LEARNING TO CHANGE NARRATION/SPEECH

Narration/Speech

Interrogative sentence

Read the following sentence

Direct:  He said to me,"Will you help you?"

Indirect: He asked me if I would help him.

Direct: She said to you, "Can you do it for me?"

Indirect: She asked you if you could do it for her.

Direct: Mother said her son,,"'Are you well now?"

Indirect: Mother asked her son if he was well then.

Direct: He said to me, " Do you love me?"

Indirect: He asked me if I loved her.

Direct: You said to me, "Have you done this sum?"

Indirect: You asked me if I had done the sum.

Direct: They said to us , "Are you laughing?"

Indirect: They asked us if we were laughing.

Direct: He said to his father, "Did you help me?"

Indirect: He asked his father if he had helped him.

Direct: You said to me, "Were you making a noise?"

Indirect: You asked me if I had been making a noise.

Structure:

Direct: subj. +say/say to +obj., "Aux.verb+ subj. +verb +obj. +ext?"

Indirect: Subj. +ask +obj.+if +changing person of subj. of reported speech + changing tense of reported speech (aux. verb+verb)/verb+ +changing person of obj. of reported speech +ext.

If the reporting verb is in present or future tense,the tense of verb of reported speech remain unchanged.On the otherhand,if the reporting verb is in past tense,the tense of verb of reported speech will be in past tense also.

While changing an interrogative sentence of direct speech ,aux.verb will be used after subj.in indirect speech.if the question starts with to do verb in direct speech,this to do verb in indirect speech will be deleted and the main verb will be used according to the tense changing rules.Other aux.verb will not be deleted but will be used according to the tense changing rules and this changed aux. Verb will be used after subj.in indirect speech.