Narration

Direct and indirect The words of a speaker can be reported in two ways: We may quote the actual words of the speaker; as, He said to john, I shall go now This is called narration. It has two parts (a) Reporting Speech b) Reported speech

 He said to john in the above example is the reporting speech, while I shall go now is the reported speech 2) we may quote what the speaker said without quoting his exact words; as, He told that he would go then. This is called indirect speech or indirect narration

 Observations. In the reporting speech said is called the reporting verb the reporting speech is placed outside the inverted commas. The tense of the reporting verb is never changed.

 The exact word of the speaker is marked off by inverted commas. In the direct speech the first word after the inverted comma begins with a capital letter. Conjunction that is generally used before the indirect statement. The changes are effected only in the reported speech .

 The changes in the reported speech are carried out according to certain rules. When a direct speech is changed into indirect one ,the following changes are effected : 1 change in the person of pronouns in the reported speech. 2 change in the tense of the verb in the reported speech.

 3) change in the reporting verb 4) change in the form of certain words 5) putting in a suitable connective before the reported speech.

Rules for change in the personal pronoun.

First person (I, me, my ,mine, we us, our,ours) in the direct speech are changed in the indirect speech to the person of the subject of the reporting verb. He says to me, I am going home He tells me that he is going home. Second person you, yours, in the direct speech are changed in the indirect speech to the person of the object of the reporting verb

 He said to me , you are going to my home He told me that I was going to his home. 3rd person remains unchanged in the indirect speech. He will say, He will go home He will tell me that he will go home.

Rules for changes in tenses

Rule 1. if the reporting verb is either in present or in the future tense, the verb in the reported speech is not changed. Only persons are changed. Sarah says, I want a book to read. Sarah says that she wants a book to read. Ram will say, He cannot go home. Ram will say that he cannot go home.

 Rule 2 if the reporting verb is in the past, the verb in the reported speech is changed in the following ways: Present tense Teena said, I go home Teena said that she went home Teena said, I am going home Teena said that she was going home.

Teena said I have gone home Teena said that she had gone home. Teena said I have been going home Teena said that she had been going home All present tenses of the direct are changed in to corresponding past tense.

Past tense Teena said I went home Teena said that she had gone home. Ram said I was going Ram said that he had been going . Teena said I had gone Teena said that she had gone Teena said I had been going. Teena said that she had been going. Past simple and past continuous are changed in to past perfect and past perfect continuous respectively .past perfect and past perfect continuous remain unchanged.

Future tense Ram said I shall go home Ram said that he would go home The shall and will of the future tense are changed in to should and would. Other changes Can could Is was Are were Was had been Has or have had.

Rules for change in Reporting verb.

The reporting verb said is changed into told, added, observed, remarked etc if the reported speech is assertive; as, He said to Ram, He has come He informed Ram that he had gone. He said to me , I am going home He told me that he was going home.

 The reporting verb said is changed in to asked or inquired if the reported speech contains an interrogative sentence: He said to me , where do you live He asked me where I lived. He said to me , will you come soon He enquired of me if I would go soon.

 The reporting verb said is changed in to ordered, commanded or requested , if the reported speech contains an imperative sentence He said to me, please bring me water He requested me to bring water.

 Reported verb said is changed into wished or prayed if the reported speech has an optative sentence He said , May you live long He wished me to live long. Reported verb said is changed into exclaimed if the reported speech contains an exclamatory sentence He said, Hurrah! You have come He exclaimed with delight that he had come.

Rules for changes in the connective introducing the reported speech.

A) that is used in most cases B) if or whether is used in case of reported speech containing an interrogative sentence beginning with an auxiliary verb. He said to me , Will you give me your book . He asked me if I would give him my book. C) in changing imperative sentences in the reported speech in to indirect narration verb is changed in to an infinitive

 He said to me , Go from here He ordered me to go from there. D) in changing optative sentence in the reported speech into indirect narration , the connective is sometimes dropped He said to me , may you be happy He wished me to be happy.

Changes in the form of certain words

Words in direct Now Here Hence Today Yesterday Tomorrow This These Come words in indirect then there thence that day the previous day. the next day that those go

 For the purpose of changing direct forms in to indirect, sentence may be divided in to 1)Assertive 2) Imperative 3)interrogative 4) exclamatory 5)optative

Assertive
In changing an Assertive sentence in to indirect narration, change in the person of and tense of verb is explained . Assertive sentence is of two type Affirmative 2) Negative He said I am going He said that he was going He said I am not going He said that he was not going.

Imperative
Following points are to be noted The reporting verb is changed into a verb denoting command, ask, purpose, forbid threaten etc. The imperative mood is changed in to infinitive . The rules of the change of the persons are the same. That connective is generally not used.

 The said to the servant , Bring the water The teacher ordered the servant to bring him water. The doctor said to the patient, Do not take food today The doctor advised the patient not to take the food that day.

Interrogative
1 the reporting verb is changed into ask, enquire ,demand or query 2 ) when the question begins with an interrogative pronoun; such as what, who, which, whom, whose or with an interrogative adverb such as when ,where why how etc. the same word introduces the indirect speech. That connective speech is not used.

 When question begins with an auxiliary verb such as is, are, was, were, do, did, can, will,has,have if or whether is used to introduce the indirect speech. In either case the question form is changed into the assertive form. That connective is not used. The rules for the change of the person of the pronouns and the tense of the verbs are the same.

 He said to me Where do you live? He asked me where I lived. The teacher said to the boy Are you going home? The teacher asked the boy if he was going home.

Exclamatory
The reporting verb may be changed in to such verbs as exclaim, cry. Interjections such as oh, alas, hurrah should be omitted. The sense of exclamations may be indicated in the reporting speech by means of adverbs or adverbial phrases. Exclamatory sentence should be changed in to assertive sentences

 The boy said oh ! We have won. The boy exclaimed with delight that they had won.

Optative
The reporting verb may be changed in to such verbs as pray, bless,wish ,or some other similar verbs. Optative sentence should be changed in to assertive sentences He said May you live long! He wished that he might live long. Or He wished him long life.