LEARNING TO CHANGE NARRATION/SPEECH

Narration/Speech

Assertive sentence

Read the following sentence

Direct: He said,''I am honest.''

Indirect:He said that he was honest.

Direct:You said to me,''I am driving a car.''

Indirect: You told me that you were driving a car.

Direct:  He said,''I have passed in the exam.''

Indirect: He said that he had passed in the exam.

Direct: They said,''It has been raining for two hours.''

Indirect: They said that it had been raining for two hours.

Direct: You said to her,''You made this.''

Indirect: You told her that she had made it.

Direct: The boy said to me ,''I was playing.''

Indirect: The boy told me that he had been playing.

Direct: He said,''I had gone .''

Indirect: He said that he had gone.

Direct: They said,''We had been sleeping.''

Indirect: They said that they had been sleeping.

Direct: He said,''I shall go.''

Indirect: He said that he would go.

Direct: She said,''I shall be reading.''

Indirect: She said that she would be reading.

Direct: I said," I can swim."

Indirect: I said that I could swim.

Direct: They said ,"It may rain today."

Indirect: They said that it might rain thatday.

Direct:You said to her,"We should do our duty."

Indirect:You told her that you should do your duty.

Structure:

Direct: subj. +said/said to +obj," subj.+verb+obj. +ext."

Indirect: subj.+said/told+obj.+that +changing person of subj.in reported speech +verb(past) of reported speech+changing person of obj. of reported speech+ext.

When there is an obj. after reporting verb,tell wil be used for reporting verb ( say to) and told for reporting verb (said to).otherwise reporting verb ( say or said) remain unchanged.

Again when reporting verb is in present or future tense,the tense of verb of reported speech remains unchanged but when the reporting verb is in past tense,the tense of verb of reported speech will be the similar past tense that means in direct speech if the verb of reported speech was in present or future tense,in indirect speech it would be in the same past tense.i.e.

Am/ is /are  would be  was /were

have/ has    would be   had

was /were   would be   had been

verb(present) would be   verb(past)

verb(past)  would be     had +verb(past participle)

shall /will     would be   would

may           would be     might

can           would be      could

must         would be     had to

had,would,should,could,might,used to,ought to remain unchanged in indirect speech.