NARRATION --- Change of Interrogative sentences from Direct to indirect form of speech with examples--Part II

NARRATION          

  (Continued from previous post)

INTERROGATIVE SENTENCES

There are two types of Interrogative sentences:

-Interrogative sentences starting with helping verbs like is,am,are,was,were, do, does, did, shall,will,would,can,could etc.

- Interrogative sentences staring with 'wh' words like which,why,when,where,who, whose, whom etc.

In Direct form of speech there are two parts i.e. one prior to inverted commas and the other within inverted commas. The former is called 'the Reporting Speech' and the latter 'the Reported Speech'.

 The Reporting speech generally contains a Subject Verb and an Object. Sometimes Object is missing. 

A Subject or an Object is formed of a Noun or a Pronoun. 

A Pronoun has three types of Persons i.e. 
First Person, Second Person & Third Person.

First Person is the person who is speaking or is making the statement.

Second Person is the person to whom the speaker is addressing or to whom the statement is being told.


Third Person is the person, except above two categories referred to in the statement, about whom reference is made in the speech.


First Person
   
                     
Singular ---     
     I                 
  My                 
  Me.


Plural -----         
   We              
  Our                 
   Us

Second Person Singular & Plural ----- 
You 
Your 
You .

Third Person 
 Singular ----
He 
His
Him OR
She  
Her
Her

Third Person  
Plural -----  
They
Their 
Them .

First Person	Singular	I	My	Me
	Plural	We	Our	Us
Second Person	Singular & Plural	You	Your	You
Third Person	Singular	He/She	His/Her	Him/Her
	Plural	They	Their	Them

While changing direct form of speech into Indirect form of speech :

• First Person in reported speech changes according to Subject in reporting speech. 

• Second Person in reported speech changes according to Object in reporting speech.  

• Third  Person in reported speech  does not change.  

First Person	Second Person	Third Person
Subject	Object	No Change

The teacher said to the student,"What is your name?"

Subject        Verb      Object
The teacher said to the student
         ( Reporting Speech)

            ,"
(Comma, Inverted commas start)

What is your name ?                
 (Reported Speech)    

               "
 (Inverted commas close)

As already explained above, Interrogative sentences are of two types.

A. First starting with helping verbs like --

is, am, are, were, was, had, have, shall, will or would etc.

B. The second  type of interrogative sentences are which start with words like – 

What,Which,Why,Who,Whose,Where,When, How and Whom etc.

While changing direct form of speech into Indirect form in both types of interrogative sentences, 'said to' is replaced by 'asked or inquired of '

In case of First Type (A) -

'Inverted commas' are replaced by 'if  or whether' .

In case of second type of (B)-

No word is written in place of inverted commas.

For Example :

First Form :  

The stranger said to us," Have you ever been to our village?"

In this case 

 "said to "  =  asked or inquired of .  

"     "  = if or whether

The interrogative sentence in the reported speech will be changed into simple or assertive form of sentence.

 
It will be -- 'You have ever been to our village'  

 'You' is  second person and   it will change according to the subject i.e. 'us'.

It will be 'We'.

'Have' is first form of verb and it will change into second form of verb i.e. 'had'. '

'Our' is the first person and it will change according to Subject i.e.'the stranger' which is third person singular i.e. equivalent to 'He'.  But 'Our' is plural so its equivalent in third person will be 'their'.

The Indirect form of the sentence-- 

The stranger said to us," Have you ever been to our village?" 
will be

The stranger asked us if  we had  ever been to their village.    OR
The stranger inquired of us whether we had ever been to their village.

Second Form :

The patient said to the doctor, "Why is it so that I am feeling dizzy ? What is the reason that I cannot walk even ? "

In indirect form of this sentence-- 

'said to' = asked or inquired of   
 Inverted commas will be removed without substituting any word.

The two sentences in positive form or assertive form will be

Why it is so that I am feeling dizzy. & 
What the reason is that I cannot walk even.

Other changes in respect of person or tense etc in the sentence will be -

Is = was, am = was   is = was cannot = could not.  I is first person It will  change according to subject 'the patient' i.e. third person singular = He.

 The sentence in its indirect form will be :

The patient asked the doctor why it was so that he was feeling dizzy  and what the reason was that he could not walk even.

OR

The patient inquired of the doctor why it was so that he was feeling dizzy  and what the reason was that he could not walk even.

Here are some sentences of this type for practice.

EXERCISE NO. 1

1. All the players said to the captain,"Are you not satisfied with the 
performance of the team? Do you feel that we should do more hard 
work to attain better results? What do you suggest in this regard ?  "

Ans. All the players asked the captain if he was not satisfied with the performance of the team and if  he felt that they should do more hard work to attain better results and what he suggested in that regard .


2. The inspector  said to the boy," How do you dare to disobey my orders? Do you not deserve to be punished ? Do you accept your fault and are you ready to appologise ? "

Ans. The inspector  asked the boy how he dared to disobey his orders and if he did not deserve to be punished and if he accepted his fault and he was ready to appologise. 


3. The father  said to his daughter," Where had you been for such a long time ? Why do you come home so late at night? When does your office close in the evening?  Can't you return home in time ? "


The father  asked his daughter where she had been for such a long time and why she came home so late at night, He asked her further when her office closed in the evening and if she couldn't  return home in time.

FOR MORE ON TOPIC IN DETAIL IN NEXT POST