Rules of Narration

There are two ways of expressing the words of a speaker:
(1) We may quote his actual words: This is called Direct Speech.
(2) We may report what he said without quoting his exact words.         

This is called Indirect or Reported Speech.

Direct: Talha said, ‘I am reading a book now.’

Indirect: Talha said that he was reading a book then.

It will be noticed that in Direct Speech, we use inverted commas to mark off the exact words of the speaker. In Indirect Speech we do not. It will be further noticed that in changing the above Direct Speech into Indirect certain changes have been made. Such as:

(i) We have used the conjunction that before the Indirect statement.

(ii) The pronoun I is changed to he. (The Pronoun is changed in Person.)

(iii) The verb am is changed to was. (Present Tense is changed to Past.)

(iv)The adverb now is changed to then.

RULES FOR CHANGING DIRECT SPEECH INTO INDIRECT

CHANGE OF TENSES

When the reporting or principal verb is in the Past Tense, all Present tenses of the Direct Speech are changed into the corresponding Past Tenses. Thus:

(a)A simple present becomes a simple past.

  Direct:  He said, ‘I play cricket’

  Indirect:  He said (that) he played cricket.

(b)A present continuous becomes a past continuous.

Direct: He said, “I am playing cricket.’

Indirect: He said (that) he was playing cricket.

(c) A present perfect continuous and a past continuous become a past perfect continuous

Direct:  He said, “I was playing cricket”

Indirect: He said that he had been playing cricket.”

Direct: He said, “I have been playing cricket for an hour.”

Indirect: He said that he had been playing cricket for an hour.

(d) A simple past and a present perfect become a past perfect.

Direct: He said, ‘I have passed the examination.’

Indirect: He said (that) he had passed the examination.

Direct: He said, “I passed the examination.”

Indirect: He said that he had passed the examination.

(e) Past perfect and past perfect continuous tenses require no change.

Direct: He said, “He had been suffering from fever for a week.”

Indirect: He said that he had been suffering from fever for a week.

Note: The shall of the Future Tense is changed into should.

The will of the Future Tense is changed into would or should.

• The tenses may not change if the statement is still relevant or if it is a universal truth. We can often choose whether to keep the original tenses or change them.

Direct: ‘I know her address,’ said Kamal.

Indirect: Kamal said that he knows/knew her address.

Direct: The teacher said, ‘The earth goes round the sun.’

Indirect: The teacher said the earth goes/went round the sun.

Direct: ‘German is easy to learn’, she said.

Indirect: She said German is/was easy to learn.

• If the reporting verb is in the Present or future Tense, the tenses of the Direct Speech do not change. For example, we may rewrite the above examples, putting the reporting verb in the Present Tense, thus:

Direct: He says, “I have done my duty”

Indirect: He says that he has done his duty.

Direct: You will say, “I am ill.”

Indirect: You will say that you are ill.

• “Must” used in direct speech remains unchanged if it is used to denote “rule/principle/moral obligation”. Such as:

Direct: The teacher said, “Students must obey their parents.”

Indirect: The teacher said that students must obey their parents.

• But if “must” denotes necessity, “must” in the direct speech is changed into “had to”.

Direct: My father said to me, “You must take some physical exercise regularly.”

Indirect: My father said to me that I had to take some physical exercise regularly.

CHANGE OF PERSON

Rule 1: First person used in the reported speech is changed according to the subject of reporting verb.

 E.g. Direct: He said, “I shall do my work.” Indirect: He said that he would do his work.

Note: If the subject of reported speech “we” denotes human beings in general, then it (we) will remain unchanged.

E.g. Direct: My grandfather said, “We shall all die.” Indirect: My grandfather said that we shall all die.  

Rule 2: Second person used in the reported speech is changed according to the object of reporting verb.

E.g. Direct: He said to me, “You have done a good job.”

Indirect: He told me that I had done a good job.

Rule 3: Third person requires no change

E.g. Direct: They said to us, “She can sing well”

Indirect: They said to us that she could sing well.

There are two ways of expressing the words of a speaker:

(1) We may quote his actual words: This is called Direct Speech.
(2) We may report what he said without quoting his exact words.         

This is called Indirect or Reported Speech.

Direct: Talha said, ‘I am reading a book now.’

Indirect: Talha said that he was reading a book then.

It will be noticed that in Direct Speech, we use inverted commas to mark off the exact words of the speaker. In Indirect Speech we do not. It will be further noticed that in changing the above Direct Speech into Indirect certain changes have been made. Such as:

(i) We have used the conjunction that before the Indirect statement.

(ii) The pronoun I is changed to he. (The Pronoun is changed in Person.)

(iii) The verb am is changed to was. (Present Tense is changed to Past.)

(iv)The adverb now is changed to then.

RULES FOR CHANGING DIRECT SPEECH INTO INDIRECT

CHANGE OF TENSES

When the reporting or principal verb is in the Past Tense, all Present tenses of the Direct Speech are changed into the corresponding Past Tenses. Thus:

(a)A simple present becomes a simple past.

 Direct:  He said, ‘I play cricket’

  Indirect:  He said (that) he played cricket.

(b)A present continuous becomes a past continuous.

Direct: He said, “I am playing cricket.’

Indirect: He said (that) he was playing cricket.

(c) A present perfect continuous and a past continuous become a past perfect continuous

Direct:  He said, “I was playing cricket”

Indirect: He said that he had been playing cricket.”

Direct: He said, “I have been playing cricket for an hour.”

Indirect: He said that he had been playing cricket for an hour.

(d) A simple past and a present perfect become a past perfect.

Direct: He said, ‘I have passed the examination.’

Indirect: He said (that) he had passed the examination.

Direct: He said, “I passed the examination.”

Indirect: He said that he had passed the examination.

(e) Past perfect and past perfect continuous tenses require no change.

Direct: He said, “He had been suffering from fever for a week.”

Indirect: He said that he had been suffering from fever for a week.

Note: The shall of the Future Tense is changed into should.

The will of the Future Tense is changed into would or should.

• The tenses may not change if the statement is still relevant or if it is a universal truth. We can often choose whether to keep the original tenses or change them.

Direct: ‘I know her address,’ said Kamal.

Indirect: Kamal said that he knows/knew her address.

Direct: The teacher said, ‘The earth goes round the sun.’

Indirect: The teacher said the earth goes/went round the sun.

Direct: ‘German is easy to learn’, she said.

  Indirect: She said German is/was easy to learn.

• If the reporting verb is in the Present or future Tense, the tenses of the Direct Speech do not change. For example, we may rewrite the above examples, putting the reporting verb in the Present Tense, thus:

Direct: He says, “I have done my duty”

Indirect: He says that he has done his duty.

Direct: You will say, “I am ill.”

Indirect: You will say that you are ill.

• “Must” used in direct speech remains unchanged if it is used to denote “rule/principle/moral obligation”. Such as:

Direct: The teacher said, “Students must obey their parents.”

Indirect: The teacher said that students must obey their parents.

• But if “must” denotes necessity, “must” in the direct speech is changed into “had to”.

Direct: My father said to me, “You must take some physical exercise regularly.”

Indirect: My father said to me that I had to take some physical exercise regularly.

CHANGE OF PERSON

Rule 1: First person used in the reported speech is changed according to the subject of reporting verb.

 E.g. Direct: He said, “I shall do my work.” Indirect: He said that he would do his work.

Note: If the subject of reported speech “we” denotes human beings in general, then it (we) will remain unchanged.

E.g. Direct: My grandfather said, “We shall all die.” Indirect: My grandfather said that we shall all die.  

Rule 2: Second person used in the reported speech is changed according to the object of reporting verb.

E.g. Direct: He said to me, “You have done a good job.”

Indirect: He told me that I had done a good job.

Rule 3: Third person requires no change

E.g. Direct: They said to us, “She can sing well”

Indirect: They said to us that she could sing well.

CHANGE OF TIME AND PLACE WORDS

Direct	Indirect	Direct	Indirect
this ––––– that		Today/tonight –––––– that day/that night
these –––– those		tomorrow–––––the next day/the following day
here –––– there		yesterday ––––– the previous day  \ the day before
ago –––– before		last month/year/day/week/night––––the previous month/year/day/week/night
come –––– go		next week/month –––––  the following week/month
now –––– then		hence–––––thence

N.B: ‘This + time expression’ changes into ‘that + time expression’

Direct:  He said, “I am going to Dhaka this week”.

Indirect:  He said that he was going to Dhaka that week.

• But if this/that is used as demonstrative adjective, this/that of indirect speech is changed into the in indirect speech.

Direct : Rodela said, “That house looks green.”

Indirect : Rodela said that the house looked green.

Direct:  He said, “I have bought this book for you.”

Indirect: He said that he had bought the book for me.

• In reported speech here/there remains unchanged if they clearly indicate any particular place.

Direct: Haris said to Himel, “I shall meet you there in Jessore tomorrow.”

Indirect:  Haris told Himel that he would meet him there in Jessore the following day.

Direct : Tamim said to me, “I have no friend here in Jessore.”

Indirect : Tamim told me that he had no friend here in Jessore.

     The empty ‘it’ (i.e. introductory ‘it’) doesn’t change into ‘that’ in the indirect speech

Direct : He said, “It is time to leave.”

Indirect : He said that it was time to leave, (not- that was)

Note: That used in direct speech is changed into it in indirect speech.

Direct: He said, “That is good.”

Indirect: He said that it was good.

Rules of Changing Assertive Sentence into Indirect Narration

(i)Reporting verb without an object remains unchanged;

(ii)Reporting verb ‘say + to + object’ is changed into ‘tell + object.’ (i.e. He said to me = he told me)

(iii)The inverted comma is removed and conjunction “that” is used before the reported speech.

Direct: Rafiq said to his friend, “I am happy today.”

Indirect: Rafiq told his friend that he was happy that day.

Direct: Kamal said, “I am doing my home-work”

Indirect: Kamal said that he was doing his home-work.

Direct:  Rashed said, “I shall go to London tomorrow.”

Indirect:  Rashed said that he would go London the next day.

Direct: Tanvir said, “I have never seen a man like you.”

Indirect: Tanvir said that he had never seen a man like me.

Change of Interrogative Sentence

(i)Reporting verb of indirect speech is changed into ask, inquire of, want to know etc. according to sense of the reported speech.

(ii)Use if/whether before reported speech if it is yes/no question.

Note- The questions which can be answered by using yes/no are known as yes/no question. Yes/no question generally beings with auxiliary verbs.

(iii)But if the interrogative sentence begins with WH question, then those WH questions remain unchanged. In that case, we should not use if/whether as conjunction.

(iv)And interrogative sentence of direct speech is changed into assertive one in indirect speech. Let’s practice :

Direct: Arif said to me, “Do you require any help?”

Indirect: Arif asked me if I required any help.

Direct : The girl said to her mother, “Have you brought a pen for me?”

Indirect : The girl asked her mother if she had brought a pen for her.

Direct : Bina said to Rina, “Would you sing a song?”

Indirect : Bina asked Rina whether she would sing a song.

Direct : Rima said to me, “What are you doing?”

Indirect : Rima asked me what I was doing.

Direct : My father said to me, “Which pen do you like?”

Indirect : My father asked me which pen I liked.

Direct : My mother said to me, “What did you want?”

Indirect : My mother wanted to know what I had wanted.

Direct: Karim said to me, “Where are you going?”

Indirect : Karim wanted to know where I was going.

Direct: Mamun said to me, “Shall I wait for you?”

   Indirect : Mamun asked me if he would wait for me.

Direct : Karim said to his mother, “Where shall I put the basket?”

Indirect : Karim asked his mother where he would put the basket.

*   If questions beginning with ‘shall I/we’ express ‘request/advice/instruction’ are changed like ‘yes/no questions’.

Direct: She said, “Shall I switch on the fan?”

Indirect: She asked wheather she should switch on the fan.

Direct: He said me, “Shall I go out please?”

Indirect: He asked me if he should go out.

N.B. (i) But ‘shall’ becomes ‘would’ when such question express request for information.

Direct: He said to me, “Shall I open the door?”

   Indirect: He asked me if he would open the door.

Direct: She said, “Shall I ever get a job?”

Indirect: She wondered if she would ever get a job.

(ii) Yes/no in indirect speech

‘Yes/no’ as answer to a question is turned into indirect speech in this way: subject auxiliary verb (statement)

Direct: He said, “Can you help me?” I said, “Yes.”

Indirect: He asked me if I could help him and I replied that I could

Direct: I said, “Will you go home?” She said, “No.”

Indirect: I asked if she would go home and she replied that she wouldn’t.

Change of Imperative Sentence

• Reporting verb of indirect speech is changed into ask, order, request, command, beg, tell etc. according to the sense or mood of the reported speech.
•  In case of affirmative sentence we use “to” and in case of negative sentence we use “not to” before the verb of imperative sentence.
• We should use kindly/politely/respectfully in the indirect speech instead of Sir/please used in the direct speech.

   Direct:The teacher said to his pupils, “Stand up.”

   Indirect:The teacher ordered his pupils to stand up.

Direct  : Rafiq said to me, “Please lend me some money.”

Indirect: Rafiq requested me politely to lend him some money.

Direct  : Mr. Mahbub said to his son, “Don’t eat dirty food.”

Indirect: Mr. Mahbub advised his son not to eat dirty food.

Direct  : The General said to the soldiers, “March on.”

   Indirect: The General commanded the soldiers to march on.

   Direct: The doctor said to the patient, “Don’t smoke.”

   Indirect: The doctor advised the patient not to smoke.

Direct: Rana said to his friend, “Please open the door.”

 Indirect: Rana requested his friend politely to open the door.

   Direct:  Mother said to me, “Don’t run in the sun.”    

   Indirect : Mother advised me not to run in the sun.

  Note: In case of negative imperative sentence, we can remove not by using reporting verb prohibit/forbid.

Direct:  He said to me, “Don’t go there.”

Indirect: He told me not to go there.

   or, He forbade me to go there.

Direct : My mother said to me, “Don’t smoke.”               

   Indirect: My mother advised me not to smoke.       

  or, My mother forbade me to smoke.

Imperative sentence beginning with Let. An imperative sentence with “Let + us ” expressing proposal/suggestion is turned into indirect speech in the following way:

• Reporting verb is changed into propose/suggest.
•  Conjunction that is used before imperative sentence.
• Let is removed and objective case us is changed into subjective case we
• Modal verb should + base form of the main verb is used after that.
• Preposition (to) after reporting verb remains.

Direct : Mira said to her friends, “Let us have a picnic on Sunday.”

Indirect : Mira proposed to her friends that they should have a picnic on Sunday.

Direct : My mother said to me, “Let us go home.”

Indirect : My mother proposed to me that we should go home.

Direct : I said, “Let me have a rest.”

Indirect: I proposed that I should have a rest.

Direct:  Kamal said to his friends, “Let us not miss the chance.”

Indirect : Kamal proposed to his friends that they should not miss the chance.

Note: Editorial we in direct speech is changed into it in indirect speech.

Direct: The Daily Star says, “We published that report on environmental pollution.”

Indirect: The Daily Star says that it published the report on environmental pollution.

Direct:  Kanta said to me, “Let us sing together.”

Indirect: Kanta proposed that we should sing together.

• An imperative sentence with ‘Let + first/third person’ expressing wish/ permission/ order/ command is turned into indirect speech like a statement.
• Reporting verb is changed into ask/order/command or remains unchanged.
• Let is changed into might/might be allowed to.

Direct: The teacher said, “Let him do whatever he likes.”

Indirect: The teacher said that he might do whatever he liked.

Direct: The girl said, “Let me have some milk.”

Indirect: The girl said that she might be allowed to have some milk.

Direct: Labu said, “Let the man go.”

Indirect: Labu said that the man might be allowed to go.

Direct: The teacher said, “Let them do whatever they like.”

Indirect: The teacher said/ordered that they might do whatever they liked.

Direct: The officer said, “Let the police fire”

Indirect : The officer ordered that the police might fire.

Change of Optative sentence

(i) Reporting verb of indirect speech is changed into bless, pray, wish and curse according to the sense or mood of the reported speech.

(ii)  Optative sentence is turned into assertive one.

(iii) Conjunct that is used before reported speech.

(iv) May is changed into might and long live is changed into might live long.

Direct: Mother said, “May Allah bless you.”

Indirect: Mother prayed that Allah might bless me.

Direct: The teacher said, “May you prosper in life.”

Indirect: The teacher wished that I might prosper in life.

Direct: Father said to his son, “May you succeed in the exam.”

Indirect: Father prayed that his son might succeed in the exam.

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

Indirect: They wished that their president might live long.

Note: We should use reporting verb wish for the greetings like good morning, good evening and bid or bade for the greetings like farewell, good night, good-bye.

Direct: Mr. Rahman said, “Good morning, my friends.”

Indirect: Mr. Rahman wished good morning to his friends.

Direct: Rashed said, “Good bye, all my friends.”

Indirect: Rashed bade good bye to all his friends.

Direct: Mr. Khan said, “Good night, my friends.”

Indirect: Mr. Khan bade good night to his friends.

Direct: He said, “Farewell, my friends.”

Indirect: He bade farewell to his friends.

Change of Exclamatory Sentence

• Reporting verb of indirect speech is changed into exclaim in grief, exclaim in /with joy, exclaim with sorrow, exclaim in/with delight, cry out in sorrow, applaud, exclaim with anger/surprise/contempt according to the sense or mood of the reported speech.
• Conjunction that is used before reported speech.
• Very/greatly is used instead of what/how.

Direct:  Arif said, “How helpless I am!”

Indirect: Arif exclaimed with sorrow that he was very helpless.

Direct: They said, “Hurrah! We have won the match.”

Indirect: They cried out with joy that they had won the match.

Direct    – Rafiq said, “What a fool I am!”

Indirect   – Rafiq exclaimed with grief that he was a great fool.

Direct    – Hamid said, “How changed you are!”

Indirect   – Hamid wondered that I was greatly changed.

Direct    – The old man said, “By Allah! It is good news.”

Indirect   – The old man swore by Allah that it was very good news.

Direct    – He said to me, “Alas! I could not save you.”

 Indirect   – He cried out in grief that he could not save me.

Direct    – Salma said, “What a nice bird it is!”

Indirect   – Salma cried out in joy that it was very nice bird.

Direct    – He observed, “How dirty the house is!”

Indirect   – He exclaimed that the house was very dirty.

Direct    – He said, “What was my joy to see the thing!”

Indirect – He said that his joy to see the thing was very great.