Narration and its Changing Theory

Direct speech is the original speech of the speaker. E.g. Direct speech: He said to me, ‘‘You will stay here till I do not
come back.”
Indirect speech is the transformed speech by someone else mixing self-expression within it. There is no inverted
commas (‘‘ ’’) in indirect speech. E.g. Indirect speech: He said to me that I would stay there till he did not come back.

Reporting Verb – a reporting verb is a verb (such as say, tell, believe, reply,
respond, or ask) used to indicate that discourse is being quoted or paraphrased.
It's also called a communication verb.This part can be placed at the first position or at the last position.
Reported Speech – the speech that is told by the speaker and this part is included within the inverted commas (‘‘ ’’). The
expression of the speech (assertive, interrogative, imperative, optative or exclamatory) remains here.

In ‘reporting verb’, you have to change the ‘verb’ only. But in ‘reported speech’, you have to change 3 elements such
as ‘person’, ‘tense of verbs’, and ‘adverbials’.
Example: He said to me, “I have completed my homework today.”
Now, according to the sentence, we have to change the elements such as:
‘Verb’ in Reporting verb=Said to
‘Persons’ in Reported speech= I, my
‘Tense of verb’ in Reported speech= have completed
‘Adverbials’ in Reported speech= today
After changing the elements, the indirect speech will be:
He said to me that he had completed his homework that day.

In case of Reported Speeches Reporting Verb changes to

Assertive sentence said to/replied/ told
Interrogative sentence ask/asked/inquired of
Imperative sentence order/ordered; request/requested; advise/advised
Optative sentence wish/wished for; pray/prayed for
Exclamatory sentence exclaim/exclaimed with joy/sorrow /wonder

How to change ‘Persons’ in reported speech?

There are 3 kinds of persons in English language such as first person (I, we, me, us, my, our), second person (you, you,
your), and third person (he, she, they, it, him, her, them, it, his, her, their, its). Here, you have to change the form of
person in ‘reported speech’ following the form of subject and object in ‘reporting verb’:

Reported speech Reporting verb

1st person Will be followed by Subject
2nd person Will be followed by Object
3rd person No change
Examples:
Direct: He said to me, ‘‘You have sent me a nice gift for them yesterday.’’
Indirect: He said to me that I had sent him a nice gift for them the previous day.
You have to use the form of persons such as subjective, objective, and possessive as it is given in ‘reported speech’.
Direct speech Indirect speech
(Present) (Past)
Indefinite/continuous/perfect/perfect continuous tense Indefinite/continuous/perfect/perfect continuous
tense
Past indefinite tense Past perfect tense
Past continuous tense Past perfect continuous tense
Past perfect tense No change
Past perfect continuous tense No change
(Future tense) Shall/will Would
Can Could
May Might
Must Had to
Here are examples:
Direct: You said to me, ‘‘I am helping you in this problem.’’
Indirect: You said to me that you were helping me in that problem.
Direct: I said to you, ‘‘He will help you in this problem.’’
Indirect: I said to you that he would help you in that problem.

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Here is the chart of the Adverbials:

Direct speech Indirect speech

This That
These Those
Here There
Hence Thence
Hither Thither
Come Go
Ago Before
Thus So
So That is why
This day That day
Today That day
Tonight That night
Tomorrow The next/following day
Yesterday The previous day
Last night/day/week/month/year The previous night/day/week/month/year
Next day/week/month/year The following day/week/month/year
The day after tomorrow In two days’ time
The day before yesterday Two days before
You must know…
01. If the ‘verb’ in ‘reporting verb’ is in present tense or future tense, your tense of verb in ‘reported speech' will be
unchanged but the other elements such as persons and adverbials will be changed.
For example:
Direct: He says/will say to me,‘‘ I can help you when you are in a problem.’’
Indirect: He says/will say to me that he can help me when I am in a problem.

02. The ‘reporting verb' may be in the beginning or at the end of the speech. But when you will transform it into indirect,
you must put it in the beginning of the sentence.
For example:
Direct: ‘‘I feel helpless during my exams’’, he said to me.
Indirect: He said to me that he felt helpless during his exams.

Changing Theory of ‘Assertive Sentence’:

Assertive sentence makes or declares a statement, gives information about something. It is also called declarative
sentence.

After omitting inverted comma, the reporting clause and reported clause is normally connected with ‘that’ in simple
assertive sentence.

Direct: He said to me, “You are taking preparation for your final exam.”
Indirect: He said to me that I was taking preparation for my final exam.

Direct: You said to him, “I have completed my course this year finally”
Indirect: You told him that you had completed your course that year finally.

Changing Theory of ‘Interrogative Sentence’:

Interrogative sentence means the sentence that we use to ask to know about somebody or something. And remember,
there are two types of questions such as verbal questions and wh-questions.
See the examples:
Direct: He said to me, “Do you like music?”
Indirect: He asked me if I liked music.

Direct: I said to him, “Why are you making a noise in the classroom?”
Indirect: I asked/inquired of him why he was making a noise in the classroom.

Changing Theory of ‘Imperative Sentence’ :

Imperative sentence means the sentence that we use to express any order, advice, request, or command in our speeches.
Indirect Structure:

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Examples:
Direct: He said to me, “Finish the job in time.”
Indirect: He ordered me to finish the job in time.
(In case of the order, you will get the verb in the beginning)

Direct: He said to me, “You should study your lesson regularly.”

Indirect: He advised me to study my lesson regularly.
(In case of the advice, you will get the verb- ‘should/ought to’ in the sentence)

Direct: He said to me, “Please save the poor people.”

Indirect: He requested me to save the poor people.
(In case of the request, you will get the verb- ‘should/ought to’ in the sentence)

Direct: He said to me, “Do not stay here anymore”.

Indirect: He ordered me not to stay there anymore.
Direct: He said to me, “Do not play here in the sun.”
Indirect: He forbade me to play there in the sun.

(Use of ‘Let’) :
If the sentence starts with ‘let us’, it expresses proposal of anything. But if the sentence starts with ‘let me/him/her/them’,
it expresses request for permission.
Indirect Structure:
subject+ (proposed to /told)+ object+ that+ (subject+ should/might+ verb+ object+ extra)
If this is proposal the subject in ‘reported speech’ will be ‘we’ but if it is permission, it will be according to the sentence.

Examples:
(In case of proposal)
Direct: He said to me, “Let’s play cricket now”
Indirect: He proposed me that we should play cricket then.

(In case of permission)

Direct: He said to me, “Let me stay here for him”
Indirect: He told me that he might stay there for him.

Changing Theory of ‘Optative Sentence’ :

Optative sentence means the sentence that we use to express our wish or prayer for someone.
Indirect Structure:
subject+ (prayed/wished for)+ object+ that+ (subject+ might+ verb+ object+ extra)

Examples:
Direct: He said to me, “May you live long.”
Indirect: He wished (for me) that I might live long.
Direct: He said to me, “May Allah save you from the danger.”
Indirect: He prayed (for me) that Allah might save me from the danger.

Changing Theory of ‘Exclamatory Sentence’ :

Exclamatory sentence means the sentence that we use to express our emotion of joy, sorrow, and wonder.
Indirect Structure:
subject+ (exclaimed with joy/sorrow/wonder)+ that+ (Subject+ verb+ very/a very/ a great+ adjective+ extra)
If the starting word of the ‘reported speech’ is ‘what a’, the adjective ‘a very or a great’ will be used but if it starts with
‘how’, you will use only ‘very’.

See the examples:

Direct: He said, “What a nice bird it is!”
Indirect: He exclaimed with wonder that it was a very nice bird.

Direct: He said, “How interesting the story was!”

Indirect: He exclaimed with wonder that the story was very nice.

Direct: He said, “Alas! His father has died today”

Indirect: He exclaimed with sorrow that his father had died that day.

Changing Theory of ‘Must’ in Sentence:

We use ‘must’ in a sentence to express obligation of any act.

If the action expresses any obligation, the verb will be same-‘must’. If it expresses general act, the verb will be ‘had to’.
But if it expresses any future obligation, you will use the verb ‘would have to’.

See the examples:

Direct: He said to me, “You must obey your parents.”
Indirect: He told me that I must obey my parents.
(In case of obligation)

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Direct: He said to me, “You must water in the garden.”
Indirect: He told me that I had to water in the garden.
(In case of general expression)

Direct: He said to me, “You must leave the position if they want that.”
Indirect: He told me that I would have to leave the position if they wanted.
(In case of obligation in future)

Rules of Passage Narration

Passage Narration means a short passage of conversation between two persons in the form of direct speeches.
You have to understand the speeches and its speaker individually. The forms of persons, tenses,
adverbials, and sentence structures are similar to the methods of sentence narration.

Rule-01:
Read the passage narration from first to last and try to understand the speakers and their speeches. You have to
differentiate each speech and its speaker. You may not get the name of speaker in each speech. But observing the context
of speeches, you have to mark that.

Rule-02:
In question, you may not get the name with each sentence and you may get the name of speaker at first or last. But during
the changing into indirect, you have to put the name of speaker and listener at first.

Example:
Direct: “I have called you today. Were you so much busy?”, he said. “I was busy with some official works”, said I.
Indirect: He said to me that he had called me that day. He asked me if I was so much busy. I replied that I had been busy
with some official works.
Rule-03:
Mention the name of both speakers and listeners for the first time. Next, you have to address them by pronoun word
such as: “he, she, and they,”. If the pronoun of the two persons become same, you will mark the pronoun words with the
first alphabet in a bracket after it such as: “He (M)/ He (S)”. but if there is the name mentioned after any speech, you will
also mention the name again.

Example:
Direct: “You have lost my new bag today. Why have you gone outside leaving it then?”, asked the Master. “I went outside
for drinking a glass of water sir”, said the Servant.

Indirect: The master told the servant that he(S) had lost his (M) new bag that day. He (M) asked him (S) why he(S) had
gone outside leaving it then. The Servant respectfully replied that he(S) had gone outside for drinking a glass of water.

Rule-04:
In passage, if there are two or more sentences of the same speaker together, you have to use the expression: “said to/told”
for the first speech. But for the second speech, you will use the expression: “again said/told/asked, added, and further
said/told/asked”. But remember, if the sentences are of similar categories, you will do it. If one sentence is assertive and
another one is interrogative or imperative, you will not apply this method.

Example:
Direct: “You have selected the boy for the job. You will take his responsibility from now”, said the Officer.

Indirect: The officer said to me that I had selected the boy for the job. He again said that I would take his responsibility
from then.

Here, the speaker ‘the officer’ has spoken for two times and the sentence category of these two sentences is assertive. So,
we have used the expression ‘again said’ before the second speech.

Rule-05:
There are some certain words or phrases in direct speeches which will be changed in indirect speeches.
Forms in Direct Speech Forms in Indirect Speech
Sir Respectfully said/asked…….
Yes Replied in the affirmative that……
No Replied in the negative that……
Thanks Subject+ thanked+ object
Good morning/evening/night Subject+ wished+ object+ good morning/evening/night
Good bye Subject+ bade+ object+ good bye
By Allah/God/Jove/my life.. Swearing by Allah/God/Jove/my life..
Ok Subject+ agreed that……
Hello/hi Subject+ greeted that…
Replied/asked/cried/uttered/muttered No change
Well Very much
Congratulations congratulated

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 Excuse me apologized
Oh Exclaimed with wonder
Sure Giving assurance
Of course Agreed with
Examples:
Direct: The boy said, “Sir, I will attend the classes regularly.”
Indirect: The boy respectfully said that he would attend the classes regularly.
Direct: You said, “Yes, it is my lost bag.”
Indirect: You said in the affirmative that it was your lost bag.
Direct: He said to me, “No, I cannot help you now.”
Indirect: He said to me in the negative that he could not help me then.
Direct: You said to me, “Thanks, you have done the job.”
Indirect: You thanked me and said that I had done the job.
Direct: He said to you, “Good morning, how are you?”
Indirect: He wished you good morning and asked how you were.
Direct: He said to me, “Good bye, meet me tomorrow”
Indirect: He bade me good bye and told to meet him the next day.
Direct: She said to me, “By Allah, I will meet you.”
Indirect: Swearing by Allah he said to me that he would meet me.
Direct: Rajib said to me, “Ok, I am going there now.”
Indirect: Rajib agreed with me and said that he was going there then.
Direct: He said to her, “Hello, how are you?”
Indirect: He greeted her and asked how she was.
Direct: He uttered silently, “No one is here now.”
Indirect: He uttered silently that no one was there then.

Rule-06:
If there is any addressing word in a sentence such as “friend/father/brother/sister/mother/king/comrades/viewers”, use
the following structures during changing into indirect:

Addressing+ object+ as+ friend,+ subject+ verb……………….

Addressing+ object+ as+ friend,+ subject+ verb……………….
Example:
Direct: He said to me, “Friend, give me this book for reading.”
Indirect: Addressing me as friend, he told me to give him that book for reading.

Rule-07:
If there is any phrase out of inverted commas (“ ”), you will not change it. You will rewrite the same form of phrase at
the beginning of the reporting verb of indirect speech.
Example:
Direct: He said to me moving beside the Indian boarder, “I am visiting the historical place.”
Indirect: Moving beside the Indian boarder, He said to me that he was visiting the historical place.

Rule-08:
If there is a name of a person in the speech and inverted commas (“ ”), use that name in reporting verb during changing
the speech.
Example:
Direct: He said, “Where are you going Robin?”
Indirect: He asked Robin where he was going.

Rule-09:
If the sentence in inverted commas (“ ”), is in assertive but with an interrogation sign (?) at last, you will use the
expression: “Being surprised” at the beginning of indirect speech. Besides, you have to transform the direct speech into
indirect following the structure of interrogative sentence.
Example:
Direct: He said to me, “You know where he lives now?”
Indirect: Being surprised, he asked me if I knew where he lived then.

Rule-10:
Sometimes, we do not get any object of reporting verb in direct speech. In that case, we can use the expression: “the
person spoken to…” or “me” as the object of reporting verb in indirect speech.
Example:
Direct: He said, “I will tell you the incident tomorrow.”
Indirect: He said to the person spoken to that he would tell him the incident the next day. Or,
Indirect: He said to me that he would tell him the incident the next day.