bring); options differ in whether they shifted.
- Underline this/these/here/come/bring in the quote.
- Shift: this → that, these → those, here → there, come → go, bring → take (viewpoint moves to the reporter's place).
- Watch the double-that trap: said that that mango tree — the conjunction that followed by the demonstrative that is correct English.
Why it works: the reporter speaks from a different place than the original speaker, so near-pointing words must become far-pointing ones.
Example: Select the indirect form: Grandmother said, 'This mango tree was planted by my grandfather.'
Grandmother said that that mango tree had been planted by her grandfather. — this → that; my → her; was planted → had been planted. The double 'that that' is correct, not a typo.
Shortcut tricks
⚡ SONA sweep
Mark the three pronoun anchors before touching anything else: 1st person → speaker, 2nd person → listener, 3rd person → unchanged. Most wrong options botch exactly one of these.
⚡ Yesterday/tomorrow pair
yesterday → the previous day; tomorrow → the next (following) day. The pair travels together — if one shifted and the option leaves the other, it's wrong.
⚡ Present-reporter exemption
Reporting verb 'says' (present) → nothing shifts: tense AND time words freeze. Check the reporting verb before applying any table.
Where students lose marks
Leaving 'you' unchanged when the listener is named (Ram → he).
Writing 'yesterday' or 'tomorrow' inside reported speech.
Changing 'this' to 'the' instead of 'that'.
Shifting tenses because the sentence 'looks indirect' even when the reporter says (present).
Practice sets — 12 questions
Sets of 10, mixed across the question types above. Each answer comes with a step-by-step explanation.
Topic test · 12 questions
Suggested time 7 min · wrong answers go to your mistake notebook automatically.