ASSERTIVE SENTENCES (NARRATION)

 

 

     The following specific rules should be kept in mind in addition to general rules at the time of changing direct speech to indirect speech in assertive sentences:-

1.  If ‘to’ does not follow ‘say’, ‘says’, ‘will/shall say’, ‘said’ in reporting speech, they remain unchanged in Indirect speech.

2.  If ‘to’ follows ‘say’, ‘says’, ‘will/shall say’, ‘said’ in reporting speech, the change is made as follows:-

Say to	ÛÜ	tell
Says to	ÛÜ	tells
Will/shall say to	ÛÜ	Will/shall tell
Said to	ÛÜ	told

3.  Sometimes the verb of reported speech is used in place of reporting verb.

4.  Comma (,) and inverted comma (“…”) are replaced with ‘that’ following reporting verb.

5.  If there are double sentences in reported speech, they are joined by ‘and add that’/ ‘and adds that’/ ‘and added that’. If there are triple sentences in reported speech, third sentence is joined by ‘and further add that’/ ‘and further adds that’/ ‘and further added that’.

6.  Full stop (.)  is placed at the end of the sentence.

a.  Direct     : The servant says, “The tea is ready.”

     Indirect  : The servant says that the tea is ready.

b.  Direct     : Mohan will say, “Rita sings well.”

     Indirect  : Mohan will say Rita sings well.

c.  Direct     : He said, “The boys play hockey.”

     Indirect  : He said that the boys played hockey.

d.  Direct     : He says to me, “The child is crying.”

     Indirect  : He tells me that the child is crying.

e.  Direct     : He said to me, “You are wasting my time.”

     Indirect  : He told me that I was wasting his time.

f.   Direct     : The teacher said, “God is one. God is great.”

     Indirect  : The teacher said that God is one and added that God is great.

g.  Direct     : The captain said, “My team shall play the match tomorrow.”

     Indirect  : The captain said that his team would play the match the next day.

h.  Direct     : I said to my friend, “I sleep early and rise early.”

     Indirect  : I told my friend that I sleep early and rise early.

i.   Direct     : He said to me, “I approve of your proposal.”

     Indirect  : He approved of my proposal.

j.   Direct     : Cassius said, “Frazier, I challenge you to a fight.”

     Indirect  : Cassius challenged Frazier to a fight.

Exceptions:

1.  Past indefinite and past continuous used in time clause are generally not changed; as:-

a.  Direct     : He said, “When we were living in the village, we killed many snakes.”

     Indirect    : He said that when they were living in the village, they killed many snakes.

2.  Such a condition expressed in past tense as continues till spoken of, reported speech is not changed; as:-

a.  Direct     : Yudhveer said, “I dropped the idea of buying the piece of land because it was near river.”

     Indirect  : Yudhveer said that he dropped the idea of buying the piece of land because it was near river.”

3.  ‘Would’, ‘should’, ‘ought to’, ‘might’, ‘could’, ‘must’, ‘used to’ and ‘had better’ are not changed; as:-

a.  Direct     : Reeta said, “I would go there if I could.”

     Indirect  : Reeta said that she would go there if she could.

4.  If two actions are being executed simultaneously in Reported speech, the tense of reported speech is not changed; as:-

a.  Direct     : He said, “Ravi was laughing while Deepak was weeping.”

     Indirect  : He said that Ravi was laughing while Deepak was weeping.

5.  Conditional sentences are not changed; as:-

a.  Direct     : She said, “If my husband were earning, I would give up teaching.”

     Indirect  : She said that if her husband were earning she would give up teaching.