Rules For Narration Direct and Indirect Speech With Chart And Table
Rules for narration have been explained thoroughly step by step here. Knowing the rules of narration is very important to improve your English. If you want to learn all the rules of narration, you must read the article carefully and follow the examples. The rules are
- Rules for time and place
- Rules for tense
- Rules for person
- Rules for assertive sentences
- Rules for interrogative sentences
- Rules for imperative sentences
- Rules optative sentences
- Rules for exclamatory sentences
This is the easiest way to learn direct and indirect narration because I have taught many students through offline and online YouTube channels. I am sure that you can learn narration change by reading the article.
So we should not waste time. Let’s get started with the rules for narration.
Rules for Narration for Time and Place
There are several words and phrases related to time and place. We need to turn it into indirect speech. The terms and phrases are listed below.
| 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 |
Example:
Direct: You said to me, “I have taken this book.”
Indirect: You told me that you had taken that book.
Direct: Rupa said, “I was writing a note last night.”
Indirect: Rupa said that he had been writing a note the previous night.
Rules of Narration for Tense
If the reporting verb is in the present or future tense, the tense in the reported speech is not changed.
Rules of Narration for Tense Table
|
Reporting Verb (Present Tense/Future) |
Direct Speech | Indirect Speech |
| Simple Present | No Change | |
| Present Continuous | No Change | |
| Present Perfect | No Change | |
| Present Perfect Continuous | No Change | |
| Simple Past | No Change | |
| Past Continuous | No Change | |
| Past Perfect | No Change | |
| Past Perfect Continuous | No Change | |
| Simple Future | No Change | |
| Future Continuous | No Change | |
| Future Perfect | No Change | |
| Future Perfect Continuous | No Change |
Example:
Direct: Ramen says, “I am good.”
Indirect: Ramen says that he is good.
Direct: He will say, “I am prepared for the exam.”
Indirect: He will say that he is prepared for the exam.
If the reporting verb is in the past tense, the tense in the reported speech needs to be changed into the corresponding past form.
Rules of Narration for Tense Table Chart
| Reporting Verb (Past) |
Direct Speech |
Indirect Speech |
| Simple Present | Simple Past | |
| Present Continuous | Past Continuous | |
| Present Perfect | Past Perfect | |
| Present Perfect Continuous | Past Perfect Continuous | |
| Simple Past | Past Perfect | |
| Past Continuous | Past Perfect Continuous | |
| Past Perfect | Past Perfect | |
| Past Perfect Continuous | Past Perfect Continuous | |
| Simple Future | Would/ should | |
| Future Continuous | Would/ should | |
| Future Perfect | Would/ should | |
| Future Perfect Continuous | Would/ should |
Example:
Direct: Nirmal said, “I am reading a newspaper.”
Indirect: Nirmal said that he was reading a newspaper.
Direct: You said to me, “You have missed the train.”
Indirect: You told me I had missed the train.
Direct: The man said, “I was taking a rest under the tree.”
Indirect: The man said that he had been taking a rest under the tree.
Direct: She said to Rima, “You went to market.”
Indirect: She told Rima she had gone to market.
Rules for Narration Changing [Persons]
Rules for first person
If the subject of reported speech is first person (I, We), it indicates the subject of reporting verb. Or
I, my, me, we, us and our are changed on the basis of the subject of reporting verb.
Example:
Direct: Kamal said to me, “I have eaten five mangoes with my sister.”
Indirect: Kamal told me that he had eaten five mangoes with his sister.
Direct: The students said to me, “We have written the sentences.”
Indirect: The students told me that they had written the sentences.
Rules for second person:
If the subject of reported speech is second person (you, you), it indicates the object of reporting verb. The person is changed flowing them. Or
You and your are changed on the base of the object of reporting verb.
Example:
Direct: The vendor said to me, “You will take your bottle.”
Indirect: The vendor told me that I would take my bottle.
Direct: She said to the boy, “Your brother called you last night.”
Indirect: She told the boy that his brother had called him the previous night.
Rules for third person:
If the subject of reported speech is third person (He, She, It, They, Ram, Kamal and Gopal), it does not indicate the subject and object of reporting verb. So it is not needed to change.
Example:
Direct: Gopal said to me, “The apples are ripe.”
Indirect: Gopal told me that the apples were ripe.
Direct: We said to you, “He is not a smart person.”
Indirect: We told you that he was not a smart person.
Rules of Narration For Assertive Sentences
Rules for Narration 01
The Reporting Verbs of Direct Speech like Say to said to are changed into tell, told. After that, we use “That” instead of the comma mark (,).
Example:
Direct: Ratna says to you, “I have taken my breakfast”.
Indirect: Rana tells you that she has taken his breakfast.
Direct: The police said to the man, “You are not telling the truth.”
Indirect: The police told the man that he was not telling the truth.
Rules for Narration 02
If the reporting verb is in the past tense and we find universal truth and habitual fact in the reported speech we can not change the tense of reported speech in indirect speech.
Example:
Direct: Grandfather said, “God is almighty.”
Indirect: Grandfather said that God is almighty.
Direct: The boys said to us, “We play football in this field daily.”
Indirect: The boys told us that they play football in that field daily.
Rules for Narration 03
If we find two or more than two past indefinite tenses in the reported speech of direct narration, those sentences remain unchanged in indirect narration.
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.
Rules of Narration For Interrogative Sentences
Rules for Narration 01
When we change the direct speech of the interrogative sentences into indirect, we use “Ask/Enquire/Want to know” instead of “Say”. Then we use “If/Whether” if we do not get an interrogative sentence with Wh-words. Next, we use a full stop instead of the question mark.
For Example:
Direct: I said to her, “Do you sell vegetables in the market?”
Indirect: I asked her if she sold vegetables in the market.
Direct: Karna said to Bheem, “Will you fight with me?’’
Indirect: Karna asked Bheem whether he would fight with him.
Direct: The teacher said to the student, “When do you get up?”
Indirect: The teacher asked the student when he got up.
Direct: My friend said to me, “How have you opened the lock?”
Indirect: My friend asked me how he had opened the lock.
Rules of Narration For Imperative Sentences
Rules for Narration 01
We use “Order/ request/ advise/ command” instead of “Say/ Say to”, when we do narration changes of imperative sentences.
Then we use “To” for affirmative sentences and “Not to” for negative sentences instead of comma marks.
OR
We can use “Prohibit/Forbid” instead of “say/ say to” and use “To” instead of a comma mark in indirect narration.
Example:
Direct: The teacher said to the students, “Take your seats.”
Indirect: The teacher ordered the students to take their seats.
Direct: Rakib said to you, “Please give me a pen.”
Indirect: Rakib requested you to give him a pen.
Direct: My uncle said to me, “Do not run in the sun.”
Indirect: My uncle advised me not to run in the sun.
Indirect: My uncle forbade me to run in the sun.
Rules for Narration 02
If we find “Us” after “Let” in the reported speech of the imperative sentence, we use “Propose to/ suggest to” instead of “Say/say to” and use that instead of the comma mark (,). Then we avoid “Let us” and follow sentence structure [S+ should +v…]
Example:
Direct: He said to me, “Let us go out for a tour.’’
Indirect: He proposed to me that we should go out for a tour.
Rules for Narration 03
If we do not find “Us” after “Let” in the reported speech of the imperative sentence, we use “Tell/request/wish” instead of “Say/say to” and use “That” instead of a comma mark (,). Then we avoid “Let” and follow sentence structure [S+may/may+be+allowed+to+V+O….]
Example
Direct: Tarun said, “Let me drive the car.”
Indirect: Tarun wished that he might be allowed to drive the car.
Direct: We said to them, “Let her deliver a lecture.”
Indirect: We told them that she might deliver a lecture.
Rules of Narration For Optative Sentences
Rules for Narration 01
If we find the word “God” in the reported speech of an optative sentence we use “Wish / Pray/bless” instead of “Say”. We replace commas with “That”. Then we follow the sentence structure [S + may + v + o] at the time of narration change.
Example
Direct: He said to me, “May God prosper you.”
Indirect: He prayed that God might prosper me.
Rules for Narration 02
If we do not find the word “God” in the reported speech of 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.
For Example:
Direct: They said, “Long live our Netaji.”
Indirect: They wished that their Netaji might live long.
Rules of Narration For Exclamatory Sentences
- Rules for Narration 01
When we find greetings and goodbye in the reported speech of exclamatory sentence, we use “Wish/Bid”. After using those we do not use “That” but use object.
For Example
Direct: We said to you, “Good evening.”
Indirect: We wished you good evening.
- Rules for Narration 02
If the reported speech starts with “How/ What” and we find an “Adjective/ Noun”, we use “Very / Completely” before the adjective and “Great” before the noun at the time of changing narration.
For Example:
Direct: They said, “How happy we are here!”
Indirect: They exclaimed with joy that they were very happy there very happy there.
Direct: Gopal said, “What a fool I am!”
Indirect: Gopal exclaimed with sorrow that he was a great fool.
- Rules for Narration 03
When we find happiness, gladness and surprise in exclamatory sentences, we use “exclaim with joy, exclaim with Sorrow/grief, exclaim sorrowfully, exclaim with surprise”.
For Example:
Direct: The students said, “Hurray! We have defeated Sports Club.”
Indirect: The students exclaimed with joy that they had defeated Sports Club.
Direct: Simanta said to you, “Alas! You have made the mistake.”
Indirect: Simanta exclaimed with sorrow/grief that you had made the mistake.
Direct: The girl said to me, “What a nice bird!”
Indirect: The girl exclaimed with surprise me that the bird was very smart.
- Rules for Narration 04
When we find desire in the exclamatory sentence, we use “strongly wish”.
For Example:
Direct: The little boy man said, “Were I Prime Minister!”
Indirect: The little boy strongly wished that he were Prime Minister.
Direct: Ram said, “Had I wings!”
Indirect: Ram strongly wished that he had wings.
Narration of Rules For The Vocative Sentence
Rules for Narration 01
If we find the vocative sentence in the reported speech direct narration, we can omit that or use “Addressing + NP”. All the rules of imperative sentences will be applied.
For Example:
Direct: I said, “My sister, give me the water bottle.”
Indirect: I told my sister to give me the water bottle. Or
Addressing my sister, I told/requested her to give me the water bottle.
Direct: Ganesh said, “Ramesh, do not spit on the floor.”
Indirect: He ordered Ramesh not to spit on the floor. OR
He prohibited/ forbade Ramesh to spit on the floor. OR
Addressing Ramesh, he ordered him not to spit on the floor. OR
Addressing Ramesh, he prohibited/ forbade him not to spit on the floor.
Narration Rules For The Sentences with “Sir” or “Madam
Rules for Narration 01
If we find “Sir” or “Madam” in the reported speech of direct narration, we use “respectfully”.
For Example:
Direct: The students said to the teacher, “Sir, we can draw the pictures.”
Indirect: The students respectfully told the teacher they could draw the pictures.
Direct: Moumita said to the madam, “Madam, I have not done the home task.
Indirect: The girl respectfully told the madam that she had not done the home task.
Read More:
- 600 + Narration Change Exercise
- Narration Change
- Voice change
- Type of sentence
- Degree Change
- All Conditional Sentences
- Transformation of Sentences [Affirmative to Negative]
- Transformation of sentences [Simple, Complex and Compound]
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