NARRATION

Department of English
 DIRECT & INDIRECT NARRATION
 Reporting Speech Reported Speech

Alia said “she wanted to study medicine”

Alia said to me “she wanted to study medicine”

Subject Object
Change of Pronoun in Reported speech
1st person pronoun According to subject of reporting
speech
2nd person pronoun According to object of reporting
speech
3rd person pronoun Unchangeable (no change)
CHANGE OF TENSES IN REPORTED SPEECH
For reported speech, all the tenses of column A are changed into
the tenses of column B.
Column A Column B
Present Indefinite Past Indefinite
He said “I play football” He said that he played football.
Present Continuous Past Continuous
She said to me “I am reading a She told me that she was
novel”. reading a novel.
Present Perfect Past Perfect
They said to me “we have won They told me that they had
the match”. won the match.
Will/Shall Would/Should
We said “he will speak truth”. We said that he would speak
truth.
Can/May Could/Might
He said to me “I can help you”. He told me that he could help
me.
CHANGE OF TENSES IN REPORTED SPEECH
For reported speech, all the tenses of column A are changed into the
tenses of column B.

Column A Column B

Past Indefinite Past Perfect

Ali said “he entered in the
class room”.
Past Continuous
He said “I was eating apples”.
Past Perfect
He said “I had already eaten
apples”.
Past Perfect Continuous
He said “he had been eating
apples since morning”.
Ali said that he had entered
in the class room.
Past Perfect Continuous
He said that he had been eating
apples.
Past Perfect
He said that he had already
eaten apples.
Past Perfect Continuous
He said that he had been eating
apples since morning.
CHANGE OF ADVERBS (TIME & PLACE) IN
REPORTED SPEECH
Direct Speech Indirect Speech
Thus So
This That
These Those
Now Then
Ago Before
Last night Previous night
Next day The day after
Today That day
Tonight That night
Yesterday Previous day
Tomorrow The next day
The day before yesterday The day before previous day
The day after tomorrow The day after the next day
Just Then
Here There
 DECLARATIVE SENTENCES
 Speeches are connected by ‘that’
 Useable verbs in reporting speech: tell, reply, answer,
state, inform etc
Examples:
 He said, “I am going to the post office”. (Direct)
 He told that he was going to the post office. (Indirect)

 She said to us, “Yes, I shall invite you to tea on my birthday”.

 She answered to us that she should invite us to tea on her
birthday.

 He said to me, “All right, I forgive this time”.

 He told me that he forgave that time.
 INTERROGATIVE SENTENCES
 Speeches are connected by only removing inverted
commas if reported speech starts with ‘wh’.
 Speeches are connected by ‘whether, if’ when reported
speech starts with any helping verb like, Do, Have, Is, Am,
Are, Was
 Useable verbs in reporting speech: inquired, asked
 Verbs of reported speech are used after subject in
indirect sentences.
Examples:
 She said to me, “where are you going now”?
 She asked me where I was going then.

 You said to them, “have you broken my jug”?

 You inquired them whether they had broken your jug.
 COMMANDS & REQUEST SENTENCES
 Speeches are connected by ‘to’
 Useable verbs in reporting speech: told, ordered,
commanded, requested
Examples:
 The manager said to the peon, “Get out of my office”.
 The manager ordered the peon to get out of his office.

 He said to his teacher, “Sir, Kindly excuse me now”.

 He requested his teacher to excuse him then.

 He said to me, “Please switch on the fan”.

 He requested me to switch on the fan.

 He said, “Let us go out for a walk”.

 He proposed that they should go out for a walk.
THE USAGE OF LET
 She said to me “Let us play hockey”
He proposed to me that they should play hockey.
 She said “Let me go to college today”.

She requested to let her go to college that day.

 She said to her mother “Let me read my book”.

She requested her mother to let her read her

book.
 EXCLAMATORY & OPTATIVE SENTENCES
 Speeches are connected by ‘that’
 Useable verbs in reporting speech: wished, desired,
exclaimed, cried etc
Examples:
 She said, “Alas! My cousin has died in a bus accident”.
 She exclaimed with sorrow that her cousin had died in a bus
accident.

 He said to me, “May you succeed in life”.

 He prayed that I might succeed in life.

 She said, “How sweetly these birds sing!”

 She exclaimed with joy that those birds sang sweetly.
ASSIGNMENT NO:04
 Define all kinds of a sentence with examples and
convert five sentences of direct speech into
indirect speech of each kind with explanation of
the process of conversion.
 Use all Tenses and their different forms in
Reporting and Reported Speeches.