The speech in which the general idea of the words of any person is rendered is called the indirect speech.

Statements in indirect speech

I/ We/ You They	say tell him	(that)	he is a good student. she can speak English. the students must work more at their pronunciation. Tom must be in his room.
He She	says tells me

General questions in indirect speech

I/ We/ You / They Mary and Tom	ask	If/ whether	the weather is fine. Mary speaks English. Tom likes to play chess. the children can skate well.
He (she) Mary/ The boy	asks

Special questions in indirect speech

He My friend/ Our teacher

asks me

where my parents live./ why I am late./ where my father works. what newspaper I read.

Imperative sentences in indirect speech

He/ She/ Father	asks me/ tells me	to wait for him./to do it at once.
You/ They/ The girls	ask me /tell me	not to go there along./ not to stay there any longer.

Statements in indirect speech in the past

Direct speech	Indirect speech
He said: ‘I am busy today.’ He said: ‘I know this young man.’	He said he was busy that day. He said that he knew that young man.

Questions in indirect speech in the past

General question:I asked: ‘Do you have a son?’	I asked if/ whether he had a son.
Special question:I asked: ‘Where do you live?’	I asked where he lived.
Alternative question:I asked: ‘Are you a girl or a boy?’	I askedif/whether he was a girl or a boy.

Direct speech	Indirect speech		Direct speech	Indirect speech
Now	Then		can	Could
Today	That day, at the time		could	Had been able to
Tomorrow	The next day		may	Might
The day after tomorrow	Two days later, in two days’ time		Might	Might
Yesterday	The day before, on the previous day		Be to	Was/were to
The day before yesterday	Two days before		Have to	Had to
Ago	Before		Had to	Had had to
Next year	The next year, the following year		must	Had to
Last week/ year	The previous week/ year		should	Should
Here	There		Ought	Ought
This	That		Need	Needed
These	Those		Dare	dared
Last night	(On) the previous night

Verbs of saying	Direct speech	Indirect speech
To greet/ to welcome To say good-bye/ to bade sb good-bye/ to take leave/ to wish good-bye/ to kiss good-bye	Hell, Tom. – Hello, Jack. Happy to see you at my place, Mary,’ Betty said. He said, ‘Good-bye, Helen’	Tom and Jack greeted each other. Betty welcomed Mary saying that she was happy to see her at her place. He said good-bye to Helen. He bade Helen good-bye. He took leave of Helen. He took his leave.
To introduce	Mary: Mother, this is Mr Prinston.	Mary introduced Mr Prinston to her mother.
Readily accepted the invitation; Said he’d come most willingly; Said she would be happy to …; Declined the invitation	Mr Jackson: Come and have lunch with us on Sunday. Mr Black: I’d love to. Thank you.	Mr Jackson invited Mr Black to lunch on Sunday and Mr Black readily accepted the invitation.
Thank somebody for … To be obliged to him for … To express sb’s gratitude to sb for… To be very grateful to sb for …	Dick: Thanks for helping me with the bike. Tom: Oh, that’s all right. Mr. Jackson: Thank you ever so much for your timely assistance. It saved me a lot of trouble. Mr Brown: Oh, not at all. It was a real pleasure to be of help.	Dick thanked Tom for helping him with the bike.   Mr Jackson expressed his gratitude to Mr Brown for his timely assistance which had saved him a lot of trouble. Mr Brown said it had been a real pleasure to be of help.
To beg sm’s pardon To apologize to them for … To ask sb to excuse sb To say it was all right	Dick: Sorry for interrupting you. Mrs Parker: That’s all right. We were just having a chat. Dick: I’m sorry, I am late. Bob: Excuse my rudeness. I didn’t mean to hurt you. Mr Black: How could you be so rude! It’s really unforgivable.	Dick begged Mrs Parker’s pardon for interrupting her and she said it was all right. Dick apologized for being late. Bob asked Mr Black to forgive his rudeness but Mr Black was too much hurt to forgive him.
To suggest, to offer, to advise	Nick: Let’s walk home, Mary. Tom: What about going to the South? Mary: You’d better stay at home, Nick.   Mary: Have a cup of tea, Bob. Tom: I can fix that radio of yours easily.	Nick suggested to Mary that they should walk home. Tom suggested going to the South. 1) Mary suggested to Nick that he should stay at home. 2) Mary advised Nick to stay at home. Mary offered Bob a cup of tea. Tom offered to fix the radio.
To accept/ decline/reject/turn down the offer. To be against/ strongly object to his doing it./ to refuse point blank	Mr Smith: I can drive you home in my car, Ben. Ben: it’s very kind of you.	Mr. Smith offered to drive Ben home in his car and Ben willingly accepted the offer. (but Ben refused point blank)
To announce/ to declare/ to inform/ to remark/ to state/ to admit/ to acknowledge/ to deny/   to assert/ to claim/ to maintain/ to agree/ to disagree/ to protest     to approve/ to disapprove   to assure/ to persuade/ to convince     to urge/ to persuade   to remind to promise     to doubt	Mrs. Jones: You’re quite right, Mr Brown. The noise of modern cities does ruin the nervous system. Nelly: I am the best mathematician in my class. Mrs Smith: I have no faith in medicine. Mrs Bolt: you’re wrong here. Think of the wonders surgeons do. Mother: It’s foolish of you to wear such a thin jacket in this cold weather, Mary. Fred: I’m afraid you are mistaken, Bob. The 8.30 train has not been cancelled. I came by this train yesterday.   The salesman: I strongly recommend you to buy this camera. You can’t find a better one at the price.   Betty: Ring up Mary before you leave. Mr Turner: I’ll help you with the repairs by all means.	He announced that the conference would be postponed. The strikers declared they would not give in. He informed us that the time-table had been changed. He remarked that he did not like jazz music. The judge stated the facts very clearly. Mrs Jones admitted the truth of Mr Brown’s words about the effect of noise in modern cities on the nervous system. Nelly claimed to be the best mathematician in her class. Mrs Smith and Mrs Bolt disagreed about medicine. Mrs Bolt protested saying that surgeons worked wonders.   Mary’s mother disapproved of Mary wearing a thin jacket in cold weather. 1. Fred assured Bob that he was mistaken about the 8.30 train having been cancelled. He said he had come by that train the day before. 2. Fred persuaded Bob of his mistake. He said that the 8.30 train hadn’t been cancelled. He had come by that train the day before. 1. The salesman persuaded the customer to buy the camera at the price. 2. The salesman urged the customer to buy the camera at the price. Betty reminded me to ring up Mary before leaving. 1. Mr Turner promised to help me with the repairs. 2. Mr Turner promised that he would help me with the repairs. He did not doubt that it was so.
To say with surprise/ to say in surprise/ to express surprise at sth/ to be surprised to do sth/ to be surprised at doing sth	Peter: Believe me or not! Paul won the European boxing title. Nelly: You don’t say so! Who would have expected it of such a man.	Peter told Nelly that Paul had won the European boxing title. Nelly was surprised to hear it and said she would never have expected it of him.
To be delighted at sth/ to be delighted to do sth/ to express sb’s joy at sth	Mrs Parker: I’m so happy! My daughter has entered the University. Mrs Green: Such joy! I’m delighted to hear that.	Mrs Parker told Mrs Green joyfully that her daughter had entered the University. Mrs Green was delighted to hear the news (at the news)
To regret/ to sympathized with / to express his sympathy with …	Bob: I’m so sorry I can’t attend the conference.   Mike: I’ll have to be operated on. There’s no getting away from it. I’m awfully nervous about it. Peter: I’m so sorry for you.	Ищи regretted being unable to attend the conference. / ищи regretted that he was unable to attend the conference. Mike was nervous about the coming operation, and Peter sympathized with him.
To be annoyed with sb/ at sth/ to express annoyance with sb/ to be angry with sb/ at sth/ to say in anger that … to resent sth/ to say resentfully that …/ to say in a resentful tone that …	Mr Sievers: I’ve been waiting for Peter for an hour. How very annoying! I wonder if he will come at all.   The professor: How dare you talk like this to me!	Mr Sievers expressed his annoyance (anger) with Peter for being late./ Mr Sievers was annoyed (angry) with Peter for being late. / Mr Sievers cried in anger that Peter had kept him waiting. The professor was angry at the way the students spoke to him and said so./ the professor got angry with the students for the way they spoke to him./ the professor resented the way the students spoke to him.
To be disappointed/ to express disappointment/ to express grief at sth/ to be filled with despair at …/ to cry in despair that	Helen: Such a pity Bob is out. I rather hoped to find him in and talk the matter over.	Helen was disappointed at not finding Bob in. she had hoped to talk the matter over with him. Helen expressed her disappointment at not finding Bob at home.