Grammar

What are Common Nouns? Definition and Examples

8th July 2020 By Edify English Leave a Comment

Hello reader! In this article, we are going to discuss the definition, rules, and some example sentences of Common Nouns. We all know that a noun is one of the eight parts of speech and indicates the names of things, people, places, collections, etc. There are many types of nouns such as proper nouns, common nouns, collective nouns, etc. In this article, we’re going to have an in-depth discussion on common nouns. Also, we’re going to discuss the difference between a proper noun and a common noun.

Definition of Common Nouns

We all know what a noun is- anything that names a person, place, thing, or any collection. A Common noun is a type of noun that is used to denote any general item. For example, the things we see around us, such as a chair, a cup, a book, a pen, a TV- all these items are classified as common nouns. To put it simply, any common item that we see in everyday life comes under a common noun.

Some Examples of a common noun include:

There is a dog lying on the footpath.
Her husband is driving the car.
I need a set of pens.
There is a chair in the corner of the room.
The basement is dark and eerie.

The above examples consisted of Common Nouns in the sentences. A proper noun is different from the common noun in the sense that the proper noun specifically addresses the noun instead of a general expression. For example,

Dog is a common noun while Fido, the name of a dog is a proper noun.
Husband is a common noun while Russell, the name of the husband, is a proper noun.
Newspaper is a common noun while The Washington Post is a proper noun.
Movie is a common noun while Titanic is a proper noun.

Learn more about the differences between the common noun and proper noun

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Collective Nouns – Definition and Examples

8th July 2020 By Edify English Leave a Comment

Hello reader! Welcome. We all know that noun is one of the elements of parts of speech in the English language. It is important to learn in detail about all the different types of parts of speech. Among nouns, one of the important types is the collective noun. In this article, we are going to see in-depth notes about the collective nouns, its definition, rules, and some examples.

Definition of Collective Nouns

Any noun that represents a specific group of people or things is called a Collective Noun. In short, a noun that refers to a collection of common nouns is a collective noun. There are many examples of collective nouns. Some of them are:

Rules

The most important rue of a collective noun is that it is usually singular. Hence, the helping verb is/was comes after the collective noun instead of are/were. For example,

The committee agrees to the decision.
The class commences at 10 AM.
The legislature passes the bills.

However, when the individual noun of the collective nouns is mentioned in a form or in spirit, the plural is used.

The committee members are discussing the verdict.
The students in the class are dispersing.

Some More Examples

The following are some examples of a collection of people:

A troop of soldiers
A panel of Judges
A gang of robbers
A crowd of protestors
A company of actors

The following are some examples of a collection of things:

A bouquet of flowers
A string of pearls
A galaxy of stars
A pile of sand
A bunch of keys
A row of buildings
A junction of roads
A packet of chocolates
A box of crackers

While using collective nouns, it is important to use proper verbs and pronouns to make sure the sentence is grammatically correct. As mentioned above, some collective nouns are singular and some are mentioned in the plural. So, be careful while writing a sentence with collective nouns.

What are Proper Nouns? Definition and Examples

3rd July 2020 By Edify English Leave a Comment

Hello reader! In this article, we are going to discuss the definition, rules, and some example sentences of Proper Nouns. There are eight parts of speech in the English language. A Noun is one of those parts of speech and is one of the basic elements to learn in the English language. We all know that the noun denotes the names of persons, places, things, collections, events, and groups, etc. There are various types of nouns such as proper nouns, collective nouns, common nouns, etc. Each type signifies a peculiar variety of nouns. Among them, proper nouns are one of the most important types of nouns.

Definition of Proper Nouns

Nouns that are used to name a specific person, a specific place, thing, a particular event, and a group are known as Proper Nouns. So, all names of people, the particular names of things and places come under this category. Secondly, if any noun has a specific name to it, it comes under the category of a proper noun.

Examples

In order to understand it easier, let us take the word “Barack Obama”. Well, Barack Obama comes under the category of noun since he is a man. However, the name of the man is given specifically. hence, Barack Obama comes under the category of a proper noun, and the word “man’ is a common noun.

Some more examples are: The World War II, Lake Superior, Sunday, Roger Federer, the NASA, etc.

Rule: The first letter of a proper noun should always be capitalized.

For example,

Lake Superior, Buckingham Palace, GT Road, the Nile River, the Andes Mountains, etc.

Examples of Proper Nouns in Sentences:

I ordered a Dell Laptop Online.
Canada is one of the most beautiful countries in the world.
The Andes Mountains are home to rich flora and fauna.
They are going shopping in the Inorbit Mall.
Narendra Modi is one of the most powerful leaders in the world.
I am craving Hyderabadi Biryani.
I got accepted to Harvard Law.
She is going to perform in the Central Auditorium.
Napolean Bonaparte killed hundreds of people in fierce battles.

For examples of all kinds of Noun sentences, click here

Possessive Pronouns and Possessive Adjectives

1st July 2020 By Edify English Leave a Comment

Hello reader! In this chapter, let us delve into the concept of possessive pronouns and possessive adjectives, their meanings, rules, and some examples related to them. Let’s get started!

We all know that a pronoun is any word that is used instead of a noun. A possessive pronoun is a form of the pronoun that denotes ownership of something in the sentence. For example,

It is his car.
That group invited me to their party.

It is interesting to note that possessive pronouns are also similar to possessive adjectives, which describe the possessions of a noun in the sentence. For example,

That car is mine / That is my car. (The word ‘mine’ is an adjective while ‘my’ is a pronoun).

Possessive Pronouns and Possessive Adjectives

A thin line of difference exists between possessive pronouns and possessive adjectives. The following are the differences between the two for the three persons of personal pronouns.

Possessive Pronouns	Possessive Adjectives
My, Our	Mine, Ours
Your	Yours
His, Her, Its, Their	His, Hers, its, theirs

Rule: A common confusion exists while writing the possessive pronoun. That is the presence of an apostrophe (‘) and s to the pronoun while describing the possessive case. However, while writing about the possession of any pronoun, ‘s should not be used. Let us see this example.

The dress is her’s (Incorrect) /// The dress is hers (Correct).
The box is missing it’s lid (Incorrect) /// The box is missing its lid (Correct).
Is that pen your’s? (Incorrect) /// Is that pen yours? (Correct).

Difference between It’s and Its

Another area where many people make a mistake is between the use of it’s and Its. As discussed above, it’s is a contracted form of it is, and its is a possessive pronoun. For a clear explanation on this and for more examples, see this article on its vs it’s.

In the same manner,

Their = Belonging to them /// They’re = they are
Your = belonging to you /// You’re = You are
Whose = Belonging to who /// Who’s = Who is

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Personal Pronouns: Meaning, Types and Examples

30th June 2020 By Edify English Leave a Comment

Hello learners! Welcome. The concept of Personal pronouns is one of the most important concepts in the whole parts of speech. If you are a student of English grammar, this is the chapter you must master in order to easily grasp other chapters and concepts. We all know that a pronoun is a word that is used instead of a noun. There are many types of pronouns such as personal pronouns, relative pronouns, possessive pronouns, reflexive pronouns, and interrogative pronouns, etc. In this article, we are going to learn about the meaning, types, and example sentences of personal pronouns.

Personal Pronouns – Meaning and Types

Every sentence consists of two important parts. The speaker (or) the subject, the person spoken about (or) the object. These two are indicated by personal pronouns in the sentence. There are three types of personal pronouns.

The first person is the pronoun that talks about the subject/ the speaker where the self is the one included in the discussion. I and We comprise the first person.
The second person denotes the person that is spoken to. You is the example of second person.
The third person is the person that is spoken of. He, She, It, and They are the examples of the Third person.

The Nominative and the Objective Case

Every personal pronoun can be expressed in two cases, i.e., the nominative and the Objective case. We use the nominative case when the pronoun is the subject of the sentence. We use the objective case when the pronoun is the object.

The following table describes the two cases for all the personal pronouns:

Nominative Case (Singular/ Plural)	Objective Case (Singular/ Plural)
I, We	Me, Us
You, You	You.
He, She, It, They	Him, Her, It, Them

Examples of the nominative case include:

He goes for a stroll in the park every day.
They are getting ready to attend the function.
She received the honorary doctorate from the Vice-chancellor.

Some Examples of the Objective case are as follows:

The doctor advised me to rest well.
The lecturer gave us some work to do.
I asked her to give me some time to finish the project.

Multiple Pronouns and How to Use them

If more than one pronoun is involved, it is important to split the sentence into two parts and decide the correct pronoun to use. For example,

He, she, and I went shopping. (In this sentence, there are three pronouns. So, in order to use the correct pronoun form, it becomes easy if you split those sentences and determine the right form- He went shopping, she went shopping, I went shopping.

Justin went to the movies with her and me. (In this case, We cannot use she and I as the pronouns, because after splitting the sentence as- Justin went to the movies with her, Justin went to the movies with me. Hence, the objective case is used.

Some more examples of Personal Pronouns:

I gave them a letter written by her.
He asked if he could join us.
Kumar and his friends went to the pool.
It was me in the background of the photo.

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Gender Pronouns – Types and Examples

26th June 2020 By Edify English Leave a Comment

Hello reader! Welcome. In this article, we are going to discuss everything related to the concept of Gender Pronouns. This is one of the concepts that is gaining a lot of importance in the recent past, thanks to the gender-neutral pronoun concept. Before proceeding, let us first see what a Gender pronoun is.

Gender Pronouns

We all know that a Pronoun is a word that we use instead of a noun. For example, the pronoun indicates a subject which maybe I, we, You, He, She, It, and they or an object which may be my, our, us, his, hers, and them. Gender is the sex of the subject that’s being talked about. A gender pronoun is a pronoun that indicates particular sex.

In the English language, the masculine gender has the pronoun his, the feminine gender her, the neutral genders they/their/ze, zir, hir, etc. Sometimes the person decides what pronoun they choose for themselves.

Some examples of Gender Pronouns are as follows

Martina drove her car to the airport.
the team members went to their respective places.
Christine ate hir lunch at 1 PM. (Some people do not wish to be associated with any gender and those people wish to be associated with a gender-free pronoun).
My name was at the top of the list.
What are your items among these?

In English, while talking about pronouns, it is important to use the correct gender pronoun because gender is one of the things which people take seriously. Nowadays, due to the increasing awareness of the LGBTQ community and rights, it is absolutely essential to be gender-sensitive and be sensitive and respectful of the other’s gender. That is the reason for the additional number of pronouns other than he/him/his, she/her/hers and they/them/theirs. If you’re not really sure of the other person’s gender, it is important to politely ask so that the person might not feel disrespected.

Gender Pronouns of the Personal Pronouns

In the English language, there are seven personal pronouns. They are I, We, You, He, She, It, and They. These seven denote the three persons of pronouns. I and We constitute the first person, ‘You’ is the second person and he, she, it, and they are in the third person. Among these, only the third person constitutes gender pronouns. They are the following:

Feminine Singular	She, her, Hers, Herself
Masculine Singular	He, Him, his, Himself
Third-person neutral singular	It, Its, Itself
Third-person neutral plural	They, Them, Their, Theirs, Themselves

Some More Examples of Gender Pronouns

John and Claire told us that they are coming over for dinner. (Pronoun gender – neutral)
I love Barack Obama. He is my favorite leader. (Pronoun gender – masculine)
The dog is wagging its tail. (Pronoun gender – neutral)
The prime minister is doing everything at her disposal to make this happen. (Pronoun gender – feminine)
Greed is a dangerous thing and no one should be consumed by it. (Pronoun gender – neutral)

Read other topics in Pronouns

Tenses Rules in English You Must Know!

21st June 2020 By Edify English 1 Comment

Hello readers! Welcome. In this article, let us learn some important Tenses Rules that are widely used in English communication. To understand these rules, knowing all Tenses in English Grammar is a prerequisite.

Read this article to learn the basics of Tenses

Tenses Rules in English

1. The sequence of Tenses:

The past Tense Verb in the Main Clause is generally followed by the verb of the same tense in the Subordinate Clause.

Example: Consider the following sentence

He told me that he is very busy

The above sentence is incorrect because the verb in the main clause (he told me) is in Past Tense. So, the verb in the subordinate clause (is) should also be in Past Tense. Hence the correct sentence is “He told me that he was very busy”

Similarly, the sentence “She promised me that she will help me” is incorrect and the correct sentence is “She promised me that she would help me”

Note: In the case of Universal Truths and Scientific Facts this rule is not applicable.

Example: The teacher said that the earth is round – the sentence is correct though it doesn’t follow the above rule because the Subordinate clause pertains to a Scientific fact – the Earth is Round.

2. Simple Present & Simple Future Combination:

This is another important pointer in tenses rules in English Grammar. The rule says,

When two actions are going to happen in the future one after another, the first Action should be in Simple Present and the Second Action should be in Simple Future

Example:

I will call you as soon as I will reach New York

The above sentence is incorrect because, since the two actions in the sentence are connected the first action should be in Simple Present and the second action should be in Simple Future. Here reaching New York is the first action hence it should be in Simple Present Tense.

So, the correct sentence is, I will call you as soon as I reach New York

Similarly, the sentence “I will inform you when he will come here” is incorrect and the correct sentence is “I will inform you when he comes here”

3. Present Perfect and Simple Past Combination

The next rule in important tenses rules is regarding the combination of Present Perfect and Simple Past.

When we use ‘Since’ as a conjunction to denote time and is preceded by Present Perfect Tense, the followed clause must be in Simple Past Tense

Example:

Look at the following sentence

I have not played football since I have let my college in 1996.

The above sentence is incorrect according to the above-quoted rule. In the sentence, there is Present Perfect Tense along with the conjunction Since to indicate time. Hence it should be followed by Simple Past and the correct sentence is, “I have not played football since I left my college in 1996″

Similarly, the sentence “I have not seen him since he has gone to the US three years ago” is incorrect and the correct sentence is “I have not seen him since he went to the US three years ago”

4. WISH (Unreal or Imaginary)

This is one of the most important tenses rules.

When we express un-real or Imaginary wishes using the Usage “I wish….” then the un-real or Imaginary wish should be in the past form (V2) of the verb.

Example:

I wish I have a car

The above sentence is incorrect. The speaker is trying to convey that he doesn’t have a car using the usage “I wish…”. Hence, according to the rule, the verb in the un-real wish should be in Past form. So, the correct sentence is “I wish I had a car”

Similarly, the sentence “I wish I know you before” is incorrect and the correct sentence is “I wish I knew you before”

5.As if / As though

Another important rule among the tenses rules is the usage with As if / As though to express unreal or imaginary things.

When we use ‘As if’ / ‘As though’ (both convey the same meaning) in sentences to express un-real or imaginary things, Simple Present Tense should be accompanied with Simple Past Tense and Simple Past Tense should be accompanied with Past Perfect Tense in the clause expressing the un-real or imaginary thing.

Example:

He speaks as if the Knows everything

the above sentence is incorrect because since an unreal thing is expressed in the sentence using as if, and Simple Present Tense is present, the clause with the un-real or imaginary thing must be in Simple Past Tense. Hence, the correct sentence is “He speaks as if he knew everything”

He spoke as if he knew everything

the above sentence is incorrect because since an unreal thing is expressed in the sentence using as if, and Simple Past Tense is present, the clause with the un-real or imaginary thing must be in the Past Perfect Tense. Hence, the correct sentence is “He spoke as if he had known everything”

6. It’s time / It’s high time

When you express delay in the happening of an action using ‘it’s time’ and ‘it’s high time’, the verb should always be in Past form (V2)

Example:

It’s time the movie begin

The above sentence is incorrect as it is against the above-quoted rule that while expressing delays using it’s time the verb should be in Past form (V2). Hence, the correct sentence is “It’s time the movie began”

Similarly, the sentence, “It’s high I have gone home” is incorrect and the correct sentence is “It’s high time I went home”

7. Past Unfulfilled Condition

People widely use this usage in daily communication to express unfulfilled condition.

When we express a Past unfulfilled condition using the words should or must (express conditions), we should express the unfulfilled condition with ‘have+V3’ verb phrase

Example:

You should have driven carefully (it means that the person did not drive carefully)
You must have attended the meeting (it means that the person did not attend the meeting)
He should not have resigned the job (it means that he resigned the job and there is a regret)

This concludes some important Tenses rules. Ask your doubts in the comments section below, if you have any.

Click here for For more on Tenses

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Verb Tenses Chart in English Grammar [Download PDF]

19th June 2020 By Edify English 1 Comment

Hello readers, Welcome to Edify English. In this article, all the 12 Tenses in English grammar are explained in verb tenses chart, one for each of the Present, Past, and Future Tenses.

As we all know, there are 12 Tenses I English Grammar, four from each of the Present, Past, and Future. The charts contain the structure of each tense, with a common example modified for each tense. Thus it will be very helpful for you to remember all the tenses easily.

Verb Tenses Chart

Read this article on ‘Introduction to Tenses in English Grammar’

Present Tense Chart

Examples used in the above chart:

I eat an apple ( Verb phrase – eat – Simple Present )
I am eating an apple ( Verb phrase – am eating – Present Continuous )
I have eaten an apple ( Verb phrase – have eaten – Present Perfect )
I have been eating an apple ( Verb phrase – have been eating – Present Perfect Continuous )

*You can download the Verb Tenses Chart in a PDF file provided at the end of this article

Past Tense Chart

Examples used in the above chart:

I ate an apple ( Verb phrase – ate – Simple Past )
I was eating an apple ( Verb phrase – was eating – Past Continuous )
I had eaten an apple ( Verb phrase – had eaten – Past Perfect )
I had been eating an apple ( Verb phrase – had been eating – Past Perfect Continuous )

Future Tense Chart

Examples used in the above chart:

I shall eat an apple ( Verb phrase – shall eat – Simple Future )
I shall be eating an apple ( Verb phrase – shall be eating – Future Continuous )
I shall have eaten an apple ( Verb phrase – shall have eaten – Future Perfect )
I shall have been eating an apple ( Verb phrase – shall have been eating – Future Perfect Continuous)

Download the above Verb Tenses Chart in one PDF file

Noun meaning, Types, Examples, and usage

14th June 2020 By Edify English Leave a Comment

Hello readers, Welcome to Edify English. In this article we are going to discuss Noun Meaning, types of Nouns with example sentences. In the forthcoming articles on nouns, we will be posting noun exercises. Stay tuned!

Noun Meaning

Noun is a word used to identify Person, people, places, or things. Simply, it is a Naming Word.

Examples of Nouns

Consider the following

Alexander – Name of a Person
Americans – Name given to the people of America
New York – Name of a place
Pen – Name of a thing (Object having physical existence)
Courage – Name of a Quality (No physical existence)

Thus if we name anything using a word, that word becomes Noun. Depending upon what we name using a Noun, there are some types of it.

Types of Nouns

There are basically four types of nouns based on what the word used as the noun names. They are

Common Noun
Proper Noun
Collective Noun
Abstract Noun

Let us see each of them mentioned above in detail

Common Noun

A common noun is a name that is given to any one of a class of persons, places, or things.

Example: King, City, Pen

Each of the above examples represent certain class of Persons, places or things

We use the noun King to name all the kings in the world in common. Hence it is a common Noun. Similarly, we use the Noun City to name any city and the Noun Pen to name pen of any brand. Hence these are common Nouns.

If you carefully observe, if one of the King or city or Pen is given a particular name, then it becomes Proper Noun.

Proper Noun

As said above, the name of a particular person, place or thing is called Proper Noun.

Example:

Alexander (Name of a particular king)
New York (name of a particular city)
Parker (name of a particular brand of pens)

Thus a Common Noun is a common attribution where as a Proper Noun is a Unique attribution.

Read: Difference Between Common Noun and Proper Noun

Collective Noun

A collective noun is the name of people or places or things taken collectively.

Examples:

Crowd – group of people
Army – group of soldiers
Fleet – group of ships
Flock – group of birds

Abstract Noun

An abstract noun is the name of a quality or general idea that we consider apart from the object to which it belongs. Generally these are derived from Adjectives, Common Nouns and Verbs

Examples:

Abstract Nouns derived from Adjectives:

Kind (Adjective) – Kindness (Abstract Noun)
Honest (Adjective) – Honesty (Abstract Noun)
Angry (Adjective) – Anger (Abstract Noun)

Abstract Nouns derived from Common Nouns:

King (Common Noun) – Kingship (Abstract Noun)
Child (Common Noun) – Childhood (Abstract Noun)
Slave (Common Noun) – Slavery (Abstract Noun)

Abstract Nouns derived from Verbs:

Grow (Verb) – Growth (Abstract Noun)
Obey (Verb) – Obedience (Abstract Noun)
Live (Verb) – Life (Abstract Noun)

Also Read: Noun Gender, Examples of Nouns used in Sentences

Direct and Indirect Speech – Rules and Examples

13th June 2020 By Edify English Leave a Comment

Any word spoken by a speaker can be written in two different ways. Those two are direct and indirect speech. Direct Speech is when the speaker’s actual words are quoted and these words are put in inverted commas (“…..”) while Indirect Speech is when the speaker’s words are said indirectly with the same meaning without repeating the exact words. For Example, the statement in direct speech She said to me, “I am going to the park” changes into She told me that she was going to the park in indirect speech.

Basic Changes while changing from Direct speech to indirect speech

The comma ( , )after the reporting verb is removed and the conjunction that is added in the indirect speech.
If the direct speech contains ‘said to’, it will be converted into ‘told’ in the indirect speech.
The quotation marks (Inverted commas) are to be removed in the indirect speech.
The pronoun in the first/second person in direct speech is generally changed into the third person in the indirect speech.
- I becomes He/ She
- We becomes they
- You becomes He / She/ They
- Me becomes Him/ her (Depending on the gender in the direct speech)
- My becomes His/ Her.
- Our becomes their
- Us becomes them
- Your becomes His/ her/ their.

Rules in changing a sentence from Direct and Indirect Speech

Rule 1: The Verb in the simple present tense in the direct speech changes into the simple past tense in indirect speech

Example: He said to me, “I am happy” becomes He told me that he was happy

(The verb in the direct speech ‘am’ is converted into ‘was’.)

Rule 2: The verb in the simple past tense becomes past perfect tense in indirect speech.

Example: He said to me, “I was happy” changes into He told me that he had been happy

Rule 3: A present continuous tense in direct speech becomes past continuous tense in indirect speech.

Example: The peon said, “The professor is teaching in that classroom” changes into The peon said that the professor was teaching in that classroom.

Rule 4: If the direct speech contains present perfect tense, it changes into the past perfect tense in indirect speech.

Example: She said, “I have passed the test” becomes She said that she had passed the test.

Rule 5: If the direct speech contains a statement talking about a universal truth or a factual statement, there will be no change of tense in indirect speech.

Example: The teacher said, “The sun rises in the East” becomes The teacher said that the sun rises in the east in indirect speech.

Example: Samuel said, “I know the university’s address.” and the indirect speech for that is Samuel said that he knows the university’s address

Rules for converting Interrogatory sentences

Rule 6: While converting interrogative sentences, the verb ‘said to’ becomes ‘asked’ and if/ whether will come in the place of ‘that’. The connecting word ‘that’ will not be used in indirect speech. Also, the interrogation mark (?) is not repeated in the indirect speech.

Example: He said to her, “Will you marry me?” changes into He asked her whether she would marry him in the indirect speech.

Rules for Converting Imperative Sentences

Rule 7: During the conversion of imperative sentences, the verb “said to” is changed into ordered, advised, requested, suggested, proposed, etc. depending on the situation. Also, the connecting word ‘that’ is not used. Instead of that, ‘to’ is used before the reporting verb.

Example: My father said to me, “prepare well for your examination”. It can be converted to My father advised me to prepare well for my examination.

Rules for Converting Exclamatory Sentences

Rule 8: For exclamatory sentences, the verb is converted into: exclaimed with joy or sorrow or with surprise, wished, prayed, applauded,/ etc. The exclamatory words and the exclamation are not mentioned anymore in the indirect speech. For example,

Example: The coach said, “Hurrah! we won the match!” is changed as The coach exclaimed with joy that we had won the match.

These are the changes in helping verbs while changing from Direct and Indirect Speech

Direct Speech	Indirect Speech
Am/ Is	Was
Are	Were
Have/ Had/ Did	had
Do/ Does	Did
Will	Would
Shall	Should
Can	Could
May	Might
Must	Had to
Was/ Were	had been
Should	Should
Had	Had
Would	Would
Could	Could

Note: There is no change in the helping verbs “would, should, could, might, had” in the direct speech and they remain the same in indirect speech as well.

Changes in Time and Place

Direct Speech	Indirect Speech
This	That
These	Those
Here	There
Now	Then
Today	That Day
Tonight	That Night
Tomorrow	The next day/ The following day
The Day after tomorrow	In two days
The Day before yesterday	Two days before
Ago	Before
Next	The following
Last	The previous
Thus	So
This Evening	That Evening
Hence	Thence

Changes in pronouns

The changes in pronouns in indirect speech depends on the subject and the object of the reporting verb.

Rule 1: The first person of reported speech changes based on the subject of the reporting verb.

Example: She said, “I watched a movie” can be converted into She said that she had watched a movie. Hence, the first person in the direct speech “I” has become “she” based on the subject.

Had there been “he” instead of “she”, the first person in reported speech changes accordingly into “he”.

Rule 2: The second person in reported speech changes based on the object of the reporting verb.

Example: She said to me, “You watched a movie” can be converted into She told me that I had watched a movie.

Rule 3: The third person in the reported speech remains unchanged.

Example: I said to her, “He will play Chess” can be converted into I told her that he would play Chess.

Stay tuned for more examples of direct and indirect speech.

For an extensive material on tenses, Click here