Speech and Voice

Rules for Speech and Voices

The Rules for Speech and Voices is something similar to each other but they vary on certain terms as well. This is why it is normally taken to be a single topic with both types of conversion.
In order to understand the rules for speech and voices, let’s first understand each of them separately and their respective rules as well.

Speech

Speech is the expression of thoughts in spoken words. It is known as something which is spoken.

Here are some rules for Speech and Voices –

In general Language it is divided into two parts mainly:

Direct Speech –	Indirect speech –
Speech which is used to convey directly and exactly what is said. It is usually represented through inverted commas and quotes. Example – She said, “Go and bring a glass of water for me�?.	It is used to convey what was said indirectly instead of a direct speech. Example – She told me to go and bring a glass of water for her.

Voice

In general English language, the transitive verb has two voices mainly Active voice and Passive voice.

Active Voice –	Passive Voice –
sentence has a subject that acts upon its verb. Example - She praised him for his breavery.	a subject is a recipient of a verb’s action. Example – He was praised for his breavery by her.

Rule 1 – Converting Direct to Indirect – Reporting Verb

When a reporting verb in the direct speech sentence is in past tense, then while converting it to indirect speech, all present tense transforms to past tense.
- For Example:
  Direct: He said �? I am playing guitar�?
  Indirect: He said (+ that) he was playing guitar.

Exceptions:

While translating to indirect speech, the tense remain the same if the direct sentence talks about any universal fact.
- For Example:
  Direct: She said, "We cannot live without air".
  Indirect: She said that we cannot live without air.

When a reporting verb in the direct speech sentence is in present tense or future tense, then while converting it to indirect speech, the tense doesn’t change to past.
- For Example:
  Direct: He says, “I will come tomorrow�?
  Indirect: He says say(+ that) He will come tomorrow.

Rule 2 – Converting Direct to Indirect – Present to Past

Simple Present Changes to Simple Past
- For Example:
  Direct: My father said “I am in the market�?
  Indirect: My father said that he was in the market.

Present Perfect Changes to Past Perfect.
For example:
Direct: “I have been doing home work all day�? she said.
Indirect: She told me she had been doing home work all day.

Present Continuous Changes to Past Continuous
- For Example:
  Direct: "I am watching TV.", she said.
  Indirect: She said that she was watching TV.

Present Perfect Changes to Past Perfect

For Example:
Direct: He said, “His team has won the match�?
Indirect: He said that his team had won the match.

Rule 3 – Converting Direct to Indirect – Past and Future Tense

Simple Past Changes to Past Perfect
- For Example:
  Direct: Mary said “I went to the market�?
  Indirect: Mary said that she had gone to the market.

Past Continuous Changes to Past Perfect Continuous
- For Example:
  Direct: Sumit told, "He was playing football".
  Indirect: Sumit told he had been playing football.

Future Changes to Present Conditional
- For Example:
  Direct: She said, "I will play guitar tomorrow at the auditorium".
  Indirect: She said that she would play guitar the next day at the auditorium.

Future Continuous Changes to Conditional Continuous
- For Example:
  Direct: She said, "I' ll be leaving the office next week".
  Indirect: She said that she would be leaving the office the following week.

Rule 4 – Converting Direct to Indirect – Interrogative Sentences

If a sentence begins with (what, where, when) as an interrogative sentence, then we do not use any conjunction (that).
- For Example:
  Direct: “Where do you play?�? asked the neighbor.
  Indirect: The neighbor asked where I played.

If a direct speech sentence begins with an auxiliary verb/helping verb, it takes the form of if / whether in the indirect clause.
- For Example:
  Direct: She said, �? Were you there at the meeting yesterday ?�?
  Indirect: She asked if I was there at the meeting the last day.

Reporting verbs in direct speech change to asked, enquired, demanded in indirect speech.
- For Example:
  Direct: She said to me, "Where are you going?".
  Indirect: She asked me where was I going.
  Direct: She said, “Give me my pen back.�?
  Indirect: She demanded to give her pen back.

Rule 5 – Converting Direct to Indirect – Modal Transformation

In the process of translating direct to indirect speech, the modals change too:

Can -> could
May -> might
Must -> had to /would have to

For Example:

Direct: He said, "He can sing"
Indirect: He said that he could sing

Direct: She said,�? I may go to school tomorrow�?
Indirect: She said that she might go to school the next day.

Direct: Mary said, “I must attend the workshop�?
Indirect: Mary said that she had to attend the workshop.

However the modals that do not change their forms are – Could, Would, Should, Might, Ought to

1.
- Direct: She said," I ought to complete the task by dusk"
- Indirect: She said that she ought to complete the task by dusk.
2.
- Direct: Alex said,�?I would not be able to pick her up from school�?
- Indirect: Alex said that he would not be able to pick her up from school.

Rule 6 – Converting Direct to Indirect – Pronoun

First Person – I, Me, Myself, Mine, Our, Ours, We, Ourselves

Second Person – You, Your, Yourself, Yours.

Third Person – She, Her, Hers, Herself, He, Him, His, Himself, They, Them, Themselves, Their, Theirs,

First person changes as per the subject:
- For Example:
  Direct: He said,"I am a coach in karate."
  Indirect: He said that he was a coach in karate.
The second person changes as per the object of reporting speech.
- For Example:
  Direct:She says to them, "You have completed your task."
  Indirect: She tells them that they had completed their task.
The third person remains unchanged.
- For Example:
  Direct: She says, "He sings well."
  Indirect: She says that he sings well.

Rule 7 – Converting Direct to Indirect – Request, Command, Wish, Exclamation

In Indirect Speech we use some supportive verbs like requested, ordered, suggested and advised. We use forbid/forbade in negative sentences. Thus, the imperative in direct speech changes to infinitive (to) in indirect speech.

For Example:

- #1
  Direct: She said to her ‘Please fill this form’.
  Indirect: She requested her to fill the form.
- #2
  Direct: Mary said to Alex,�?Bring me the keys.�?
  Indirect: Mary said Alex to bring her the keys.

In Exclamatory sentences we remove the interjections (alas, oh, hurrah, bravo……) and change the sentence to assertive.

For Example:

- #1
  Direct: She said, “Alas! He is no more�?
  Indirect: She exclaimed sadly that he was no more.
- #2
  Direct: They said,�? Hurrah! We Won�?
  Indirect: They exclaimed excitedly that they won.

Rule 8 – Converting Direct to Indirect – Change in Time

In direct speech words that objectify nearness will translate to distance verbs in indirect speech.

Direct to Indirect Convertion
Original	After Convertion
Now	then
Here	there
Ago	before
Thus	so
Today	that day
Tomorrow	the next day
This	that
Yesterday	the day before/ the last day
These	those
Hither	thither
Come	go
Hence	thence
Next week or month	following week/month

Rules of converting Indirect Speech into Direct Speech

The rules that we follow to convert from indirect speech to direct speech are mentioned below:

Reporting verbs should be used correctly – say, said, told.
There should be comma before the statement followed by inverted quotes (“�?) and the first letter should be capital.
Use questions mark, exclamation mark, quotations in the right place.
Remove unnecessary conjunctions (that, if, whether)
The reporting verb shod be changes from past to present when converting from indirect to direct.
Past perfect tense should be changed to simple past or present perfect as needed.

For Example:

#1
Indirect: She asked if she was preparing for the exams.
Direct: She said to her, “Are you preparing for the exams?�?
#2
Indirect: Mary said that she couldn’t complete the test the last day.
Direct: Mary said, “I could not complete the test yesterday.�?
#3
Indirect: Rohan said that he was unwell.
Direct: Rohan said,�? I am unwell.�?

Converting Active to Passive

Rule 1 – Converting Active to Passive – Identifying Subject, Verb & Object

For translating the Voices, identifying the subject, verb and object is the first task.

Subject + Verb + Object

Example:

She eats apple – (Subject – She, Verb – Eats, object – Apple)
I wrote a letter – (Subject – I, Verb – Wrote, Object – Letter)
He plays a piano and drums – (Subject – He, Verb – Plays, Object – Piano and drums)

Rule 2.Converting Active to Passive – Interchanging forms

While converting a sentence from active to passive, the subject and the object interchange their position. Subject becomes the object and object becomes the subject.

Example :

- 1.
  Active voice : She sings classical (Subject – She, Verb – sings, Object – Classical)
  Passive Voice : Classical is sung by her. (Here, the subject and object interchange with each other. Now, Subject – Classical, Verb – sung, Object – her).
- 2.
  Active Voice: He visits school
  Passive Voice: School is visited by him.

Rule 3. Converting Active to Passive – Ignoring the Subject

It might so happen sometimes that while converting the sentence from active to passive, the subject can be removed if the sentence makes full sense without it.

Example :

- 1.
  Active Voice: The police arrested her.
  Passive Voice: She was arrested. (here, we know if we use arrested it will be by the police. Hence, we can ignore using the subject ‘police’ here.)
- 2.
  Active Voice: We sell milk in litres
  Passive Voice: Milk is sold in liters. (here, we know that we are talking about people who sell milk. hence using ‘we’ would be unnecessary)

Rule 4.Converting Active to Passive – Changing Base Verb

When translating a sentence from Active to Passive Voice, the base verb is changed to the past participle which is then preceded by prepositions like by, in, with, at, to.

Example:

- 1.
  Active voice: She cooks meals.
  Passive voice: Meals are cooked by her.
- 2.
  Active voice: I know him.
  Passive voice: He is known to me.
- 3.
  Active voice: Water fills the bottle
  Passive voice: The bottle is filled with water
- 4.
  Active Voice: The box contains red balls
  Passive Voice: Red balls are contained in the box.
- 5.
  Active Voice: His actions shock me.
  Passive Voice: I am shocked at his actions.

Rule 5. Converting Active to Passive – Changing Pronouns

While changing the voice, the pronouns also change along with it. Check the list below:

Active	Passive
I	Me
We	Us
You	You
He	Him
She	Her
It	It
They	Them

Rule 6. Converting Active to Passive – Tense Transformation

Present Tense:

Simple Present tense:

Active Voice – Subject + Verb + Object (Mary eats banana)
Passive Voice – Subject + past participle + by object (banana is eaten by Mary)

Present Continuous Tense:

Active Voice – Subject + is/am/are + verb(ing) + object (She is doing her task)
Passive Voice – Subject + is/am/are + being + past participle + by object. (The task being done by her)

Past Tense:

Simple Past Tense:

Active Voice – Subject + past verb + object (She cleaned the blackboard)
Passive Voice – Subject + was/were + past participle + by object (the blackboard was cleaned by her)

Past Continuous

Active Voice – Subject + was/were + verb(ing) + object (I was reading a book)
Passive Voice – Subject + was / were + being + past participle + by object (A book was being read by me)

Past Perfect

Active Voice – Subject + had + past participle + object (He had left the food)
Passive Voice – Subject + had been + past participle + by object (the food had been left by him)

Future Tense

Simple Future Tense

Active Voice – Subject + will + infinitive verb + object (I will read the newspaper)
Passive Voice – Subject + will + be + past participle + object (The newspaper will be read by me)

Future Continuous

Active Voice – Subject + will be + present participle (ing) + object (Mary will be watching the news today)
Passive Voice – Subject + will be + being + past participle + by object (the news will be being watched by Mary today)

Past Future Tense

Active Voice – Subject + would + infinite + object (I would live in this house)
Passive Voice – Subject + would be + past participle + object (This house would be lived in by me)

Rule 7. Converting Active to Passive – Imperative Sentence

For an imperative sentence, the object YOU is generally missing or not used.
The basic formula is – Let + object + be/not be + V3 (third form of verb)
Sentences that use words like request, expect, order are converted to request to, expected to or ordered to.
Requesting words like please or kindly are dropped from passive voice.

For Example:

1.
Active Voice – Do it
Passive Voice – Let it be done
2.
Active Voice – Close the door
Passive voice – Let the door be closed
3.
Active Voice – Do not open the letter
Passive Voice – Let the let not be opened

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Speech and Voice

Rule 2.Converting Active to Passive – Interchanging forms

Rule 3. Converting Active to Passive – Ignoring the Subject

Rule 4.Converting Active to Passive – Changing Base Verb

Rule 5. Converting Active to Passive – Changing Pronouns

Rule 7. Converting Active to Passive – Imperative Sentence