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DIRECT INDIRECT NARRATION

We may report the words of a speaker in two ways:

i. We may quote his actual words. This is called DIRECT SPEECH

ii. We may report what he said without quoting his exact words. This is called INDIRECT SPEECH / REPORTED SPEECH.

Ali said, “I am very busy now.” DIRECT SPEECH

Ali said that he was busy then. INDIRECT SPEECH

In Direct speech we use inverted commas to mark off the exact words of the speaker. In INDIRECT SPEECH we don’t use inverted commas. We can say:

DIRECT SPEECH: SAME WORDS SAME IDEA

INDIRECT NARRATION: DIFFERENT WORDS SAME IDEA

In Direct Narration a sentence has two parts.

Ali said , “ I am busy.”

Reporting Speech Reported Speech

RULES FOR CHANGING DIRECT SPEECH INTO INDIRECT SPEECH

Here are some of the general changes which take place while changing Direct Speech into Indirect Speech.

i. Change of Pronoun

ii. Change of Tense

iii. Change of Particular words

Change of Pronoun

Reported Speech

Reporting Speech

1^st Person Pronoun

I / My / Me

We / Our / Us

Subject

2^nd Person Pronoun

You / Your / You

Object

3^rd Person Pronoun

He / His / Him

She / Her / Her

They / Their / Them

Any Singular Name

No Change

KEY

Reported	Reporting
1	S
2	O
3	N

CHANGE OF TENSE

REPORTED SPEECH

REPORTING SPEECH

CHANGE

Past Indefinite

(2^nd form of Verb) Said

Present

i. 1^st form

ii. Is / am / are

iii. Has / have

Past

i. 2^nd form

ii. Was / were

iii. Had

Past Indefinite

(2^nd form of Verb) Said

Past

i. 2^nd form

ii. Was / were

iii. Had

iv. Had been

i. Had + 3^rd form

ii. Had been

iii. No change

iv. No change

Past Indefinite

(2^nd form of Verb) Said

Future

i. Will / Shall

i. Would

Past Indefinite

(2^nd form of Verb) Said

i. May

ii. Can

i. Might

ii. Could

PRESENT

(1^ST Form of Verb) Say

Any Tense

No Change

FUTURE

(Will / Shall)

Any Tense

No Change

KEY:

REPORTED SPEECH	REPORTING SPEECH	CHANGE
Verb (1^st Form)	Any Form of the verb	No change
Shall / Will	Any Form of the verb	No change
Verb (2^nd form)	Verb (1^st form)	Verb (2^nd form)
Verb (2^nd form)	Verb (2^nd form)	Had + Verb (3^rd form)

CHANGE OF SPECIFIC WORDS

Direct Narration	Indirect Narration
This	That
These	Those
Now	Then
Here	There
Thus	So
Age	Before
Today	That day
Yesterday	Previous day
Tomorrow	The next day
Last night	The previous night
Next week	The following week

There are different changes which take place according to the nature of the sentence.

There are five kinds of sentences.

i. Assertive Sentences

ii. Interrogative Sentences

iii. Imperative Sentences

iv. Optative Sentences

v. Exclamatory Sentences

Assertive Sentences:

These are the simple sentences. e.g. He said , “I go to the college.”

Said to told

Inverted commas that

Other changes take place according to the general rules.

Examples:

DIRECT INDIRECT

i. She said, “I like clouds in the sky.” She told that she liked clouds in the sky.

ii. He said, “I am unwell.” He told that he was unwell.

iii. He says to her, “I live in this building.” He says her that he lives in that building.

iv. He said, “They are not doing their duty.” He told that they were not doing their duty.

v. He said to me, “You are not running very fast.” He told me that I was not running very fast.

vi. The teacher said, “Honesty is the best policy.” The teacher told that honesty is the best policy.

NOTE If the reported Speech is UNIVERSAL TRUTH then no tense change takes place.

Interrogative Sentences

In these sentences, question is asked. These sentences have the question mark (?) at the end. There are two kinds of questions.

i. Are you going to Islamabad?

ii. What are you doing?

Said to.........is replaced by placing asked.

Inverted commas

If the sentence is in interrogative form carrying a helping verb then inverted commas are replaced with if / whether. If the question is of WH family then inverted commas are emitted without placing a word.

NOTE After emitting the inverted commas the sentence is made positive. Other changes will take place as in Assertive Sentences. Question mark is removed.

Examples:

i. He said, “Will you listen to me.”

He asked if I would listen to him.

ii. They said, “Have you ever visited Murree Hills?

They asked if I had ever visited Murree Hills.

iii. Raza said, “Where are you going?”

Raza asked where I was going.

iv. Ali said, “Does he work hard?”

Ali asked if he worked hard.

Imperative Sentences

In these sentences some order, request or advice is given.

Said to (if request is there) requested

(if order is there) ordered

(if advice is there) advised

(if negation is there) forbade (the reported speech will be made positive)

Inverted commas are replaced with “to”.

There is no tense change in Imperative sentences. As after “to” always 1^st form of the verb is used. Mostly in imperative sentences the reported speech starts with a verb.

Examples:

i. He said , “Sit down.” He ordered to sit down.

ii. They said , “Speak the truth.” They advised to speak the truth.

iii. The mother said, “Obey your elders.” The mother advised to obey my elders.

iv. She said, “Please help me.” She requested to help her.

v. He said , “Do not tease me.” He forbade to tease him.

Optative Sentences

Some wish, prayer or curse is expressed in such sentences.

Said to prayed / wished / cursed

Inverted commas that

Examples:

i. She said to her father , “May you live long!” She prayed for her father that he might live long.

ii. She said , “Would that my father were alive!” She wished that her father had been alive.

Exclamatory Sentences

These sentences express some sudden joy, feeling or expression. Exclamatory words are often used in these sentences. e.g. Hurrrah , Alas , Bravo etc.

Said to (Hurrah) exclaimed with joy

(Alas) exclaimed with sorrow

(Oh / Wow) / Bravo exclaimed with wonder / applauded

Examples:

i. He said, “Hurrah , I have qualified!” He exclaimed with joy that he had qualified.

ii. He said, “Alas , they are ruined!” He exclaimed with sorrow that they were ruined.

iii. She said, “How clever I am!” She exclaimed that she was very clever.

House of English

Direct Indirect Narration (Rules with Examples)