Reported Speech, also known as narration, refers to the act of reporting the words spoken by a person.
There are two types of narration: Direct Speech: The exact words of the speaker are reported without making changes. Example: Riya said, “I love to play football.”
Indirect Speech: The words of the speaker are reported with necessary changes in grammar, pronouns, and time expressions. Example: Riya said that she loved to play football.
In Direct Speech: 1. Quotation Marks: The words spoken are placed within “ ” (double quotation marks). 2. Comma: Separate the reporting verb (e.g., "said") from the quoted speech with a comma. 3. Capitalization: The first word inside the quotation marks begins with a capital letter.
In Indirect Speech: 1. Reporting Verb: May change based on the sense of the sentence (e.g., "said" may become "told"). 2. No Commas: Remove the comma after the reporting verb. 3. No Quotation Marks: Omit the inverted commas enclosing the quoted speech. 4. Conjunctions: Use conjunctions such as that, if, whether, what, where, etc. 5. Assertive Sentences: Convert all types of sentences into assertive forms. 6. Grammatical Changes: Modify pronouns, verb forms, time, and place expressions as needed.
1st Person Pronouns (e.g., I, we) → Change according to the subject of the reporting verb. 2nd Person Pronouns (e.g., you, your) → Change according to the object of the reporting verb. 3rd Person Pronouns (e.g., he, she, they) → Do not change.
No Object in Reporting Clause: Use the conjunction that. Example: Direct Speech: He said, “I work at a bank.” Indirect Speech: He said that he worked at a bank.
Object in Reporting Clause: Use told instead of said and follow it with a subject and the conjunction that. Example: Direct Speech: Ananya said to me, “You are adorable.” Indirect Speech: Ananya told me that I was adorable.
1. Interrogative Sentences: Use if or whether for yes/no questions. Example: Direct: She said, “Do you like coffee?” Indirect: She asked if I liked coffee.
Retain question words (e.g., what, why, where) for WH-questions. Example: Direct: He said, “What is your name?” Indirect: He asked what my name was. Remove the question mark and change the sentence to assertive form.
2. Imperative Sentences: Use to + verb in place of that. Example: Direct: I said to Mohan, “Do not talk to me.” Indirect: I ordered Mohan not to talk to me. For sentences starting with Let, use proposed or suggested. Example: Direct: Hema said, “Let us not fight.” Indirect: Hema suggested that we should not fight.
3. Exclamatory Sentences: Omit exclamatory words like Alas, Bravo, Oh, Wow, etc. Use verbs like exclaimed or wished based on the emotion expressed. Example: Direct: Rama said, “Alas! I have almost died.” Indirect: Rama exclaimed with sorrow that she had been ruined.
