Narration/Speech

Interrogative sentence

Read the bellow sentence:

Direct:    He said to her,who are you?

Indirect:  He asked her who she was.

Direct:    They said to me whom do you want?

Indirect:  They asked me whom I wanted.

Direct:    You said to him ..what is your father?

Indirect:  You asked him what his father was.

Direct:    I said to them ,how did you go there?

Indirect:  I asked them how they had gone there.

Direct:    She said to me,why are you making late,?

Indirect: She asked me why I was making.

Direct:    He said to us,when were you going?

Indirect: He asked us when we had been going.

Direct:   You said to her,where have you gone?

Indirect: You asked her where she had gone. 

Structure:

Direct:    subj.+say/say to +obj. ,"Wh-word +aux.verb +subj.+verb+obj.+ext?"

Indirect: subj.+ask+obj+wh-word+changing person of subj.  of reported speech +changing tense of (aux.verb+verb)/verb of reported speech+changing person of obj. of reported speech+ext.

Here wh- word  (who,whom,where,when,why,how,what) will be the conjunction and the question should be turned into an assertive sentence.person ,tense and adverb will be changed according to  person,tense and adverb changing rules.

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.

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.