Change of pronoun in direct and indirect narration

Direct Speech to Indirect Speech Pronoun Changes

1. First Person Pronouns:

• Direct Speech: “I am tired.”
• Indirect Speech: He said that he was tired.

In indirect speech, the pronoun ‘I’ changes to ‘he’ or ‘she’, depending on the context of who is speaking. If the speaker is referring to themselves in the third person, they might use ‘I’ or ‘myself’ in the indirect speech.

2. Second Person Pronouns:

• Direct Speech: “You should come.”
• Indirect Speech: She told me to come.

In indirect speech, ‘you’ changes to ‘she’, ‘he’, or the speaker might use ‘I’ or ‘me’ depending on the context.

3. Third Person Pronouns:

• Direct Speech: “He likes ice cream.”
• Indirect Speech: She said that he likes ice cream.

Third person pronouns like ‘he’, ‘she’, ‘it’, and ‘they’ generally remain unchanged in indirect speech.

4. Possessive Pronouns:

• Direct Speech: “This is my book.”
• Indirect Speech: She said that it was her book.

Possessive pronouns (‘my’, ‘our’, ‘your’, ‘his’, ‘her’, ‘its’, ‘their’) change according to the subject in indirect speech. For example, ‘my’ changes to ‘her’ or ‘his’, depending on the context and the reported speech.

5. Reflexive Pronouns:

• Direct Speech: “She hurt herself.”
• Indirect Speech: He said that she had hurt herself.

Reflexive pronouns like ‘myself’, ‘yourself’, ‘himself’, ‘herself’, ‘itself’, ‘ourselves’, ‘yourselves’, and ‘themselves’ change similarly to other pronouns in indirect speech, maintaining the same form.

6. Demonstrative Pronouns:

• Direct Speech: “This is mine.”
• Indirect Speech: He said that that was his.

Demonstrative pronouns (‘this’, ‘that’, ‘these’, ‘those’) also change based on the subject and context in indirect speech.