NARRATION CHANGE [Direct and Indirect]

NARRATION CHANGE

Table of Contents

Narration Change is very important in English grammar.

When we convert the speech of a speaker from direct to indirect without changing the meaning is called narration change.

narration change Narration is of two kinds.

Direct Speech: Using the same speech of a speaker in the quotation is called direct speech.
Indirect Speech: Using the speech of a speaker without changing the meaning in your own way is called indirect speech.

Direct: Badal said to Gopal, “I will sing a song.”

Indirect: Badal told Gopal that he would sing a Sang.

Direct Speech is divided into two parts.

REPORTING VERB: The part which is separated by a comma is called reporting verb. For example, Badal said to Gopal,

REPORTED SPEECH: The part which is under the inverted comma is called reported speech. For example: “I will sing a song.”

Normally “Narration” is changed based on five types of sentences. We should know about these sentences.

Kind of sentences

Assertive sentence click here……
Interrogative sentence click here…….
Imperative sentence click here…….

Optative sentence click here…….
Exclamatory sentence click here…….

The easiest process of identifying five types of different sentences

Assertive sentence: This type of sentence starts with the subject and ends with a full stop.

Interrogative sentence: This type of sentence starts with “Wh-words and Helping verb” and ends with interrogation mark (?).

Imperative sentence: This type of sentence starts with “Finite verb/ Do not verb/ Never/ Always” and ends with a full stop. Sometimes we find “Please/Kindly” at the starting and end of the sentence.

Optative sentence: This type of sentence starts with “Long/ May” and ends with a full stop.

Exclamatory sentence: We find an exclamatory mark (!) at the end and in the middle of the sentence.

Change of some words in indirect speech

Direct Speech	Indirect Speech
Now	Then
Here	There
This	That
These	Those
Come	Go
Thus	So/that way
Hither	Thither
Hence	Thence
Ago	Before
Today	That day
This day	That day
Tonight	That night
Tomorrow	The next day
Yesterday	The previous day
Last night	The previous night
Next week	The following week
Yesterday morning	The previous morning

CHANGE OF TENSE

If we find Present and Future Tense in reporting verb of direct speech, we do not change the tense of reported speech at the time of transformation of indirect speech.

Example:

He says, “I am well’’.

He says that he is well.

He will say, “I shall sing a song.’’

He will say that he shall sing a song.

If we find reporting verb Past Tense and reported speech Present Tense in the direct speech, we change Tense at the time of transformation of indirect speech.

Direct	Indirect
Present indefinite	Past indefinite
Present continuous	Past continuous
Perfect	Past perfect
Perfect continuous	Past perfect continuous
Simple past	Past perfect
Past continuous	Past perfect continuous
Past perfect	Past perfect
Past perfect continuous	Past perfect continuous
Future (Shall/Will)	Past (Should/Would)

Example of narration change:

Direct: I said to you, “You play cricket in this field.”

Indirect: I told you that you played cricket in that field.

Direct: He said to me, “You are making mistake now.”

Indirect: He told me that I was making mistake then.

Direct: They said to you, “You have completed the task.”

Indirect: They told you that you had completed the task.

Direct: Gopal said to us, “He has been practicing sums since morning.”

Indirect: Gopal told us that he had been practicing sums since morning.

Direct: He said to me, “You took tea today.”

Indirect: He told me that I had taken tea that day.

Direct: Malay said to you, “I was going to market.”

Indirect: Malay told you that he had been going to market.

Direct: They said to us, “You had helped us.”

Indirect: They told us that we had helped them.

Direct: The teacher said to us, “You had been learning Tense for two weeks.”

Indirect: The teacher told us that we had been learning Tense for two weeks.

Direct: My mother said to you, “I shall cook meet today.”

Indirect: My mother told you that she should cook meet that day.

Direct: The girls said to us, “We will sing a song.”

Indirect: The girls told us that they would sing a song.

Direct: Your brother said to us, “He can write a poem.”

Indirect: Your brother told us that he could write a poem.

Direct: The boy said to his friends, “You may play with me.”

Indirect: The boy told his friends that they might play with him.

If we find two or more than two past indefinite tenses in the direct narration, those sentences remain unchanged.

Example:

Direct: The grandfather said, “My daughter was good and kind and she respected everyone.”

Indirect: The grandfather said that his daughter was good and kind and she respected everyone.

Direct: Bikash said, “I went to market, bought banana came back home.”

Indirect: Bikash said that he went to the market, bought a banana came back home.

Narration Change of Assertive Sentences

Direct	Indirect
Say	say
Says	Says
Say to	tell
Said	Said
Said to	told
[,]	that

The verbs of Direct Speech like Say to, said to are changed into “Tell, Told”. After that we use “That” instead of comma mark (,).

Example:

Direct: Dipa said, “I have finished my homework”.

Indirect: Dipa said that she had finished her homework.

Direct: Riju says to kamal, “I want to be a teacher.’’

Indirect: Riju tells kamal that he wants to be a teacher.

Direct: The students said to the teacher, “We can not understand the sum.”

Indirect: The students told the teacher that they could not understand the sum.

If the reported speech is past tense and we find a universal truth and the habitual fact we can not change the tense of reported speech.

Direct: Father said, “The sun rises in the east.”

Indirect: Father said that the sun rises in the east.

Direct: Ramen said, “I walk for half an hour every morning.’’

Indirect: Ramen said that he walks for half an hour every morning.

Direct: He said, “My grandfather reads the Mahabharata daily.’’

Indirect: He said that his grandfather reads the Mahabharata daily.

Changing of Person

If the subject of the reported speech is the first person, it indicates the subject of reporting verb.

If the subject of the reported speech is the second person, it indicates the object of reporting verb. The person is changed flowing them. Again if the subject of reported speech is the third person, it does not indicate the subject and object of reporting verb.

Direct: I said to him, “You should go with your brother.’’

Indirect: I told him that he should go with his brother.

Direct: She said to me, “I want my money back.’’

Indirect: She told me that she wanted her money back.

Direct: I said to him, “Sita will sing a song.’’

Indirect: I told him that Sita would sing a song.

Direct: You said to them, “You must do your duty.’’

Indirect: You told them that they must do their duty.

Narration Change of Interrogative Sentence

Direct	Indirect
Say	Ask/Enquire/Want to know
[,]	If, whether
[?]	[.]

When we change the direct speech of interrogative sentences into indirect, we use “Ask/Enquire/Want to know” instead of “Say”. Then we use “If/Whether” and omit the wh-word. Next, we use a full stop instead of the question mark.

Dir: The teacher said to me, ‘’what is your name?”

Indi: The teacher asked me what my name was.

Dir: I said to her, ‘’Have you brought my book?

Indi: I asked her if she had brought my book.

Dir: He said to me, “Have you received a letter?’’

Indi: He asked me if I had received a letter.

Dir: Rahim said to the girl, “why are you shouting?’’

Indi: Rahim asked the girl why she was shouting.

Imperative Sentence

When we change the reported speech of imperative sentence, we use “Order/ request/advice/ command” instead of “Say/ Say to”. Then we use “To” for affirmative sentence and “Not to” for negative sentence instead of comma mark.

Direct

Indirect

Say

Order/request/advise/command

[,]

Aff- to

Neg- not to

Dir: The teacher said to the students, “Stand up.”

Indi: The teacher ordered the students to stand up.

Dir: MY friend said to me, “Go to the doctor.”

Indi: My friend advised me to go to the doctor.

Dir: She said to me, “Please lend me your pen.’’

Indi: She requested me to lend her my pen.

Dir: Mother said to her son, “Don’t drink colored water.”

Indi: Mother advised her son not to drink colored water.

If we find the negative sentence in reported speech, we change “say/ say to” into “Prohibit/Forbid” and use “To” instead of comma mark in indirect narration.

Dir: Mother said to her son, “Don’t drink colored water.”

Indi: Mather forbade /prohibited her son not to drink colored water.

Imperative sentence with ‘Let’

If we find “Us” after “Let” we should follow the below rules.

Direct	Indirect
Say/ say to	Propose to/ suggest to
[,]	That
Let us	S+should+v….

If we find “Us” after “Let” in the imperative sentence, we use “Propose to/ suggest to” instead of “Say/say to” and use that instead of comma mark (,). Then we avoid “Let us” and follow sentence structure [S+ should +v…]

Example:

Dir: He said to me, “Let us go out for a walk.’’

Indi: He proposed to me that we should go out for a walk.

Direct: The players said to the coach, “Let us practice hard.”

Indirect: The players proposed to the coach that they should practice hard.

Direct: The king said to the soldiers, “Let us attack on the enemy.”

Indirect: The king suggested to the soldiers that we should attack on the enemy.

“Us” is not mentioned after let.

Direct	Indirect
Say/say to	Tell/request/wish
[,]	That
Let	S+may/may+be+allowed+to+V+O….

If we do not find “Us” after “Let” in the imperative sentence, we use “Tell/request/wish” instead of “Say/say to” and use “That” instead of comma mark (,). Then we avoid “Let” and follow sentence structure [S+may/may+be+allowed+to+V+O….]

Dir: He said, “Let me finish this work.”

Indi: He wished that he might be allowed to finish that work.

Dir: I said to her, “Let me sit here.’’

Indi: I wished her that I might be allowed to sit there.

Dir: They said to me, “Let us discuss the matter.”

Indi: They suggested to me that we should the matter.

Narration Change of Optative sentence

God is mentioned in the Optative sentence

Direct	Indirect
Say	wish /pray/bless
[,]	that

If we find the word “God” in the optative sentence we use “Wish / Pray / bless” instead of “Say”. Next, we do not use objects. We replace commas with “That”. Then we follow the sentence structure [S + may + v + o] at the time of narration change.

Dir: He said to me, “God bless you.”

Indi: He prayed that God might bless me.

Dir: The old man said to me, “may God help you.”

Indi: The old man prayed that God might help me.

The word “God” is not in the optative sentence

Direct	Indirect
Say	wish
[,]	that

If we do not find the word “God” in the optative sentence we use “Wish” instead of “Say”. We replace commas with “That”. Then we follow the sentence structure [S + may + v + o] at the time of narration change.

Dir: They said, “Long live our president.”

Indi: They wished that their president might live long.

Dir: My grandfather said to me, “I may happy.”

Indi: My grandfather wished me that I might be happy.

Narration Change of Exclamatory Sentences

Direct		Indirect
say	Hurrah	Exclaim with joy
	Alas	Exclaim with sorrow/grief Exclaim sorrowfully
	Surprise	Exclaim with surprise
	Greetings	Wish
	Desire	Strongly wish/desire
	Goodbye	Bid (Bade in past)

When we find greetings and goodbye in the exclamatory sentences, we use “Wish/Bid”. After using those we do not use “That” but use the object.

Dir: She said to me, “Good morning.”

Indi: She wished me good morning.

Dir: She said to me, “Goodbye.”

Indi: He bade me goodbye.

If the reported speech starts with “How/ What” and we find an “Adjective/ Noun”, we use “Very / Completely” before the adjective and “Great” before noun at the time of changing narration.

Dir: They said, “How happy we are here!”

Indi: They exclaimed with joy that they were very happy there.

Dir: He said, “What a nice bird!”

Indi: He exclaimed with surprise that the bird was very nice.

Dir: Dipu said, “What a fool I am!”

Indi: Dipu exclaimed with surprise that he was a great fool.

In case of happiness, glad and surprise:

Dir: The boys said, “Hurray! We have won the match.”

Indi: The boys exclaimed with joy that they had won the match.

Dir: She said, “Alas! I have lost my phone.”

Indi: She exclaimed with sorrow that she had lost her phone.

Dir: My friend said, “Alas! My grandfather is no mare.”

Indi: My friend exclaimed with grief that his grandfather was no mare.

In case of desire:

Dir: The old man said, “Were I a king!”

Indi: The old man strongly wished that he were a king.

Dir: Ramesh said, “Had I much money!”

Indi: Ramen strongly wished that he had much money.

Vocative sentence

If we find the vocative sentence in the reported speech, we can omit that or use “Addressing + NP”. All the rules of imperative sentences will be applied.

Dir: He said, “My friend, listen to me.”

Indi: He told his friend to listen to him. Or

Addressing his friend, he told/requested him to listen to him.

Dir: He said, “Rahim, do not touch it.”

Indi: He ordered Rahim not to touch it. OR

He prohibited/ forbade Rahim to touch it. OR

Addressing Rahim, he ordered him not to touch it. OR

Addressing Rahim, he prohibited/ forbade him not to touch it.

Sentences with “Sir” or “Madam”

If we find “Sir” or “Madam” in the reported speech, we use respectfully instead of “Say/ Say to”.

Direct: The boy said to the teacher, “Sir, I can answer this question.”

Indirect: The boy respectfully told the teacher he could answer that question.

Direct: The girl said to the madam, “Madam, I could not understand it.”

Indirect: The girl respectfully told the madam that she could not understand it.

Digital English

NARRATION CHANGE [Direct and Indirect]