NARRATION

 

Dear students and teachers!

            Today I am going to write about the narration which is included in our new syllabus of class 12. I was avoiding this topic because it is a very lengthy and it is difficult to write about this topic. The meaning of narration is to tell someone about something. The literal meaning of narration is कथन in Hindi. We can compare this topic with storytelling. Though many people believe that in the process of narration two peoples are involved, I should say that in this process three peoples are involved. Look at the following pair of sentence;

 David said, “I’m baking a chocolate cake for you.’’

David said that he was baking a chocolate cake for me.

If we consider these two sentences, we might notice that both of them convey the same message, but there is a difference if we look closely. In the first sentence, I am conveying the activities of David in his (D) own words without changing it; it is called direct speech or we can say reporting speech. In the second sentence, I am using my own words to convey the activities of the speaker (D) to the audience. This we can say indirect speech or reported speech.

There are some major rules to change these speeches from direct to indirect. We need to consider the tense, pronoun, words that describe time, place, distance, types of sentences, etc. let’s have a glance at the following rules:

•    Remove the inverted commas.
•   Omit the comma separating the reporting verb from the actual words.
•   Use ‘that’ to introduce the reported speech (statements).
•   Make changes in the verb form.
•   Make changes in the personal pronouns.
•   Make changes in words expressing nearness and time.
•   Change “said to” into “told” if said is followed by an object.
•   Questions are reported without the question mark. If/whether are used.

The following table shows this change:

                             

 

Changing different types of sentences

a. Reporting Interrogative sentences:

I) If there is a yes-no question in the direct speech, then the reported speech will start with whether/if and the reported clause form will be (subject+verb).

Example:

• Direct: Peter said, “Are you from Australia?”
• Indirect: Peter asked if I was from Australia.
• Direct: Tom asked, “Do you want to sit here?”
• Indirect: Tom asked whether I wanted to sit there.

II) In indirect speech questions starting with who, whom, when, how, where and what the wh-word would be the subject or the object of the reported clause:

Example:

• Direct: Brad said, “Who will come with me?”
• Indirect: Brad asked who would go with him.
• Direct: Tina said, “What will be the charges?”
• Indirect: Tina inquired what the charges would be.
• Direct: I said the man, “Where is the hotel?”
• Indirect: I asked the man where the hotel was.
• Direct: Mother said, “How is the chicken?”
• Indirect: Mother asked me how the chicken was.

b. Reporting statement sentences:

In a statement speech, we will use ‘that’ before the reported statement and the reported verb will be ‘told’ (followed by an object) or ‘said’ (will not be followed by an object).

Example:

• Direct: Edward said, “I like the book.”
• Indirect: Edward said that he liked the book.
• Direct: Alice said, “I want you to sing.”
• Indirect: Alice told me to sing.

c. Reporting imperative sentences:

We will use ‘to’ as joining clause before the reported command or request, and the reported verb will be changed according to the moods of the sentence (e.g., ordered, requested, urged, advised, forbade or begged)

Example:

• Direct: The man said, “Please, bring me a chair.”
• Indirect: The man requested to bring him a chair.
• Direct: The officer said, “Fall back!”
• Indirect: The officer ordered to fall back.
• Direct: Mother said, “Listen to your elders.”
• Indirect: Mother advised me to listen to my elders.
• Direct: Mr. Murphy said, “Do not go near the house.”
• Indirect: Mr. Murphy forbade going near the house.

d. Reporting exclamatory sentences:

To change direct exclamatory speeches to the indirect one we need to replace interjection (hurrah, wow, alas, oh, etc.) with joining clause ‘that’ and the exclamatory wh-words (what, how) will be replaced by ‘very’ before the adjective in the reported clause.

Examples:

• Direct: Clare said, “Hurrah! Barcelona won the match!”
• Indirect: Clare exclaimed with joy that Barcelona had won the match.
• Direct: I said, “Alas! My pet died.”
• Indirect: I exclaimed with grief that my pet had died.

 Modal verbs like shall, will, can, may change in reported speech. Let’s follow some examples:

• Direct: John said, “I will be there.”
• Indirect: John promised that he would be there.
• Direct: The boy said, “May I come in?”
• Indirect: The boy asked if he could come in. (note: may becomes could when it implies permission)
• Direct: “I may not call you.” Said Boby.
• Indirect: Boby said that she might not call me.
• Direct: “I shall practice more.” said Barbara.
• Indirect: Barbara said that she would practice more.
• Direct: Joseph said, “Shall I buy the car?”
• Indirect: Joseph asked if he should buy the car.

Note: shall becomes should if it implies a question.

 Modal verbs like could, should, need, must, might, used to do not change in reported speech.

Example:

• Direct: she said, “I would not be the victim.”
• Indirect: she said that she would not be the victim.
• Direct: David said, “You need to repair the car.”
• Indirect: David said that I need to repair the car.
• Direct: Mary said, “I used to love dancing.”
• Indirect: Mary said she used to love dancing.