Narration direct and indirect speech

Narration direct and indirect speech

Narration  

Assertive Sentence: 

Look at the following conversation and follow the changes when some message is reported to others: 

Teacher: What did you eat. 

Sukumar: I ate bread and butter.  

Teacher: What did Sukumar say, Asif? 

Asif: Sukumar said that he had eaten bread.  

Teacher: Asif, how can you convey the same message in a different way? 

Asif: Sukumar said, “I ate bread and butter”. 

 

Sukumar said, “I ate bread and butter.” 

Sukumar said the he had eaten bread and butter.  

 

In every language, we need to report messages, speeches, comments and requests of a persons to others. We can report exactly what another person has said, e.g.: Sukumar said, “I ate bread and butter” or we can change the speech in our own words, e.g., Sukumar said that he had eaten bread and butter. The first type of sentence (speech) is called Direct Speech. On the other hand, the second kind is called Indirect or Reported Speech as the reporter conveys the message in his/her own way. However, we have to follow some rules to change the direct into an indirect speech.  

 

Now read the following Direct and Indirect speech forms and notice what we need to consider in changing direct speech into indirect.  

Direct Speech: He said, “I am ill.” 

Indirect Speech: He said that he was ill.  

 

Features:  

  • ‘that’ has been added as a linker. 

  • First person ‘i’ in the direct speech has been changed to ‘he’ based on the subject of the reporting verb.  

  • The verb ‘am’ has been changed to ‘was’ based on the verb ‘said’ and its tense.  

 

Although the changes occur differently in case of five different kinds of sentences (assertive, interrogative, imperative and exclamatory) and tenses, some general rules apply to all of them. One thing should be kept in mind that there are some common things such as tenses, persons, and words indicating change in time and place.  

 

Changing Tense:  

If the reporting is in the past tense, the tense of the verbs of the reported speech also becomes past tense, but if the reporting verb is in the present or future tenses, the tense verbs in the reported speech remain as it is.  

The tense changes as follows: 

Tenses of Verbs: 

Change to 

Present simple 

Abid said, “I like old songs.” 

Past simple 

Abid said that he liked old songs. 

Present Continuous 

Kona said, “They are playing cricket.” 

Past Continuous 

Kona said that they were playing cricket 

Present Perfect 

Motin said, “I have lost my watch.” 

Past Perfect 

Motin said that he had lost his watch 

Present Perfect Continuous 

Mina said, “I have been working for the poor.” 

Past Perfect Continuous. 

Mina said that she had been working for the poor.  

Past continuous 

Nahida said, “I was making a toy” 

Past Perfect continuous 

Nahida said that she was making a toy. 

Past Simple 

Nikkhil said, “I watched the film.” 

Past Perfect 

Nikhil said that he had watched the film 

Past Perfect 

She said, “I had applied for scholarship”.  

Past Perfect 

She said that she had applied for scholarship.  

Past Perfect Continuous 

He said, “They had been working hard.” 

Past Perfect Continuous 

He said that they had been working hard.  

 

Note: if the reporting verb is in the past tense, the modal verbs also change. For example: ‘may’ changes to ‘might’, ‘will’ changes to ‘would’, ‘shall’ changes to ‘should’ and so on.  

Example: he said, “Bina may ask her”. 

He said that Bina might ask her.  

You will find the changes in modals later in this article. 

Now look at the following examples: 

Direct: Abonti said, “I have read the novel” 

Indirect: Abonti said that she had read the novel. 

Direct: My sister says, “It is good to get up early in the morning.” 

Indirect: My sister says that it is good to get up early in the morning.  

Direct: Bella Said, “I will come back soon” 

Indirect: Bela said that she would go back soon.  

 

Note: if the reported speech indicates habitual facts, historical events or talks about eternal (universal) truth, the tense of the verb in the reported speech does not change. 

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

Indirect: The head teacher said that the sun rises in the east.  

Direct: Atanu said to me, “I get up from bed at 6 in the morning every day.” 

Indirect: Atanu said to me that he gets up from bed at 6 in the morning every day.  

Changing Persons: 

If you look at the indirect speech above, you will see that persons (nouns and pronouns) in the inverted commas have been changed in agreement with the subject and object of the reporting verbs.  

  1. The first person(s) of the reported speech is changed based on the person, number and gender of the subject of the reporting verb.  

  1. The second person(s) of the reported speech is changed based on the person, number and gender of the object of the reporting verb.  

  1. The third person(s) of the reported speech is not changed at all.  

Have a look at the example: 

Direct: He said to me, “I respect you” 

Indirect: He said to me that he respected me.  

Direct: I said to him, “They have prepared their lesson” 

Indirect: I said to him that they had prepared their lesson.  

 

Some words expressing time (now, today, etc.), place and things (here, this, etc.) change if the reporting verb is in the past tense.  

Direct: He said, “I am working now.” 

Indirect: He said that he was working then.  

Direct: My friend said, “I am coming today” 

Indirect: my friend said that he/she was going that day.  

Direct: Nayon said, “I come here every day.” 

Indirect: Nayon said that he went there every day.  

 

Words  

Change to  

Now  

Then  

Ago  

Before  

today 

That day/the same day 

tonight 

That night  

tomorrow 

The next day/the following day 

Last night 

The previous night 

Next day/week/year 

The following day/wee/year 

Tomorrow morning/afternoon 

The following morning/afternoon; the next morning/afternoon.  

Yesterday morning/afternoon 

The previous morning/afternoon 

Here  

there 

This  

That  

These  

those 

Thus  

In that way/so 

Come  

Go  

hence 

thence 

 

 

Note: if the time and the place of reporting remain the same, we do not need to change the words as shown above.  

 

Direct: The English Teacher said, “The inspector of schools will come today.” 

Indirect: The English teacher said that the inspector of school will come today. 

(The reporter is reporting at the time when they hear the news and they are reporting from the same place. So ‘will’, ‘come’ and ‘today’ are not changed.) 

Direct: My maternal uncle said, “I was born here in Dhaka” 

Indirect: My maternal uncle said that he was born here in Dhaka (reporter is in Dhaka)  

 

Interrogative Sentence:  

You have read and practiced how to change the assertive direct sentence to indirect in the previous lessons. Now, have a look at the following direct and indirect speech forms.  

Direct: He said to me, “What did you eat in the morning?” 

Indirect: He asked me what I had eaten in the morning.  

Direct: He said to her, “When will you come?” 

Indirect: He asked he when she would go.  

Direct: My father said to me, “Are you going to school today?” 

Indirect: My father asked me if (whether) I was going to school that day.  

 

If the reported speech is an interrogative sentence, 

  1. The reporting verb changes to ask/demand/enquire of/want to know, etc.  

  1. If the questions start with Wh-words, the Wh-words act as connectors.  

  1. If the questions can be answered with yes or no, ‘if’/’whether’ is used as linker. 

  1. When an interrogative direct speech is changed to indirect, it becomes as assertive sentence.  

  1. Other rules mentioned earlier are applicable here, too.  

 

Imperative Sentence:  

Read the direct and indirect speech forms and identify the rules which have been applied to change them to indirect.  

Direct: The poor man said, “Please give me a piece of bread.” 

Indirect: The poor man requested to give him a piece of bread. 

Direct: The father said to the son, “Do not eat junk food.” 

Indirect: The father ordered the son not to eat junk food.  

Direct: The teacher said to the students, “Go to your classroom.” 

Indirect: The teacher orders the students to go to their classroom.  

Direct: The boy said to the man, “Sir, give me your pen please”  

Indirect: Addressing the man as Sir, the boy requested him (the man) to give him (the boy) his pen.  

 

Now compare the rules you prepared with those given below.  

  1. As per the sense of the reported speech, the reporting verb changes to tell/order/command/request/beg/forbid/ask, etc.  

  1. ‘to’ is used as a connector and if the reported speech is negative, ‘not to ‘is used as a linker.  

When there is ‘let us’ in direct speech, it indicates proposal or suggestion. In case of such sentence's, reporting verb is changed to propose or suggest. ‘Let’ is replaced by ‘should’.  

 

Direct: Atanu said, “Let us play cricket.” 

Indirect: Atanu proposed/suggest that they should play cricked.  

Direct: The chairperson said, “Let us drop the matter.” 

Indirect: The chairperson proposed that they should drop the matter.  

Direct: Ria said, “Please let me go now” 

Indirect: Ria requested that she might/might be allowed to go then.  

When ‘let’ indicates permission, ‘let’ changes to ‘might’ or ‘might be allowed to’. The reporting verb may remain the same or can be changed to request/might/might be allowed to ‘based’ on the sense of the sentence.  

Look at the example: 

Direct: He said, “Let me go.” 

Indirect: He said that he might/might be allowed to go.  

Direct: My brother said, “Let me watch television.” 

Indirect: My brother said/requested that he might/might be allowed to watch tv. 

 

Optative Sentence: 

Direct: She said to me, “May you prosper in life.” 

Indirect: She wished that I might prosper in life. 

Direct: Mother said to her daughter, “May God help you.” 

Indirect: Mother prayed that God might help her daughter.  

Direct: They said, “Long live our prime minister” 

Indirect: They wished that their Prime Minister should live long.  

Direct: The English teacher said, “Good morning, my students.” 

Indirect: The English teacher wished his/her students good morning.  

 

  1. The reporting verb changes to ‘wish’ or ‘pray’ 

  1. ‘that’ is used as a connector. 

  1. The optative becomes a statement when made indirect.  

  1. Although ‘may’ is not there in the reported speech, its past form ‘might’ is used in the indirect speech.  

  1. Sentences that indicate greetings, farewell, goodbye, etc.,. Do not need to use ‘that’ as a connector. After ‘wish’/’bid’, the greetings are used to change the direct to indirect speech forms.  

 

Exclamatory Sentence:  

Read the following direct and indirect speech forms and try to guess the rules followed to change the direct to indirect.  

Direct: The player said, “Hurrah! Our team has won the match.” 

Indirect: The players exclaimed (cried out/shouted) with joy that their team had won the match.  

Direct: The boy said, “Alas! My mother is no more alive” 

Indirect: The boy exclaimed with sorrow that his father was no more alive.  

Direct: Faridul said to Fahim, “What a nice bird it is!” 

Indirect: Faridul exclaimed with joy to Fahim that it was a very nice bird.  

Direct: He said to, “What a funny boy you are!” 

Indirect: He cried out in joy that I was a very funny boy.  

 

Now compare your rules with the following: 

  1. Based on the sense of the reported speech, the reporting verb changes to exclaim, cry out in/with joy/grief/wonder/surprise/shout in joy/sorrow/grief/wonder/surprise. 

  1. ‘That’ is used as connector. 

  1. The indirect speech becomes an assertive sentence.