ENGLISH FOR PROFESSIONAL PURPOSES I (BELH 0003) 2019

SEMESTER III [APRM SHEET] TERM III

MODULE III: NARRATION

There are two ways of reporting something – Direct
Narration and Indirect Narration. Directly quoting the
sentence spoken by some other person is called Direct
Narration whereas in Indirect Narration, you report the
message in your language with minimum linguistic
changes.
Direct Narration: Prof. Ahuja said to the students,
“Have you completed your assignments?”
• The first person pronouns (I, me, my, mine,
we, us, our, ours) change according to the
subject of the reporting clause.
• The second person pronouns (you, your,
yours) change according to the object of the
reporting clause.
• Third person pronouns (he, him, his, she, her,
hers, it, its, they, them, their, theirs) are not
changed.

Indirect Narration: Prof. Ahuja asked the students if Note: The change in pronouns can be easily
they had completed their assignments. remembered with a simple mnemonic code 123/SON.
It means that the first person changes according to the
Some Defining Terms: subject, the second person changes according to the
object and the third person does not change.
• Reporting Verb: The verb that reports a
message to somebody is called the Reporting Change in Tense:
Verb. In a sentence in direct narration, the • If the reporting verb is in the present or future
reporting verb comes outside the quotation tense, the tense of the reported speech does not
marks in Direct Speech. change in indirect narration.
Nina said, “It is going to rain today”. • If the reported speech is a universal truth or a
“Fire and water do not agree”, said the old proverb, its tense does not change in indirect
priest. narration.
• If the reporting verb is in the past tense and the
• Reporting Clause: Clause consisting of a tense in the reported speech changes according
reporting verb is called Reporting to the following table:
Clause/Speech.
• Reported Speech: Reported Speech occurs in Changes from Changes into
the following contexts: Present indefinite Past indefinite
a. Subordinate Clause(s) in Indirect speech or Present continuous Past continuous
narration. Present perfect Past perfect
e.g. Rohan told Mukesh that he had sung a Present perfect Past perfect
song in the party. continuous continuous
b. Within quotation marks in direct narration. Past indefinite Past perfect
e.g. Rohan told Mukesh, “I have sang a song
Past continuous Past perfect
in the party”.
continuous
• Reported Verb: Reported Verb occurs in the
following contexts:
• Some important changes take place according
a. The finite verb/-s in subordinate clause in
to the following table:
indirect narration.
Changes from Changes into
e.g. Rohan told Mukesh that he had sung a
song in the party. Is, am was
b. The finite verb/-s within quotation marks in Are were
direct narration. Do, does Did
e.g. Rohan told Mukesh, “I have sang a song Has, have Had
in the party”. Can Could
Will Would
• Subject of Reporting Clause Shall Should
• Object of Reporting Clause May Might
• Subject of Reported Clause Must Had to
• Object of Reported Clause Should Should have
Could Could have
Some Basic Rules of Transformation: Might Might have
Would Would have
Change in pronoun This That
These those
Here There

[FOR B TECH II YEAR STUDENTS] Page 1

 ENGLISH FOR PROFESSIONAL PURPOSES I (BELH 0003)
SEMESTER III [APRM SHEET]
MODULE III: NARRATION
Come Go
Thus So
Now Then
Today That day
Tonight That night
Yesterday The previous day
Tomorrow The next day
• Conversion of Direct into Indirect Narration
when the reporting verb is in the Past Tense
When the reported speech is a statement-
a) the reporting verb changes according to
the following rules:
Says to = tells
Say to = tell
Said to = told
Say/says/said = no change (when object of the
reporting verb is not given)
b) The reporting clause and the reported clause
are joined by using ‘that’
c) When object of the reporting verb is not given,
it can be understood as first person (me) or
third person (him/her).
When the reported speech is a Yes-No Question-
When the reported speech is a question
starting with an auxiliary verb, we can change
it into indirect narration by using the following
rules:
a) ‘Said or said to’ is changed into ‘asked’.
Similarly, ‘say or says’ is changed into
‘ask/asks’.
b) Both the clauses are joined by using ‘if
/whether’. ‘That’ is not used.
c) The question is written as a statement with
helping verb after the subject.
d) Question mark is replaced by a full stop.
Note: In most cases, ‘if’ and ‘whether’ are
interchangeable and one can be used in lace of the
other. However, the use of ‘whether’ is preferred when
possibility of negative reply is high.
When the reported speech is a Wh-Question-
When the reported speech is a question starting with a
question word, such as, what, when, where, why,
who, how, etc., we can change it into indirect narration
by using the following rules:
a) No additional conjunction is used for joining
the clauses. Only the question word functions
like a subordinating conjunction.
b) The reported speech is written as a statement,
put a helping verb after the subject.
[FOR B TECH II YEAR STUDENTS]
2019
TERM III
c) The question mark is replaced by a full stop.
Note: Any sentence that starts with a question word
may not essentially be a question. It may be an
exclamation also. But a question always has a question
mark at the end.
When the reported speech is an imperative sentence
(order/request/advice)
For changing an imperative sentence into indirect
speech, the following rules are used:
a) “Said/ said to” is changed into “ordered/
requested/advised/asked” according to sense.
b) Both the clauses are joined by using ‘to’.
c) Negative reported speech is joined by using
‘not to/never to’.
When the reported speech is an exclamatory
sentence
In an exclamatory sentence, intense feelings of joy,
sorrow, surprise, happiness, etc. are expressed. These
sentences generally have a sign of exclamation (!).
When the reported speech is an exclamatory sentence,
the following rules are used for changing it into
indirect narration:
a) ‘Said’ is changed into ‘exclaimed with
sorrow/joy/surprise.
b) If feeling is not correctly identifiable, only
‘exclaimed’ should be used.
c) Exclamatory sentence is written like a
common statement.
d) Both the clauses are joined with the help of
‘that’.
e) ‘What or how’ is changed into ‘very’.
f) Sign of exclamation is replaced by full stop.
When the reported speech is a wish-
When the reported speech is a wish, greeting or prayer,
the following rules are used while changing it into
indirect narration:
a) Sad is changed into wished/cursed/prayed
according to meaning
b) The reported speech is added with the help of
‘that’.
c) If wish is a phrase, it can be placed as an
object to the reporting verb
Note: some greetings are not wishes but simply
spoken for acknowledging the presence, such greetings
are reported by using ‘bade’. Some of these greetings
are hi, hello, tata, bye- bye, etc.
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 ENGLISH FOR PROFESSIONAL PURPOSES I (BELH 0003) 2019

SEMESTER III [APRM SHEET] TERM III

MODULE III: NARRATION

When the reported speech is a proposal or

suggestion-
When the reported speech is a proposal or suggestion,
the following rules are used:
a) The reporting verb is changed into ‘suggested’
or ‘proposed’.
Note:
• If first person pronouns (I, me, we, us) are
used with the reporting verb, we should use
“that we should”. If first person pronoun is not
there outside the inverted comma, “that they
should” can be used.
• In proposals and suggestions, gerund or noun
phrases can be used just after proposed or
suggested.

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