1. Changing interrogative sentences
In converting such sentences, we follow the steps below. We usually -
(a) change the reporting verb into ask or enquire:
(b) then add whether or if in case the
question admits of one of the two answers yes or no: but do not add whether or if when the question is introduced by an interrogative pronoun, or adjective, or adverb (who, which, what, why, when, where, how, etc.);
(c) and change the interrogative form into a statement. The conjunction that is never used in such cases.
Examples:
(a)
Direct: He said to me, "Are you ill?"
Indirect: He asked (or enquired of) me if (or whether) I was ill.
Direct: You said to me. "Do you hear me?"
Indirect: You asked me if I heard you.
(b)
Direct: He said to me, "What are you doing?"
Indirect: He asked me what I was doing.
Direct: He said to me, "When will you go home?"
Indirect: He enquired of me when I would go home.
Direct: You said to me, "Why have you failed?"
Indirect: You asked me why I had failed.
Exercise
Turn into the Indirect form of Speech:
1. I said to him, "When will you do it?"
2. He said to me, "Do you like the work?"
3. They said to her, "Who are you and what do you want of us?"
4. You said to them, "Have you seen the man who came to me the other day?.
5. I said to him, "When did you see me and what do you think of me?"
6. She said to me, "Did you write to me before?"
7. He said to her. "When did you come to my place?"
Exercise
Turn into the Direct speech:
1. He asked me how I did the work.
2. She enquired when I would be able to help her.
3. They asked the boy why he had failed in the examination.
4. The boy asked his mother what she was sorry for.
5. They enquired me who I was and why I was with them.
6. I asked him if he would compete for the medal with my brother.
2. Changing imperative sentences
In converting imperative sentences, change the verb into the Infinitive form, and the reporting verb into such words as tell, request, command, beg, entreat. etc. as the sense of the speech may require.
Direct: My friend said to me, "Go home at once."
Indirect: My friend told or advised me to go home at once.
Direct : He said to me, "Do not go there."
Indirect: He told or advised or ordered me not to go there
Direct: I said to him, "Please explain the passage."
Indirect: I requested him to explain the passage.
Direct: I said to him. "Excuse me, sir".
Indirect: I begged him to excuse me.
Notes
a) Tell may often be used to express 'request', 'order', "command', etc. It is, therefore, often safer for students to use tell in the Indirect form when they may be in doubt about the proper word to introduce the reported speech.
b) Vocatives may be omitted, as in the last example, or may be dealt with as below:
Direct: He said, "Iqbal, go there."
Indirect: He told Iqbal to go there.
Direct: He said, "Friends, lend me your ears."
Indirect: Addressing them as friends, he requested them to lend him their ears.
Direct: He shouted. "Stop you, villain." Indirect: He shouted to the villain to stop.
(Or) He ordered the villain to stop.
(Or) Calling the man a villain, he ordered him to stop.
c) In the Indirect form, such expressions as please, sir in the Direct are left out or they are rendered by such expressions as kindly, politely, etc.
3. Changing sentences beginning with 'Let'
(a) When Let in the Direct speech expresses a proposal or suggestion, we may use should for Let, and change the reporting verb into propose or suggest.
Direct: He said to me, "Let us go home". Indirect: He proposed or suggested to me that we should go home.
Direct: I said to him, "Let us have some music."
Indirect: I proposed or suggested to him that we should have some music.
(b) But when Let does not express a proposal, it should be changed into might or might be allowed, or into some other form according to the sense.
Direct : He said, "Let him do whatever he likes."
Indirect: He said that he might (or might be allowed to) do whatever he liked
Direct: He said, "Let me come in."
Indirect: He requested that he might be allowed to come in.
Direct: He said to me, "Let him say whatever he likes, I shall certainly support."
Indirect: He told me that he (a third person) might say whatever he liked, but he (the speaker) would certainly support me.
Exercise
Turn into the indirect form of speech:
1. He said to the student "Please give me a book."
2. I said to her, "Go to school, or you will be fined."
3. They said to me, "Rani, tell your brother to see us."
4. The President said to the members, "Please obey the chair."
5. She said to him. "Father, kindly excuse me this time"
6. The boy sid. "Sir, please grant me Jeave of absence
7. He said to me, "Let me try."
Exercise
Turn into the Direct form of speech:
1. He told me to go home.
2. I requested him to lend me a pen.
3. The beggar entreated me to give him a paisa.
4. The father ordered the boy not to mix with such friends.
5. He proposed that we should go out for a walk.
6. The girl begged her father to allow her to go.
4. Changing optative sentences
In optative sentences, the reporting verb is changed into wish or pray, and the optative form is changed into a statement.
Examples:
Direct: He said to me, "May you be happy."
Indirect: He wished or prayed that I might be happy.
Direct: He said to you, "May God bless you."
Indirect: He prayed that God might bless you.
5. Changing exclamatory sentences
If the Direct form is an exclamation, the reporting verb is changed to some such verb as exclaim, cry out, pray, wish, and the exclamation is turned into a statement. But new words and phrases have often to be introduced to express the full meaning.
Direct: He said, "Alas I am undone!"
Indirect: He cried out in sorrow that he was undone.
Direct. He said, "What a fool I am!"
Indirect: He exclaimed with grief that he was a great fool.
Direct: He said, "Good-bye, my friends"
Indirect: He bade his friends good-bye. (Or He bade good-bye to his friends).
Direct: "Bless his kind heart!" they cried.
Indirect: They blessed him for his kind heart.
Direct: "Bravo well done!" they cried.
Indirect: They applauded him that (or, saying that) he had done well.
Direct: "So help me Heaven", he cried. "I will never do so again."
Indirect: He prayed to Heaven to help him in his resolve not to do so again.
Direct: He said, "By Jove, What a good news!"
Indirect: Ho swore by Jove that it was a very good news.
N.B. It should be carefully noted that what, how and who are sometimes used in exclamation to denote excess or absence instead of introducing an interrogation. In such cases, they should be replaced by great, greatly, very, very much, ete. in the Indirect:-
Direct: He said to me, "How happy you are!"
Indirect: He told me that I was very happy.
Direct : He said, "What a nice thing it is!"
Indirect: He said (or exclaimed with joy) that it was a very nice thing.
Direct : He said. "What was my joy to see the thing!"
Indirect : He said that his joy to see the thing was very great.
Direct : I said, "Who knew that this would happen!"
Indirect : I said that none knew that that would happen.
Exercise
Turn into the Indirect forin of speech:
1. I said to her, "May you live long."
2. He said to you "May you all succeed."
3. He said. "Well done!"
4. You said. "Good morning my friend, I am glad to meet you."
5. He said, "What a fool I am!"
6. You said, "By God! I never meant you any harm."
7. He said, "How charming the sight is!"
8. You said to me, "How clever your action was!"
9. I said to him. "What a nice fellow your brother is!"
10. You said, "Who does not wish to be happy?"
11. You said, "Had I the means to do it!"
12. He said, "My God! I am undone."
13. They said, "How cruel of him!"
14. He said, "Ah me, what a mistake it was!"
6. Changing questions and answers in dialogues
In changing questions and answers in a dialogue into the Indirect form, the missing parts of sentences are to be mentioned clearly by supplying the words understood from the context. Look at the examples below. The parts in italics in the Indirect form are provided from the context make the narrative clear.
1.
Direct: "What is your name?"
"Rubaba."
Indirect: I asked her what her name was. She replied that her name was Rubaba.
2.
Direct: I said to him, "How long will you stay?" He replied, "For five days."
Indirect: I asked him how long he would stay. He replied that he would stay for five days.
3.
Direct: He said to me, "Are you ill?" I replied, "No (or Yes)."
Indirect: He asked me if I was ill. I replied that (I was not/I was).
Direct: He said to me, "Do you know Razib?" I said, "No."
Indirect: He asked me if I knew Razib. I replied that I did not.
The force of Yes and No may be implied in the main verb:
Direct: He said, "Yes, sir, I shall go."
Indirect: He promised that he would go.
Direct: She said, "No, sir, I have not seen it."
Indirect: She denied that she had seen it. Or, She denied having seen it.
Note: The cumbrous forms replied in the negative, replied in the affirmative should be avoided.
7. Changing combination of various types of sentences
The combination of different kinds of reported sentences requires careful treatment. Let us take the following example:
He said to me, "Who are you? What do you want? Go away."
The reported sentences, taken separately, are changed thus:
(i) He asked me who I was;
(ii) He asked me what I wanted;
(iii) He told me to go away:
The reporting or introductory verb asked is common to the first two sentences but in the last, we have a new verb told. Therefore, asked, placed only once at the beginning, may serve for the first two sentences together, like a common factor in mathematics but the new verb told has to be used in introducing the third sentence. Thus put together, the Indirect form should be:
He asked me who I was and what I wanted, and told me to go away.
Consider again the example below:
He said to me, "Why are you silent? Speak out. Can't you hear?"
Taken separately, the passage runs thus in the Indirect:
He asked me
(i) why I was silent and
(ii) (he) ordered me to speak out and
(iii) asked me if I could not hear.
Here, asked is common in the first and third clauses no doubt; yet, as they are not consecutive, asked cannot be taken as a common factor, but has to be repeated. To express this force of repetition, we use again with asked in the third clause, and separate it altogether in a new sentence to make it better. The passage will then stand in the Indirect speech as:
He asked me why I was silent and ordered me to speak out. He asked again if I could not hear.
Some general rules
(i) When sentences of the same kind occur consecutively in the reported speech, the reporting verb or introductory verb is to be used only once in the Indirect speech; but, when the sentences are not consecutive, the verb is to be repeated, often with the addition of again or also before or after it.
(ii) When sentences of different kind are joined, different reporting verbs appropriate to the different sentences have to be used in the different form.
(c) Consider again the sentence:
He said to me, "Why were you absent? The Headmaster is angry. Go to him at once."
Taken separately the sentences are to be changed thus:
He (i) asked me why I had been absent and (ii) said that the Headmaster was angry and
(iii) told me to go to him at once.
Put in proper, connected English, the passage stands thus:
He asked me why I had been absent. The Headmaster was angry; so he told (or advised) me to go to him at once.
It has to be noted that the entire introductory portion he said that is altogether dropped from the second sentence (an assertive orne), which is used independently and to maintain the link, a new word so is put between the clauses ("The Headmaster was angry"; and the next).
This trick of dropping the entire introductory portion from assertive sentences when they do not begin with the reported speech is very helpful to beginners.
Changing speech in a passage
It is very important to read the whole passage and understand the context in which the conversation takes place. We should first try to understand who are the characters involved in the talk, and who is speaking to whom. There may be reported speech which is not preceded by a reporting verb. In such case, we have to provide the reporting verb that is implied.
Varieties of verbs (such as, sigh, groan, murmur, whisper, shout, mutter, screamed, etc.) can be used in the reporting speech, and we have to keep them as they are.
Long and elaborate descriptions may precede or follow the reported speech.
Usually, while changing in to Indirect, we have to keep them as they are, then start changing the reporting verb accordingly.
For example:
Direct: The director allowed a pause and suddenly screamed, "Tiger, Tiger."
"Where?" Jagu asked involuntarily in a stentorian voice, looking around in panic: he made a move to spring forward. The director cried, "Idiot! I told you not to move out of this mark. Get back and stay there." [R K Narayan]
Indirect: The director allowed a pause and suddenly screamed that he had seen a Tiger.
Looking around in panic, Jagu asked involuntarily in a stentorian voice where the tiger was. He made a move to spring forward, Addressing him (Jagu) as idiot, the director cried that he had told him not to move out of that mark. He (the director) ordered Jagu to get back and stay there.
Look at another example here.
Direct: "The master being calm and wise merely said. "If you are going to be here, take care not to interrupt our talks."
Indirect: The master being calm and wise merely told that if they were going to be there, they should take care not to interrupt their talks.
[R K Narayan]
