Direct speech is reproducing someone's exact words inside quotation marks. Indirect speech (also called reported speech or narration) is reporting what someone said without quoting them verbatim, integrating it into your own sentence.
Look at the difference:
The meaning is identical. But the form has changed across three dimensions: the reporting verb, the tense inside the reported clause, and the words that refer to time, place, and persons.
Here is the best analogy for this. Imagine you witness a press conference and then report it to a friend two hours later. You do not say "He said, I am ready to resign." You say "He said he was ready to resign." That automatic adjustment you make in natural conversation — that is exactly what the indirect speech rules are formalising.
Why does NDA test this heavily? Because narration conversion requires you to demonstrate control over tenses, pronouns, and syntax simultaneously. A single sentence tests three grammar skills at once. Examiners love efficiency.
The conversion question will give you a direct sentence and ask you to pick the correctly converted indirect form from four options — or vice versa. Every year, at least two to three questions appear in this pattern. The traps are always in the same four places: tense, pronouns, time-place expressions, and the reporting verb. Learn those four pillars and you will not drop a mark here.
When the reporting verb is in the past tense (said, told, asked, replied), the verb inside the reported clause shifts one step back in time. This is called backshift.
| Direct Speech Tense | Indirect Speech Tense |
|---|---|
| Simple Present (am, go) | Simple Past (was, went) |
| Present Continuous (is going) | Past Continuous (was going) |
| Present Perfect (has gone) | Past Perfect (had gone) |
| Simple Past (went) | Past Perfect (had gone) |
| Past Continuous (was going) | Past Perfect Continuous (had been going) |
| will | would |
| can | could |
| may | might |
| shall | should / would |
Exception: If the reporting verb is in the present or future tense ("He says that…" / "She will say that…"), no backshift happens. The tense inside stays unchanged.
Exception 2: Universal truths and scientific facts do not backshift. "The teacher said that the earth revolves around the sun" — not "revolved."
Pronouns shift based on who is speaking, who is being spoken to, and who is being spoken about. The formula is:
Example: "Charu said to her friend, 'I want you to be here.'"
These shift because the context of time and place changes when you report later.
| Direct | Indirect | |---|---| | now | then | | today | that day | | yesterday | the previous day / the day before | | tomorrow | the next day / the following day | | here | there | | this | that | | these | those | | last week | the previous week | | next week | the following week | | ago | before |
This is where a large chunk of NDA marks get lost. Candidates correctly backshift the tense but forget to change "tomorrow" to "the next day." That one slip eliminates option (a) and makes option (b) look correct.
The verb "said" or "said to" is the default, but different sentence types demand specific reporting verbs. This is non-negotiable.
Declarative sentences: "said that…" or "told [object] that…"
Interrogative sentences (Yes/No questions): Replace with "asked whether / if"
Interrogative sentences (Wh-questions): Retain the question word, sentence order becomes statement order.
Imperative sentences (commands/requests/advice):
Exclamatory sentences:
Optative sentences (wishes):
Before picking an answer, run three checks in sequence — Pronoun, Past-tense shift, Place-time words. In NDA options, each wrong option typically violates exactly one of these three. Option A may have the right tense but wrong pronoun. Option B may fix pronouns but keep "tomorrow" instead of "the next day." Running P-P-P mentally takes about 8 seconds and eliminates two wrong options immediately, leaving you with a binary choice. Standard approach of reading all options carefully: ~45 seconds. The 3-P Check: ~15 seconds.
Never write "told that" without an object between "told" and "that." "Told" is always transitive in reported speech — it must have an object. "She told that she was tired" is wrong. "She told me that she was tired" is correct. Conversely, "said to her" in direct speech becomes "told her" in indirect speech — you drop the "to." In NDA options, exactly one wrong option will use "said to" in the indirect form (keeping the preposition) and another will use "told" without an object. Spotting this eliminates two distractors in one scan — reduces 4-option elimination to a 2-option decision.
In indirect questions, the word order always reverts to statement order (Subject + Verb), never question order (Verb + Subject). Direct: "Where is he going?" → Indirect: "She asked where he was going." NOT "where was he going." Every NDA distractor for Wh-questions puts inverted order in the indirect form. Eliminate any option that has inverted order inside the reported clause — takes 3 seconds per option, cuts wrong choices without reading the rest.
Exclamatory sentences use only "exclaimed" or "wondered" as reporting verbs in NDA pattern. If a conversion of an exclamatory sentence uses "said," "told," "asked," or "requested" as the reporting verb, eliminate it immediately. Additionally, the phrase "What a…" or "How…" always disappears in indirect speech — any option retaining it is wrong. This eliminates at minimum two options in under 5 seconds for every exclamatory question.
When converting indirect to direct, the reverse tense table applies: Past Perfect in indirect → Simple Past in direct. "Had been quiet" → "were quiet." This catches candidates who simply re-backshift (going from past perfect to present perfect instead of to simple past). The rule: Simple Past and Past Perfect in indirect speech both trace back to the same original time — the Simple Past. So "had been quiet" in indirect becomes "were quiet" (simple past) in direct, not "have been quiet." Applying this takes 2 extra seconds of thought but prevents the single most common error in reverse-conversion questions.
When you see a narration question in the exam hall, work through this decision tree in order:
Step 1 — Identify direction. Direct → Indirect, or Indirect → Direct? Read the question stem first.
Step 2 — Identify sentence type. Declarative, interrogative (yes/no or wh-), imperative, or exclamatory? This determines your reporting verb. Eliminate any option with the wrong reporting verb immediately.
Step 3 — Check tense. Apply backshift (or reverse-backshift for indirect → direct). Eliminate options with wrong tense.
Step 4 — Check pronouns. First person → subject of reporting clause, second person → object of reporting clause. Eliminate accordingly.
Step 5 — Check time/place words. Scan for "tomorrow/the next day," "here/there," "this/that." One surviving option will typically get this wrong. Eliminate it.
If two options survive all five checks, re-read for "told vs. said" and question word-order issues. One of those two will have a subtle error there.
Total time per question: 30-40 seconds.
Why this question: Tests three simultaneous conversions — tense, pronoun, and time expression — in a single declarative sentence. The most common narration question type in NDA.
Solving path:
Run the 3-P Check on each option:
Answer: Option (a). Time taken with this framework: ~25 seconds.
Why this question: Tests exclamatory sentence conversion — the reporting verb choice and the structural transformation of "What a…" are both under examination here.
Solving path:
Step 1: Sentence type — exclamatory ("What a beautiful painting it is!"). Reporting verb must be "exclaimed" or "wondered." Option (c) uses "exclaimed" but says "it is" — no tense change, and no object for Nitin's brother. Option (d) uses "asked…whether" — wrong verb for an exclamatory sentence, eliminate.
Step 2: The "What a beautiful painting" structure must dissolve into a statement. Option (a) retains "what a beautiful painting" — eliminate.
Step 3: Tense — "is" → "was." Option (c) keeps "is" — eliminate.
Step 4: Between (b) and (c), only option (b) remains: "wondered before his brother that it was a beautiful painting" — correct tense (was), correct structure (plain statement), correct reporting expression.
Answer: Option (b). Note: "wondered before his brother" is the accepted NDA phrasing for exclamatory sentences with an addressee.
Why this question: Tests reverse conversion (indirect to direct) — a less practised direction that trips up candidates who only practise one way. Also tests the Past Perfect → Simple Past reversal rule.
Solving path:
Step 1: Direction — Indirect → Direct. The indirect sentence is: "The teacher asked her students why they had been quiet in the previous class."
Step 2: Reporting verb changes: "asked" → "said to" (for direct speech with an addressee). Options (a) retains "asked her students" — technically possible but awkward in direct speech; check tense.
Step 3: Tense reversal — "had been quiet" (past perfect indirect) → "were quiet" (simple past direct). Option (c) keeps "had you been quiet" — this retains past perfect in direct speech, which means double-backshift, wrong. Eliminate (c). Option (a) uses "were they keeping quiet" — wrong pronoun (they, not you) and wrong tense form. Eliminate (a).
Step 4: Pronoun reversal — "they" (indirect, third person) → "you" (direct, second person, since teacher is addressing students). Option (d) uses "you" correctly.
Step 5: Article check — "the previous class" must retain "the." Option (d) drops the article: "previous class" without "the." Eliminate (d).
Step 6: Only option (b) remains — "Why were you quiet in the previous class?" Correct pronoun (you), correct tense (were quiet = simple past), correct article (the previous class).
Answer: Option (b).
Keeping "tomorrow" in indirect speech. This is the single most common error. Any indirect sentence that retains "tomorrow" when the reporting verb is past is wrong by definition. The word must become "the next day" or "the following day."
Writing "told that" without an object. "She told that she was ready" is grammatically incorrect. "Told" requires a person object: "She told me / him / them that she was ready." Conversely, "said" does not take a person object directly — "She said that she was ready" is correct; "She said him that..." is wrong.
Inverting word order in indirect questions. Indirect questions always use statement order (Subject + Verb). "He asked where was she going" is wrong. Correct: "He asked where she was going." Any option with inverted order in the reported clause is a trap.
Using Simple Past instead of Past Perfect when backshifting a past tense. Simple past in direct ("I went") must become past perfect in indirect ("he said he had gone"). Candidates often leave it as simple past ("he said he went") — technically acceptable in some grammars but consistently penalised in NDA marking as per the pattern shown in official answer keys.
Retaining the exclamatory structure in indirect speech. "He exclaimed that what a beautiful painting it was" is wrong. The "What a…" structure must convert into a plain statement: "He exclaimed that it was a very beautiful painting."
Applying backshift when the reporting verb is present tense. If the sentence says "She says that…" or "He tells me that…", no tense change is needed inside the reported clause. Candidates who backshift regardless lose marks on these questions.