[මෙම පාඩම පසුව සිංහලට පරිවර්තනය කර, පළ කරනු ඇත!]

{This Lesson would be translated into Sinhalese & published later!}

# If a person tells you something, and you are going to tell somebody else what he said, you may do it in two ways. The first way is to repeat the exact words which were spoken to you. You may say :

My friend said to me: “I had a strange dream last night.”

That is called Direct Speech. 

# The second way is to use Indirect Speech. In this way you would say:

My friend told me that he had had a strange dream the night before (or the previous night.)

You will notice two changes here. I had in Direct Speech becomes he had had in Indirect Speech. And last night in Direct Speech becomes the night before or the previous night in Indirect Speech.

The changes caused by turning one kind of speech into the other are many, and it is only by much practice that we can learn to master them.