8th Class English Narration General Rules for changing Direct Speech into Indirect Speech

   General Rules for changing Direct Speech into Indirect Speech

 

 

There are three general rules for changing Direct Speech into Indirect Speech, which are as follows:

(i) Change of tense

(ii) Change of person

(iii) Change of other parts of speech.

 

        Change of Tense

(i)    When the reporting verb is in present or future, the tense of the verb in the reported speech does not change.

Direct                    :              She says, "He has reprimanded me".

Indirect                :               She says that he has reprimanded her.

Direct                    :              They will say, "We should not cheat anyone."

Indirect                :               They will say that they should not cheat anyone.

 

 

(ii)    When the reporting verb is in the post, the tense of the verb in the reported speech is changed into the corresponding past tense as per the following table:

 

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                                                     No Change - remains same

Past Perfect Continuous                               No Change - remains same

Shall/Will                                                            Should/Would

Can / May                                                           Could / Might

Is/Am/Are                                                          Was/Were

Have/Has                                                           Had

Was / Were                                                        Had been

 

 

 

Direct                    :               He said to me, "You have done your job."

Indirect                :               He told me that I had done my job.

Direct                    :               I said to them, "You are doing your job."

Indirect                :               I told them that they were doing their job.

Direct                    :               She said, "He was carrying a sack of rice."

Indirect                :               She said that he had been carrying a sack of rice.

 

(ii)    When the reported speech has a universal truth, the tense of the verb of the reported speech does not change even though the reporting verb is in the past tense.

 

 

 

Direct                    :               The teacher said ??the earth is round??

Indirect                :               The teacher said that the earth is round.

Direct                    :               Donald said to me, ??the earth is round

Indirect                :               Donald told me that the earth moves round the sun      

 

       Change of Person

The three person used in direct speech within inverted commas change as per the following:

First Person        :               According to subject of reporting verb.

Second Person  :               According to Object of Reporting Verb.

Third Person      :               No change ? Remains same       

 

 

 

Direct                    :               Steve said to me, "I have inducted the best talent."

Indirect                :               Steve told me that the he had inducted the best talent.

 

Here I (First Person) of Reported Speech has changed according to Steve (Subject) Of Reporting verb

Direct                    :               The teacher said to Rita, "You have won the prize."

Indirect                :               The teacher told Rita that she had won the prize.

Here you, the second person, changes according to object (Rita) of reporting verb.

 

 

     Change of Other Parts of Speech

Some words are used in Reported Speech, which express nearness are changed into words expressing distance as per the following:

 

Direct Speech                                    Indirect Speech

This                                                       That

These                                                    Those

Here                                                      There

Now                                                      Then

Today                                                    That day

Tomorrow                                           The next day

Yesterday                                            The previous day

Thus                                                      So

Ago                                                        Before

Last Night                                            The previous night

Next week                                           The following week

Come                                                    Go

 

 

 

Direct     :                              They said to me, "We will try our level best to secure top rank in the exam which will be held tomorrow."

Indirect :                              They told me that they would try their level best to secure first rank in the exam  which would be held the next day.

Direct     :                              I said to him, "I am a bit perturbed about my work today."

Indirect  :                             I told him that I was a bit perturbed about my work that day.

Special rules for changing Direct Speech into Indirect Speech.

There are some special rules which are applied in the conversion of different types of sentences from Direct to Indirect.

 

Rules for the conversion of Assertive sentences from Direct to Indirect.

(i) The verb 'said to' of Reporting Verb changes into told.

(ii) The inverted comma is replaced by the conjunction that.

Rest of the rules will remain same.

 

 

 

Direct                    :               Smith said to Jack/'Your achievement will inspire others to follow the same."

Indirect                :               Smith told Jack that his achievement would inspire other to follow the same.

Direct                    :               Serena said to James /'You have an uphill task to complete."

Indirect                :               Serena told James that he had an uphill task to complete.

 

Rules for the conversion of Interrogative sentences from Direct to Indirect.

(i) The verb 'said to' of Reporting Verb is changed into 'asked' or 'enquired'.

(ii) The comma, inverted commas and question mark are omitted.

(iii) The sentence structure in the Reported Speech is changed from question to statement.

(iv) When the question begins with an interrogative word (what, who, how, where, when, whom, which, why, etc.) in the Reported Speech, the same is retained in the Indirect Speech.

(v) When the question begins with an Auxiliary Verb in the Reported Speech a conjunction 'if or whether' is used in the beginning of the Reported Speech.

 

Direct                    :               My mother said to me/'Where were you roaming throughout the day?

Indirect                :               My mother asked me where l had been roaming throughout the day.

Direct                    :               The teacher said to Lina, "Why did you not come to school today?"

Indirect                :               The teacher asked Lina why he had not come to school that day.

Direct                    :               I said to him, "Will you cooperate to cope up with the situation?"

Indirect                :               I asked him if he would cooperate to cope up with the situation.

Direct                    :               The director said to the actors, "Can you bring the real emotion in your act?"

Indirect                :               The director told the actors if they could bring the real Emotion in their act.

 

 

Rules for the Conversion of Imperative Sentence into Indirect Speech.

(i) The verb 'said to' of reporting Verb is changed into ordered, requested, advised or forbade according to the sense of Reported Speech.

(ii) The comma and inverted commas are omitted by to.

(iii) The Imperative Mood of the Reported Speech is changed into Infinite Mood.

(iv) The word showing request (Please) is omitted.

 

 

 

Direct                    :               The teacher said to the student, "Close the door before leaving the room."

Indirect                :               The teacher ordered the students to close the door before leaving the room.

Direct                    :               My best friend said to me, "Please give me your watch."

Indirect                :               My best friend requested me to give him my watch.

Direct                    :               The doctor said to the patient, "Take this medicine once daily."

Indirect                :               The doctor advised the patient to take that medicine once daily.

Direct                    :               Stev said to me, "Don't buy this book."

Indirect                :               Steve forbade me to buy that book.

 

Rules for the conversion of Exclamatory Sentence into Indirect Speech.

(i) The verb 'said to' of Reporting Verb is changed into exclaimed with joy / sorrow / surprise / anger/ applause /fear / contempt / regret, etc. according to the sense of Reported Speech.

(ii) The comma and inverted commas are omitted and the conjunction 'that' is used.

(iii) Words showing exclamation (Hurrah !, Alas !, Oh !, Fie !, Fie !, etc. ) are omitted.

(iv) The sentence structure is changed from exclamatory to statement.

 

 

Direct                    :               The tourist said, "What a beautiful sunset!"

Indirect                :               The tourist exclaimed with surprise that it was a very beautiful sunset.

Direct                    :               The teacher said, "What a nonsense!"

Indirect                :               The teacher exclaimed with anger that it was a great nonsense.

Direct                    :               Ponting said, "Hurrah! I have won the prize."

Indirect                :               Ponting exclaimed with joy that he had won the prize.

Direct                    :               The man said, "Alas! I am ruined."

Indirect                :               The man exclaimed with sorrow that he was ruined.

 

Rules for the conversion of Optative Sentence into Indirect Speech.

(i) The verb 'said to' of Reporting Verb is changed into wished / prayed / desired / cursed, etc. according to the sense of the Reported Speech.

(ii) The commas and inverted commas are omitted and the conjunction 'that' is used.

(iii) The sentence structure is changed from optative to statement.

 

Direct        :           Stephen said to me, "God bless you!"

Indirect     :          Stephen wished that God might bless me.

Direct        :           The man said, "Long live the chairman!"

Indirect     :          The man wished that the chairman might live long.

Direct        :           Mathew said, "Bravo! You have played well."

Indirect     :          Mathew applauded me that I had played well.

Direct        :           The man said to the beggar, "May you die!"

Indirect     :          The man cursed the beggar that he might die.