127. When to Use Indirect Speech

Indirect speech is used more than direct speech for reporting, but it has other uses too

PROBLEMS POSED BY INDIRECT SPEECH

A good command of indirect speech requires knowing not just how to construct it, but also when it is preferable to direct speech. These needs are not a problem for all learners of English, but they can give especial difficulty to speakers of languages with a much stronger preference for direct speech.

A common misconception is that indirect speech is another name for reported speech, so that its sole use is for reporting. The reality is that reporting is only one possible reason for using indirect speech, and can also be done with direct speech. This means non-reporting uses of indirect speech need to be appreciated, along with the way reporting with indirect speech differs from doing so with direct speech. It is these questions that are the focus of the present post.

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FORMS OF INDIRECT SPEECH

To assist consideration of indirect speech uses, various formal characteristics need clarification. As these are well described in most mainstream grammars, they need only be surveyed briefly here.

1. Indirect speech normally forms only part of a sentence – underlined in the following:

(a) Sim (2015, p.14) BELIEVES that globalization is unstoppable.

(b) Columbus PROMISED to reward his crew richly.

The part of a sentence outside indirect speech normally indicates thinking or speaking. Verbs (believes, promised above) are commonest, but nouns (e.g. belief) and even adjectives (e.g. insistent) are sometimes found too (see 287. Speech and Thought Nouns and 300. Adjective Indicators of Indirect Speech).

Verbs most typically have indirect speech after them as their “object” (as above) but sometimes before them as their “subject” (see 185. Noun Synonyms of Question Words). They can also go within it, either as a parenthesis (see 183. Statements between Commas) or in the passive voice after the indirect speech subject, thereby taking it over (see 299. Infinitives after a Passive Verb, #2). Nouns and adjectives usually precede indirect speech, with a linking conjunction or preposition, e.g. a belief that… in (a).

Indirect speech that is not part of a sentence may be a heading (see 178. How to Write a Heading and 105. Questions with a “to” Verb) or, exceptionally, a sentence by itself (see 207. Exotic Grammar Structures 4, #4).

2. Indirect speech is often worded differently from direct speech. One variation involves pronouns, tenses, possessive adjectives and adverbs, since these must show the point of view of the writer (cf. his in (b) above – an indirect speech equivalent of Columbus’ original my). This rule means indirect speech more often contains the had tense than direct speech does (see 171. Aspects of the Past Perfect Tense). Other causes of variation include the choice of speech/ thought word (see 79. Fitting Quotations into a Text), plus an occasional wish to report incompletely.

3. Indirect speech lacks quotation marks (“…”). Direct speech can also lack them, but not within a longer sentence like (a) above. Adding quotation marks to the underlined words in (a) would remove any doubt about their being the exact words of Sim.

In addition to these central characteristics, indirect speech has features that vary according to whether it is a statement, question or command.

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Specific Statement Features

1. That is very often seen or understood after an introductory speech/ thought word (see 153. Conjunction Uses of “that“). It cannot normally have a following comma (see 50. Right and Wrong Comma Places). For a list of common verbs usable with that, see 279. Grammatical Differences between Citation Verbs.

2. That is usually replaceable by an earlier as (see 133. Confusions of Similar Structures 1, #4). After a few verbs, such as PROMISE in (b), an alternative is to replace both that and the verb after it with a to verb – to reward in (b) (see 147. Types of Future Meaning, #2). One other alternative is a relative pronoun like who (see 200. Special Uses of Relative Clauses, #3).

3. Some speech/ thought words never allow that and link to statements with a preposition or as (see 287. Speech and Thought Nouns).

4. Speech/ thought words and linkers can be avoided altogether by means of according to before the speaker’s name (see 22. Multiple Speakers in a Text).

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Specific Question Features

1. The accompanying speech/ thought word usually indicates asking, explaining or knowing, e.g. the question, the issue, investigate, wonder, tell or understand.

2. The word order differs from that of direct questions (e.g. the whole verb follows its subject).

3. There is nearly always an initial question word (or equivalent noun), without that. 

4. There is no question mark at the end.

For details, see 57. Indirect Questions in Formal Writing and 219. Wording next to Indirect Questions. For unusual alternatives, see 183. Statements between Commas and 207. Exotic Grammar Structures 4, #4.

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Specific Command Features

1. The accompanying speech/ thought word suggests commanding, inviting or advising, e.g. ADVISE, ASK, COMMAND, COUNSEL, INSTRUCT, INVITE, ORDER, REQUEST, TELL, URGE. It is usually followed by the “commanded” person (e.g. told the audience …). Exceptions include RECOMMEND and SUGGEST, which name this person after that, and GIVE AN ORDER, which names nobody or uses for/to (see 150. Verb Choices with Indirect Speech and 208. Verbs with an Object + Infinitive).

2. A verb with to commonly expresses the commanded action. Alternatives (that…should, -ing, “action” noun like departure) are sometimes available or necessary, e.g. ordered (…’s) departure (see 65. Verbs that Mean “Must” or “Can”).

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USES OF INDIRECT SPEECH

The following illustrate direct speech used for reporting and indirect speech with other uses:

(c) Jones (2016, p.32) maintains that “sport promotes world peace”.

(d) Could you indicate what your name is?

(e) I think that safety precautions are sometimes excessive.

In (c), quotation marks indicate direct speech, while the wording before them (maintains that) indicates reporting. The use of that before direct statements (without a separating comma) seems to be a marker of academic reporting (see 79. Fitting Quotations into a Text); it is not common in spoken reporting and not normally possible before dialogue in novels.

In (d) and (e), the reason why the indirect speech is not reporting is that no original words correspond to it. Instead, the indirect speech is itself the original wording.

The next sections first compare the reporting uses of direct and indirect speech, and then consider the non-reporting uses of the latter.

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Direct versus Indirect Reporting

Indirect reporting is actually the default way of reporting in English, done automatically when none of the reasons for direct reporting apply. Therefore, reporting with direct speech should be avoided unless it has a special reason. Special reasons include the following:

1. PRESERVATION OF VALUE

Sometimes the original wording has some noteworthy feature – cleverness, conciseness, beauty, fame, originality – that the writer does not wish to lose or suggest is their own.

2. FEAR OF MISINTERPRETATION

Original messages are not always easy to understand: they may be ambiguous or conceptually difficult or just poorly written. In these cases, quoting the exact original words allows readers to make their own judgement about the message.

3. PROOF OF HONEST REPORTING

A quotation helps prove that the quoted writer truly said it. Readers might particularly need such proof if the point in question is, for example, controversial or surprising.

4. STRONG DISAGREEMENT WITH THE REPORTED MESSAGE

Writers seem better able to distance themselves from reported messages by quoting rather than paraphrasing them.

5. LITERARY EFFECT

Some reporting is done in works that are more literary than academic, where entertaining is as important as informing. Such works rather resemble drama-documentaries that TV sometimes uses instead of factual narration. Direct speech often suits them because it is considered more immediate and attention-catching. Professional writing, however, must generally avoid this kind of reporting because its probable misrepresentation of the exact words that were said goes against the paramount need for factual accuracy (see 57. Indirect Questions in Formal Writing).

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Indirect reporting is usually required if none of these reasons apply. However, it has some particular advantages that are worth highlighting.

1. SUMMARISING AND TRANSLATING

These are by definition ways of changing words, and hence cannot logically be direct speech (except for dramatic effect). Summarising is particularly necessary in academic literature reviews, where brevity is paramount.

2. AVOIDANCE OF OFFENCE

There are various kinds of wording, such as swearing and racist language, that writers might want to change in order to avoid offence (though they might also want keep them in order to shame the author!).

3. AVOIDANCE OF AMBIGUITY

To illustrate this spoken English use of indirect speech, consider the following:

(f) The Principal said, “I am performing well”.

In speech, where punctuation is absent, there can be uncertainty whether I is the named speaker (The Principal) or the sentence speaker. English pronunciation can actually clarify this – with a pause after said – but sometimes more may be desired. Switching to indirect speech (… said he was performing well) can remove such problems.

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Non-Reporting Uses of Indirect Speech

Outside of reporting, indirect speech is not the default and is used only in special circumstances, such as the following:

1. POLITE INFORMATION-SEEKING

Direct information-seeking questions can sound impolite in English. Sentence (d) above illustrates a more polite indirect question. It seems to be only questions that become more polite by being made indirect (see 57. Indirect Questions in Formal Writing).

2. FORMAL TOPIC INTRODUCTION

Whereas direct questions tend to introduce a topic informally, indirect ones often do so formally (see 274. Questions with a Hidden Meaning, #8). The answer to the question – the topic – is provided by the person asking it and usually follows immediately (see 297. Types of Response to a Question, #5).

3. SPEECH CHARACTERISATION

Sentence (e) above illustrates this use. The actual characterising word is usually the speech/ thought one next to the indirect speech – think above, an indicator of the characteristic of “opinion” (see 107. The Language of Opinions). Messages only occasionally need to be so characterised: in many cases the characteristic will already be obvious.

The saying or thinking in a message characterisation is usually associated with the sentence speaker – otherwise the sentence is likely to be a report. Quite often it involves I or we or equivalent (me, us, my etc.), but it can also be expressed more formally with a starting it (e.g. it seems that… + opinion).

Other commonly conveyed message characteristics include agreement (e.g. through I agree…: see 152. Agreeing and Disagreeing in Formal Contexts); gratitude (I would  like to say…); and command (I order you to…). Suffice it to say… implies incompleteness (see the end of 189. Expressing Sufficiency), while in the following, a question is characterised as mystifying: 

(g) It is mystifying (I am mystified) why nobody acted.

Note that in cases like I order…, uttering the characterising words actually creates the characteristic (see 238. Using a Verb to Perform its Action).

One introduction that resembles characterisation but is not is I understand that…. This usually means “I have heard that”, and is hence more reporting than characterising. It is useful if the report source cannot be named. 

126. Verbs with an Indirect Object

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Some English verbs can be used with two nouns after them, one an “indirect object”

THE CONCEPT OF INDIRECT OBJECTS

English grammars often talk of indirect objects: nouns or their equivalents (pronouns, gerunds, noun phrases, etc.) that typically follow an active verb along with its “object”, as in these examples:

(a) The Government need to build more homes for the poor.

(b) Einstein gave his full attention to the problem of gravity.

My interest here is why the underlined words should be called indirect objects. Most nouns after a preposition are said to be part of an “adverbial” (see 84. Seven Things to Know about Prepositions, #2). The preposition phrase in the following, for example, expresses the adverbial meaning of “cause”:

(c) Some economists blame low growth on taxation.

It is tempting to define indirect objects in terms of their typical prepositions and meaning. They nearly always follow to or for, and they usually represent a “beneficiary” or “recipient” of a verbal action: the poor in (a) are the envisaged beneficiaries of more homes being built, and the problem of gravity in (b) was the recipient of Einstein’s increased attention.

However, all nouns after a preposition take some of their meaning from it: we identify taxation in (c) as a cause because it is being used after on. Defining indirect objects as beneficiary or recipient nouns only raises the question of what makes those meanings special.

The topic of indirect objects places this post in the same category as various others that deal with the major divisions of a sentence, especially 8. Object-Dropping Errors (objects), 12. Singular and Plural Verb Choices (subjects), 120. Six Things to Know about Adverbs (adverbials) and 220. Features of Complements (complements).

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JUSTIFICATION OF THE TERM “INDIRECT OBJECT”

One major reason why English grammars talk of indirect objects is the influence of other languages, particularly Latin, the language that dominated Europe 2000 years ago (see 45. Latin Clues to English Spelling). In Latin, although prepositions are used for most meanings that also need a preposition in English, they are not used to show the meaning of an indirect object – special noun endings are used instead. It therefore makes sense in Latin grammars to separately recognize indirect objects. This approach has influenced the description of English grammar because English grammar was originally analyzed using concepts developed for Latin.

Moreover, many other modern European languages act more or less similarly to Latin, particularly in respect of personal pronouns. French and German, for example, have special forms of pronouns like “me”, “you” and “him/her” to show when they are indirect objects.

Of course, the mere fact that other languages have a good reason for using a particular grammatical concept does not mean that that concept should be used in English (see 298. Grammar Meanings without Grammar). So is there anything about English that might justify talk of indirect objects? I think there actually is. It is the fact that this kind of noun can be written without a preposition as well as with one. Here is sentence (b) rewritten in this other way:

(d) Einstein gave the problem of gravity his full attention.

Here, it will be seen, the noun that was originally after to (problem) has lost this preposition and has changed places with the other noun. Having these alternative word orders allows either of the two nouns to be placed at the end of the sentence, where English typically likes to place the most important information. One of the two nouns is the object of the verb. What name should be given to the other?

One side matter to address before considering this is the fact that not all sentences with two preposition-less nouns after the verb are like (d). Consider the following:

(e) Columbus named the first island he reached San Salvador.

This sentence cannot be reordered and given a preposition before the first island he reached. The reason is that this noun, and not the one after it, is the direct object of the verb named. The one after (San Salvador) is an “object complement” – a description or identification of the object (see 220. Features of Complements).

Part of the key to knowing whether or not an object complement is present is the nature of the verb: NAME is of the kind that only allows object complements, GIVE that only allows “indirect objects”. This is not unusual: all verbs allow some grammatical possibilities after them and prohibit others (see 208. Verbs with an Object + Infinitive). The verbs MAKE and LEAVE are rare ones that allow both object complements and indirect objects (see 141. Ways of Using MAKE, #4 and #5) – a characteristic that not surprisingly sometimes creates a double meaning (see 182. Structures with a Double Meaning 2, #4).

With sentences like (d), one name that is sometimes given to the noun that is not the direct object is simply “second object”. This recognizes the fact that in many cases either of the two “objects” can be the subject of the verb in the passive form, as in these examples based on (d):

(f) The problem of gravity was given full attention by Einstein.

(g) Full attention was given by Einstein to the problem of gravity.

The argument is then made that if both nouns in sentences like (d) can be called “objects”, then the term “indirect object” can again be dropped altogether, since every way of using one can be described with an already-existing term.

However, once again there is an argument against this and in favour of calling one of the two nouns an indirect object. It is based on the observation that the two nouns do not accompany the passive form of their verb in a wholly equal way. One difference between them is that, when either is placed after this passive (with the other as subject), the indirect object – (problem) in (g) – needs a preposition in front (to), while the direct object – attention in (f) – does not.

Another difference is that the indirect object can usually be omitted after a passive verb without creating nonsense or incorrect grammar, whereas the direct object cannot: to the problem of gravity can be left out of (g) but full attention cannot be left out of (f) (note, though, that after the passive of OWE, PAY, TEACH, TELL and SHOW either noun can be omitted, ). Clearly, once these differences are recognized by means of calling one of the nouns an indirect object, it makes sense also to use the term in other situations.

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GRAMMAR ERRORS INVOLVING INDIRECT OBJECTS

The main problem that the above-described grammar of English indirect objects seems to give to inexperienced English speakers is recognising when it applies. Everything depends on the verb being used. There is value in recognising that verbs with a similar meaning to GIVE (in various senses: see 244. Special Uses of GIVE) often have similar grammar – but exceptions need to be remembered.

Verbs with the same grammar as GIVE include ALLOT, ASSIGN, AWARD, BEQUEATH, BRING, BUILD, CALL (= “obtain by telephone”), DO (= “concoct” or “provide”), COOK, GET, GRANT, HAND, LEAVE (= “place in waiting”), LEND, MAKE, OFFER, ORDER (= “commission”), PASS, PAY, POST, PREPARE, PROMISE, RELAY, SAVE, SEND, SET, SHOW, TAKE (= “carry”), TEACH, TELL and WRITE. 

ASK with an object noun like a question is almost like these: it can have an indirect object (the person to whom the question is addressed) either first without any preposition or second with one. The preposition just needs to be of instead of to or for: ask a question of (someone). By contrast, ASK with direct or indirect questions must have the indirect object first, with or without of: ask (of) someone why…. ASK meaning “request” is more different, since it always needs a preposition whatever the word order: ask (someone) FOR something or (again) ask something OF someone.

WISH is usable with an indirect object when it means “tell someone something nice that you hope they will experience”, as in I wish you a safe journey (see 238. Using a Verb to Perform its Action). The indirect object (you) is nearly always mentioned first.

OWE is like GIVE when it means “need to repay”, but when showing the cause of something, as in …owe their success to hard work, it always needs the cause noun as the second one, after to (see 246. Tricky Grammar Contrasts 2, #3).

There are various other verbs that commonly combine like causal OWE with a noun possessing the meaning and preposition of an indirect object but unable to drop the latter. Examples (the underlined ones requiring for instead of to) are CLARIFY, COMMUNICATE, CREATE, DEFINE, DEVOTE, DELIVER, DEMONSTRATE, DESCRIBE, DISCLOSE, DONATE, EXPLAIN, IMPLY, INDICATE, REVEAL, SAY, SUGGEST, TALK and TRANSFER. The need always to include the preposition perhaps justifies the classification of these verbs as “prepositional” rather than as taking an indirect object (see 123. Prepositional Verbs Containing a Noun).

EXPLAIN and SAY seem to give rise the most commonly to the error of dropping their preposition (see 140. Words with Unexpected Grammar 2 , #b). DEVOTE allows a rather restricted range of object nouns (see 273. Verb-Object Collocations, #21). COMMUNICATE is not to be confused with INFORM (see 292. Synonym Pairs with Contrasting Grammar 2, #4).

Problematic in a different way are FURNISH, INFORM and REWARD. Consider this:

(h) Claimants must inform this office OF any changes in their situation.

The first of the two underlined nouns here (this office) is like an indirect object in representing a recipient, but it has been made an object, with the word that one would expect to be the object (changes) located instead after a preposition (of here – with after FURNISH and REWARD). Learners of English have to remember to include this preposition. Hardly surprisingly, the positions of the two nouns cannot be reversed as they can when an indirect object is present. These three verbs again seem best classified as “prepositional”.

Three verbs that almost have a normal indirect object are PRESENT, PROVIDE and SUPPLY. They can all accompany a recipient noun, and this noun can be used with or without to/for according to its position. What is confusing is that the other noun, which with ordinary indirect-object verbs never needs a preposition, needs with when the recipient noun lacks to/for – a preposition is always necessary somewhere, whatever the word order (see 281. Words with Unexpected Grammar 4, #e). Compare:

(i) Exceptions present a challenge TO grammarians.

(j) Exceptions present grammarians WITH a challenge.

As (i) shows, the indirect-object preposition after PRESENT is to. SUPPLY also needs to, but PROVIDE needs for.