Basically Narration may be Direct & Indirect. ]
Example of Direct narration:
1) He says, "I am ill" (D)
Ans: He says that he is ill (indirect)
2) They said to me, " We came yesterday. "(D)
Ans: They told me that they had gone the day before. (indirect)
##Here... He says & They said to me are-- Reporting speech.
##'Says' & 'said' are reporting verbs.
## "I am ill & " We came yesterday " are Reported speech.
## 'me' in 2nd sentence is object.
STEP -2
NARRATION IS CHANGED AS PER THE ORDER OF 5 TYPES OF SENTENCES.
They are:
1) Assertive/Statement/Declarative Sentence.
(Plain statements or declarations)
Ex: I am a student.
He is a teacher.
2) Interrogative Sentence(question sentences)
Ex: a) Is he reading a book?
b) What are you doing here?
3) Imperative Sentence(order, request, advice, suggestion etc)
Ex: Do the work now.
Please help the poor.
4) Optative Sentence (wish, prayer etc)
Ex: May God bless you!
May you live long !
5) Exclamatory Sentence (sudden emotion, interjection)
Ex: Alas! I am undone.
Hurray ! we won the match.
Step -3
A number of changes take place while changing from Direct to Indirect narration.
They are: Direct........................... Indirect
Pres: Indefinite T. --------- Past. Indef: Tense
Pres. Contin: T--------------Past Continuous T
Pres: Perfect T-------------Past Perf: Tense
Pres: Perf: Contin T------- Past Perf:Cont: T
Past Indefinite T---------- Past Perfect T.
Past Continuous T------- Past Perfect ContinT
Future (shall/will) ------- would.
Now Then
Here There
This That
These Those
Today That day
Yesterday.......The day before/The previous day
Tomorrow...... The next day/The following day
Last Month.... The previous month
Last year....... The previous year.
Ago Before
Thus we have already discussed various changes found in narration in case of five types of sentences.
Now we shall discuss Sentence wise rules for narration and examples.
1) ASSERTIVE SENTENCE:
Points to remember --
a) said to changes into told
b) that - used as conjunction.
c) no change in reported speech if reporting speech is in present tense.
d) no change in reported speech if reported speech indicates universal truth or habitual action.
Example--
a) He said to me, " I like your idea. "
Answer: He told that he liked my idea.
b) Father said, "I read your copy yesterday. "
Answer: Father said that he had read my copy the day before.
c) He says, " I like tea. "
Answer: He says that he likes tea.
d) Raju said, " I go to school on foot daily. "
Answer: Raju said that he goes to school on foot daily.
e) The teacher said, " The earth is round. "
Answer: The teacher said that the earth is round.
f) "Today is Friday", He said.
Answer: He said that that day was Friday.
g) " Honesty is the best virtue. ' The saint said.
Answer: The saint said that honesty is the best virtue.
h) John said, "I may come tomorrow. "
Answer: John said that he might go the following day.
2) INTERROGATIVE SENTENCE.
In this sentence basically we find two types of narration, viz:: Yes/ no question and wh- question word narration.
In fact, Yes/ No questions are related to 24 Auxiliary verbs. ( am, is, are, was, we're, do, did, does,
have, has, had, shall, willl, should, would, may, might, must, can, could, need, dare, used to, ought to)
Where as WH-- question words may be - who, what, why, when, how, which, whom etc
LET'S TRY NARRATION WITH YES/ NO QUESTIONS ::
Points to remember::
a) Reported speech begins with question words.
b) said to.. Changes into asked
C) after asked (me/him/her/them) if - is used.
d) that - not used
e) other changes occur as per the list.
Examples:
a) I said to him, "Is this year pen? "
Answer: I asked him if that was his pen.
b) They said to me, " Is he your father? "
Answer: They asked me if he was my father.
c) The teacher said to Ram, "Have you doe your home work.?
Answer: The teacher asked Ram if he had done his home work.
d) I said to them, " Do you know how to drive a car? "
Answer: I asked them if they knew how to drive a car.
e) Mother said, " Does Rita read hard.?"
Answer: Mother asked if Rita read hard.
f) " Ar you a regular student? " The teacher said to me.
Answer: The teacher asked me if I was a regular student
.
g) The teacher said to me, "Were they playing cricket? "
Answer: The teacher asked me if they had been playing cricket.
h) The driver asked me, " Will you go to the town? "
Answer: The driver asked me if I would go to the town.
LET'S TRY NARRATION WITH WH-- QUESTIONS
points to remember:
a) said to changes into asked
b) wh- question remains in the same position.
c) that - not used.
d) other changes take place.
Example:
a) He said to me, " What is your name?"
Answer: He asked me what my name. Was.
b) We said to her, " Where are you going now.? "
Answer: We asked them where they were going then.
c) Anik said to us, " Where did you see the snake? "
Answer: Anik asked us where we had seen the snake.
d) The inspector said, "Who is the criminal here? "
Answer: The inspector asked who the criminal was there.
e) " How do you know this truth ? "I asked my friend.
Answer: I asked my friend how he knew that truth.
f) " Which book do you want? " The librarian said.
Answer: The librarian asked which book he wanted.
g) "Whom.do you know here in this town? "
I said to the stranger.
Answer: I asked the stranger whom he knew in that town.
h) They asked me what my postal address was.
Answer: They said to me, " What is your postal address.? "
3).NARRATION IN IMPERATIVE SENTENCE:
In case of Imperative Sentence, again we find. Two Types of sentence .
They are -- Normal Sentence & Sentence with... 'Let's
LET'S TRY NORMAL IMPERATIVE SENTENCES::
Points to remember::
a) said to -- changes into ordered, asked, forbade, warned, requested, etc and followed by 'to' +verb1.
b) that not used.
c) other changes take place.
Example:
a) He said to me, " Stop talking. "
Answer: He ordered me to stop talking.
b) Mother said to me, " Don't go outside now. "
Answer: Mother forbade me to go outside then.
c) A beggar said, " Please give me some money.
Answer: A beggar requested to give him some money.
d) They said to him., " Pick up the phone. "
Answer: They asked him to pick up the phone.
NARRATION WITH 'LET' IN IMPERATIVE SENTENCE.
Points to remember:
a) Let - found in reported speech
b) said to-- proposed to
c) that & should.. used
Example:
a) My friend said to me, " Let us go to the park"
Answer: My friend proposed to me that we should go to the park.
b) He said to me, "Let me try this. "
Answer: He proposed to me that he should be allowed to try that.
MORE. EXERCISE SOLVED
a) The teacher said to me , " I shall punish you. "
Answer: The teacher threatened that he would punish me
b) He requested me to meet their principal soon.
Answer: He said to me, "please meet our principal soon. "
c) Amal proposed to me that we should submit our assignment as early as possible.
Answer: Amal said to me, " Let us submit our assignment as early as possible. "
4) NARRATION IN OPTATIVE SENTENCE:
Points to remember::
a) said to changes into Wished, prayed etc
b) That - conjunction is used.
c) If ' God ' is in reported speech, then in place of said to -- prayed is used.
d) other changes take place.
Example:
a) He said to the boy, " May you live long! "
Answer: He wished that the boy might live long.
b) Grandpa said to me, " May God bless you.! "
Answer: Grandpa prayed that God might bless me.
( here, Grandpa prayed to me is incorrect... since, me is to write at the end.)
c) The old man said to the girl, " May you succeed in life! "
Answer: The old man wished that the girl might succeed in life.
NOTE:: All types of wish and prayer come under the preview of Optative Sentence..
5) NARRATION IN EXCLAMATORY SENTENCE..
Points to remember::
1) said to changes into Exclaimed + with sorrow, happiness, wonder, surprise, repentence etc
2) That - used
3) other changes take place.
### Using of above words depends on the meaning of the reported speech.
Examples::
1) The thief said, " Alas! I am ruined!. "
Answer: The thief exclaimed with sorrow that he was ruined.
2) The little girl said, " What a big snake it is! "
Answer: The little girl exclaimed with wonder that it was a very big snake.
3) " How beautiful the flower is! " They said.
Answer: They exclaimed with surprise that it was a very beautiful flower.
4) The blind lady said, " Alas! I am undone. "
Answer: The blind lady exclaimed with sorrow that she was undone.
SOME. MIXED EXERCISE AND THEIR ANSWERS.
1) Anil said to me, " How is your father today? I replied, " He is much better." " Have you taken him outside for better treatment? " I said, "No"
Answer: Anil asked me how my father was that day. I replied that he was much better. Then he asked if he (my father) had been taken outside for better treatment. I replied in the negative.
2) I said to the gatekeeper, " When will the doctor arrive? " He said, " He will be late today."
I said, " What do you mean?" He said, " Sir is busy with his family today.".
Answer: I asked the gate keeper when the doctor would arrive. He said that he would be late that day. I asked what he meant. He said that Sir(doctor) was busy with his family that day.
##### Maximum practice may lead to success. ##
##### For better and faster understanding, student may solve the exercise given in various question banks.
