The literal meaning of the word Narration is statement. This word is formed from the word Narrate; The literal meaning of the word Narrate is “to say / to state”. Synonyms of Narration – assertion / statement / declaration etc.
There are two types of narration :
- Direct Speech – When we express the words of a speaker as it is in the words or language of the speaker; it is called Direct speech; In this speech, the statement of the speaker is kept within Inverted commas (” “); For example – He said to me, “I am going to school”.
Indirect Speech – When we express the words of a speaker in our own words or language; it is called Indirect speech; Inverted commas ( “ ” ) are removed in this speech; For example – He told me that he was going to school.
Direct speech has two parts – Reporting speech and reported speech;
- Reporting Speech – It is the part of direct speech that is kept out of inverted commas ( “ ” ); like – He says / He said / He said to me / I said to him / I said to her / He says / They said to me etc. Reporting verbs are changed according to the sense of reported speech while changing from direct speech to indirect speech.
Read Examples Of Narration With Rules
Direct – He said to me, “I am going to America.”
Indirect – He told me that he was going to America.
Direct – He says to me, “I like you.”
Indirect – He tells me that he likes me.
Direct – I said to you, “Bring one glass of water.”
Indirect – I ordered you to bring one glass of water.
Note – Reporting verbs “say to / says to / said to” are changed into “tell / tells / told”; If reported speech expresses the sense of request, order and suggestion;
in this condition, reporting verbs “say to / says to / said to” are changed into “request, requests, requested, order, orders, ordered, suggest, suggests, suggested; and preposition ‘to’ is used at the place of ‘that’;
When the reported speech is “Yes/No” type interrogative sentence; we use ‘if Or weather’ as a preposition to connect the reporting speech with reported speech; like –
Direct – He said to me, “ Are you learning English?”
Indirect – He asked me if I was learning English. (Or) He asked me whether I was learning English.
When the reported speech is “W.H.word” type interrogative sentence; we use ‘W.H.words (what, where, when, why, how, etc.)’ as a preposition while changing the direct speech into indirect speech; some examples are given below –
Direct – He said to me, “Where are you doing this job?”
Indirect – He asked me where I was doing this job.
Direct – Ravi says to my father, “What do I do in this company?”
Indirect – Ravi asks my father what he does in that company.
Direct – I said to him, “how will you do this work?”Indirect – I asked him how he would do that work.
Reported Speech – It is the part of direct speech that is kept in inverted commas ( “ ” ); like – He said to me, “I was teaching these children.”
Note – While changing the direct speech into indirect speech; Subject, Object, tense and nearest words of reported speech are changed;
Rules for changing “Subject, object, tense and nearest words –
Subject of reported speech is changed according to the subject and object of reporting speech; first person pronoun (I and we) changed according to ‘Subject’ of reporting speech; second person pronoun ‘You’ according to ‘Object’ of reporting speech; and third person pronoun ‘No changing’
Examples –
Direct – He said to me, “I am a doctor in this hospital.”
Indirect – He told me that he was a doctor in that hospital.
(Now, you can see ‘Subject’ of reported speech is ‘I’ that has been changed according to ‘Subject’ of reporting speech; ‘He’ was used at the place of ‘I’ in reported speech.)
Direct – He said to me, “You are my personal doctor.”
Indirect – He told me that I was his personal doctor.
(Second person pronoun ‘You’ of reported speech changed according to ‘object’ of reporting speech – ‘You’ into ‘I’ and and first person pronoun ‘my’ changed according to ‘Subject’ of reporting speech – ‘my’ into ‘his’
Direct – He said to me, “He will not come here.”
Indirect – He told me that he would not go there.
(Third person pronoun of reported speech ‘He, She, It, They and name are not changed)
Rule for changing ‘Tense’ forms while changing the direct speech into indirect speech –
To apply this rule, the verb of reporting speech should be in past tense; like – “said, said to”
- Simple present tense into Simple past tense.
- Present indefinite into Past indefinite.
- Present continuous tense into past continuous tense.
- Present perfect tense into past perfect tense.
- Present perfect continuous tense into Past perfect continuous tense.
- Past indefinite tense into Past perfect tense.
- Past continuous tense into Past perfect continuous tense.
- ‘Shall’ into ‘should’
- Will into would
- Shall be into should be
- Will be into would be
- Shall have into should have
- Will have into would have
- Shall have been into should have been
- Will have been into would have been
- Can into could
- Can have into could have
- May into might
Some More Examples Of Direct And Indirect Speech –
Direct – He said to me, “I shall go there.”
Indirect – He told me that he should go there.
Direct – Ravi said, “You can do this work.
Indirect – Ravi said that I could do that work.
Direct – They said to her, “We will help you.”
Indirect – They told her that they would help her.
Direct – He said to me, “He will have completed his project.”
Indirect – He told me that he would have completed his project.
Direct – He said to you, “You may go out.”
Indirect – He told you that you might go out.
Rule for changing “nearest meaning expressing words into “distance meaning expressing words” while changing the direct speech into indirect speech – To apply this rule, the verb of reporting speech should be in past tense; like – “said, said to”
Direct Speech Nearest Meaning Words –
This, These, Now, Thus, Hence, Today, To-night, This day, This night, Tomorrow, Yesterday, The day before yesterday, The day after tomorrow, Last week, Last month, Last year, Last night, Last day, Next week, Next month, Next year, Next night, Next day, Come, A year ago.
While changing the direct speech into indirect speech; all these nearest meaning words will be changed into distance meaning expressing words –
That, Those, There, Then, So, Thence, That day, That night, That day, That night, { The next day, The following day, }, { The previous day, The day before}, Two days before, In two days’ before, { The previous week, The week before },
{ The previous month, The month before }, { The previous year, The year before }, { The previous night, The night before }, { The previous day, The day before }, The following week, The following month, The following year, The following night, The following day, Go, A year before.
Read Some More Examples Of Direct Speech And Indirect Speech –
Direct – Sweta said, “you taught my sister last night.”
Indirect – Sweta said that I had taught her sister the previous night.
Direct – I said, “You are a laborious student in this class.”
Indirect – I said that he was a laborious student in that class.
Narration With Examples And Rules
Note : If reported speech sentence is about universal truth; “we” pronoun and “tense” never should be changed; like –
Direct – They said, “We can not live without water.” (It’s true – We can not live without water)
Indirect – They said that we can not live without water.
Direct – They said, “We are social animals.” (It’s true – We are really social animals.)Indirect – They said that we are social animals.
Narration With Examples And Rules
Note : If the editor of any newspaper or magazine use ‘we, us, or our’ for himself; it will be changed into “it, it or its” while changing the direct speech into indirect speech; like –
Direct – The Times of India says, “Our office will remain closed on Monday next.”
Indirect – The Times of India says that its office will remain closed on Monday next.
Direct – The Hindustan says, “We shall issue a cartoon section in our saturday’s paper.”
Indirect – The Hindustan says that it will issue a cartoon section in its Saturday’s paper.
Examples Of Narration For Practice
Direct – She said to me, “I could solve this problem.”
Indirect – She told me that She could solve that problem.
Direct – Rohan said to Shyam, “You would help me.”
Indirect – Rohan told Shyam that he would help him.
Direct – I said to her, “He is a good player.”
Indirect – I told her that he was a good player.
Direct – I said to Mohan, “He has a pen.”
Indirect – I told Mohan that he had a pen.
Direct – Rekha said to Madan, “I was going to market.”
Indirect – Rekha told Madan that she had been going to market.
Direct – He said, “You were absent in the class.”
Indirect – He told me that I had been absent in the class.
Direct – She said to me, “You have to do this work.”
Indirect – She told me that I had to do that work.
I hope that you read this post completely; and you learned how to change the direct speech into indirect speech; If you are unable to understand; please read it once again carefully.