SSC CGL English · Grammar
Direct and Indirect Speech
Reporting what someone said: moving the tense back, changing pronouns and time words, reporting questions and orders, and going from indirect speech back to the words actually spoken.
Why this matters
Eighty-two questions in the bank, 81 of them from the 2025 shifts, which set them both ways: from direct speech to indirect, and from indirect back to direct. Thirty-four are MODERATE, a far higher share than on the voice page.
Concept 1 of 3: Reporting a statement
When the reporting verb is in the past (said), the spoken words move one step back in time (is becomes was, has becomes had, will becomes would), the pronouns change to fit who is reporting, and words of time and place move too (today becomes that day). A universal truth keeps its present tense.
Definition
- Tense back one step: am, is become was; are becomes were; do becomes did; did becomes had done; has, have become had; will becomes would; can becomes could; may becomes might.
- No change: had done, could, might, should, used to, and universal truths ("water boils at 100 degrees").
- Pronouns: I and we become the speaker's pronoun; you becomes the listener's.
- Time and place: now becomes then, today becomes that day, yesterday becomes the day before, tomorrow becomes the next day, last night becomes the previous night, this becomes that, here becomes there, ago becomes before.
- Said to + a person becomes told + the person; "that" may be kept or left out.
Worked example
Change to indirect speech: He said, "I am going to the market today."
Practice this conceptself-check · 4 quick reps
The same idea in a real exam question:
SSC CGL · 2025 · Tier I, 17 Sep 2025, Shift 2 · Q98Easy
Example 1 · Grammar · Direct and Indirect Speech
A sentence is provided in direct speech. From the four given options, choose the one that most accurately conveys the sentence in its corresponding indirect speech.
He said, "I have seen that movie already."
Backshifting a universal truth
"The sun rises in the east" stays in the present even after said. Only facts that could change move back.
Forgetting the time and place words
Moving the tense but keeping today, tomorrow or here leaves the option half-converted, and SSC's wrong options are often exactly that.
Concept 2 of 3: Reporting questions, orders and exclamations
A question is reported with asked, in statement order: a yes or no question takes if or whether, a question with where or why keeps that word. An order or request takes told, ordered, requested or advised + to; a negative one takes not to. Let us becomes suggested that we should.
Definition
- Yes or no questions: asked + if or whether + statement order: "Are you ready?" becomes "asked if I was ready".
- Question-word questions: asked + the question word + statement order: "Where do you live?" becomes "asked where I lived".
- Orders: told or ordered + person + to: "Sit down" becomes "told me to sit down"; "Don't shout" becomes "told me not to shout".
- Requests: "Please help me" becomes "requested me to help him".
- Advice: "You should rest" becomes "advised me to rest".
- Let us: becomes suggested that we should.
- Exclamations: "Alas!", "Hurrah!" become exclaimed with sorrow, or with joy, that ...
Worked example
Change to indirect speech: He said to me, "Where are you going?"
Practice this conceptself-check · 4 quick reps
The same idea in a real exam question:
SSC CGL · 2025 · Tier I, 14 Sep 2025, Shift 2 · Q97Easy
Example 2 · Grammar · Direct and Indirect Speech
A sentence is provided in direct speech. From the four given options, choose the one that most accurately conveys the sentence in its corresponding indirect speech.
She said to me, “Open the window.”
Keeping the question order
"He asked me where was I going" keeps the question order. A reported question uses statement order: where I was going.
That with an order
"She told me that open the window" is wrong. An order is reported with to: "She told me to open the window".
Concept 3 of 3: From indirect speech back to direct
Going from indirect speech to direct reverses every change: put the words in quotation marks, move the tense one step forward (was becomes is, would becomes will), give the speaker back I and the listener you, and restore today, tomorrow and here.
Definition
- Tense forward: was becomes is or am; were becomes are; had + participle becomes has or have + participle (or the simple past); would becomes will; could becomes can; might becomes may.
- Pronouns: the speaker's he or she becomes I; the listener becomes you.
- Time and place: that day becomes today, the next day tomorrow, the previous day yesterday, there here.
- Forms that stay: must, used to, and a third conditional (had ... would have).
- Questions and orders: asked if becomes a yes or no question; told ... to becomes a command.
- Punctuation: the spoken words go inside quotation marks with a capital letter; a question ends with a question mark.
Worked example
Change to direct speech: She said that she was busy that day.
Practice this conceptself-check · 4 quick reps
The same idea in a real exam question:
SSC CGL · 2025 · Tier I, 17 Sep 2025, Shift 3 · Q98Moderate
Example 3 · Grammar · Direct and Indirect Speech
A sentence is provided in indirect speech. From the four given options, choose the one that most accurately conveys the sentence in its corresponding direct speech.
The professor said that had he known earlier, he would have made the necessary arrangements.
Moving a fixed form forward
Used to, must and a third conditional (had known ... would have) stay as they are. Moving them forward gives a wrong option.
Leaving the speaker in the third person
In the spoken words the speaker says I. "He said, 'He will come'" usually means someone else will come, which changes the sense.
Summary — formulas & gotchas at a glance
A revision cheat-sheet for the formulas and gotchas above. Click any concept name to jump back to its full explanation.
Watch out for (6)
- Backshifting a universal truth→ Reporting a statement
- Forgetting the time and place words→ Reporting a statement
- Keeping the question order→ Reporting questions, orders and exclamations
- That with an order→ Reporting questions, orders and exclamations
- Moving a fixed form forward→ From indirect speech back to direct
- Leaving the speaker in the third person→ From indirect speech back to direct
Test yourself on Grammar
20 past SSC CGL questions from this chapter, timed at 12 minutes and marked the way the exam marks it. You see your score and every answer the moment you finish. Free to start.