Direct And Indirect Narration Assertive Sentences.
We change an Assertive Sentence into Indirect Speech according to the following rules-
All of first we change the Reporting Verb Says to into Tells and Said to Into Told. We do not change the Reporting Verb when there is no Object in Reporting Clause.
Examples-
- He says to me,”Ahmad is playing.”
- He tells me that Ahmad is playing.
- They said to me,”The teacher is teaching.”
- They told me that the teacher was teaching.
- Ravi says,”My brother will play.”
- Ravi says that his brother will play
- Meera said,”I can not wait.”
- Meera said that she could not wait.
In the above sentence, we see that in examples NO.1 & 2 we changed Says to and Said to into Tells and Told because there is Object [Me]. But in examples NO.3 & 4 we do not change the Reporting Verbs because there is no Object in Reporting Clause.
We remove the comma after the reporting clause and the inverted commas of reported speech. And we use Conjunction That to connect the reporting clause and reported speech.
Example:- He said to us,”Honesty is the best policy.”
He told us that honesty is the best policy.
Now we change Tense, Pronouns and Nearness of Time or Position according to the rules. [link for the basic rules.]
Some Solved Examples.
- He says,”Mohan has gone to foreign.”
- He says that Mohan has gone to foreign.
- My father says to me,”I have brought some new books for you.”
- My father told me that he has brought some new books for me.
- The teacher said to Rakesh,”you were not working hard.”
- The teacher told Rakesh that he had not been working hard.
- The gardener said,”There are seven rose flowers in my garden.”
- The gardener said that there were seven rose flowers in his garden.
Practice Set
- Change the following sentences into Indirect.
- He said,” The servant has finished his work timely.”
- The teacher said to us,” I shall teach you the last lesson today.”
- Newton said,” Earth pulls everything.”
- I said to them,” If the rain stops the match we will play the match.”
- He will say to his mother,” I am going to Agra with my friends.”
- Rakesh says to his younger brother,” You have done this work very well.”
- She said to her friends,” We will meet in this cafe tomorrow.”
- My friend said to me,” You played very well.”
- The old man said,” There was a big ground.”
- The boy said to his father,” I had completed my homework yesterday.”
- My parents said to me,” you should not waste your time.”
- She said to him,” Our children were playing outside.”
- The man said to the boy,” You have not done your work in time.”
- The traveler said to him,” This is my seat.”
- The police said to the thieves,” You can not run away now.”
- The beggar said to the passer-by,” I have been hungry for two days.”
- The old lady said to the policeman,” I have forgotten my bag.”
- Roma said to her friends,” I will invite you today.”
- The postman said to Mr.Sharma,” I want to give this letter to your elder brother.”
- They said to the teacher, “We did not come to school yesterday.”
Content Writer– Mohammad Anas.….. Edited by– Shadab Akhtar.