The English language can be tricky to understand. But not very hard if we try to follow the rules. One such thing is narration. This can improve your writing skills. Learning how to change a narration; it is an important part of English grammar. The narration change exercise for class 7 and the narration change exercise for class 8 is not much different, but this is the time when they should learn this important exercise.
There are certain rules and formulas for changing narration, and we will go through every one of those in detail. Doing narration change exercises can help a child get a strong grasp of the language.
What is narration?
Narration, popularly known as indirect speech, is something when we covert someone else’s words in our own way. So basically, we have to know about direct speech and indirect speech.
Direct speech is something when we are quoting someone’s words as it is. These sentences are put in quotations and put exactly as they have been said.
For example
- “Today, we will discuss radioactivity.”
- He said, “We are going out tonight.”
- She said, “ I am never going back to that house again.”
- He said, “I am not going to the gym today.”
- The teacher said, “You can leave once you have finished your assignment.”
Indirect speech does not put the exact words that a person has said in quotations; here, we generally put that in our own words keeping the matter intact and leaving the quotation behind.
For example if we try to convert the above given statements to indirect speech, it will be something like this.
- We will be discussing radioactivity today.
- He said that they would be going out that very night.
- She said that she would never go back to that house again.
- He said that he would not be coming to the gym today.
- The teacher said that we could leave once we had finished our assignment.
Let’s check the basic rules for changing narrations
- According to the sense and form of the sentence, the reporting verb changes.
- In indirect speech, we do not use inverted commas.
- In reported speech, connective words are used i the beginning.
- According to the sense and form of the sentence, the verb used in the reported speech gets changed.
- In reported speech, the helping verbs and persons get changed.
Rules for changing a pronoun in an indirect speech
Narration exercises or direct and indirect speech exercises help improve a child’s writing skills, but before that, knowing the rules is necessary.
Rule 1
According to the subject of the reporting verb, the first-person pronoun of reported speech changes in a sentence. for example:
Direct: He says, “I am in sixth class.”
Indirect: He says that he is in the sixth class.
Rule 2
According to the object of the reporting verb, the second-person pronoun of reported speech changes in a sentence. for example:
Direct: He said to me, “you have completed your work.”
Indirect: He told me that I had completed my work.
Rule 3
In the reported speech third-person of the Pronoun is not changed.
Direct: He says, “He does not want to come.”
Indirect: He says that he does not want to come.
Rules for changing the verb or tense
There are rules for changing the tense and verb while changing a direct speech to an indirect speech as well.
Rule 1
When there is a reporting verb in the future or present tense, there won’t be any change in the tense or verb of the reported speech.
Direct: the professor said, “Dan performs in the theatre.”
Indirect: the professor said that Dan performs in the theatre.
Direct: The professor says, “Dan performs in the theatre.”
Indirect: The professor says that Dan performs in the theatre.
Rule 2
When the reporting speech has the reporting verb in the past tense, then the verb will change into the corresponding past tense. Let’s see some examples.
Direct: The professor said, “I am suffering from covid.”
Indirect: The professor said that he was suffering from covid.
Direct: The teacher said, “I am not going to take the class.”
Indirect: The teacher said that she was not going to take the class.
But there are some exceptions to this.
Exception 1:
When the reporting speech has a habitual fact or universal truth, the tense will not change.
Direct: Our teacher said, “The Earth revolves around the sun.”
Indirect: our teacher said that the Earth revolves around the sun.
Exception 2:
If there is any historical fact in the reporting speech, then the tense will not change.
Direct: The teacher said, “India got its freedom in 1947.”
Indirect: The teacher said that India got its freedom in 1947.
Exception 3:
If two actions happen simultaneously in the reporting speech, then the tense will not be changed.
Direct: She said, “I was reading a book when my sister left the house.”
Indirect: She said that she was reading a book when her sister left the house.
Exception 4: If there is an imaginary situation in the reporting speech, then there will be no change in tense.
Direct: He said, “ if i had the means, I would have helped him.”
Indirect: He said that if he had the means, he would have helped him.
Tips To Help in Changing Narration
Some tips to remember when changing the narration are:
- Select a reporting verb and time frame or tense in the sentence. For example, if the reporting verb is in the past tense, the reported speech should also be in the past tense.
- Alter your point of view according to the subject of the reporting verb. For example, if the reporting verb is “I said,” the reported speech should use “I” or “we” as the subject. If the reporting verb is “you said,” the reported speech should use “you” as the subject.
- Use “if” or “that” as a connective word to introduce the reported speech. For example, “He said that he was hungry.” or “She asked if I liked the movie.”
- Change the words that indicate time and place according to the context of the report. For example, “now” becomes “then,” “here” becomes “there,” “today” becomes “that day”, etc.
- Use appropriate punctuation marks to separate the reporting verb and the reported speech. For example, use a comma before the quotation marks in direct speech, and use a full stop or a question mark after the reported speech in indirect speech.
Narration change Exercises
Go through the sentences given below and try to change the narration of the following sentences:
- He said, “I am feeling happy.”
- The girl said, “Rose is a beautiful flower.”
- “What’s your problem ?” said the doctor to the patient.
- The old man said to the girl, “May you be happy.”
- Swami asked his father apprehensively if he had written anything about their teacher, Samuel.
- She said to me, “Trust me.”
- “How cruel the man is!” the boy said.
- He said, “I wrote a letter.”
- The teacher said to her students, “Open your books, please.”
- Why don’t you look out of the window? the girl asked.
- The boss said to the new employee, “Do you feel comfortable here?”
- She said, “Would you like to have a glass of juice ?”
- The little girl said, “I have a pink frock.”
- She asked me where my sister was.
- Roshni said that she could easily carry 50 kg weight.
- Anuradha said that she had finished her project work.
- “Please give him the money Sethji,” the rest of the compartment said.
- He told her that she had been a mere child when he saw her last.
- She said that she had a dream that night.
- “Oh, you, poor man!” Swami thought of Samuel, “you don’t know what my father as done to you.”
Conclusion
Well, to conclude the topic in an effective way, I would like to give some more examples to make it clear how narration change exercises work. Keeping in mind the rules and exceptions, it will not be challenging to change the sentences.
Direct: Bob said, “ He was repairing a car.”
Indirect: Bob said that he has been repairing a car.
Here the past continuous tense has been changed to past perfect continuous tense.
Direct: Dan said, “What is Bob doing?”
Indirect: Dan asked me what Bob was doing.Well, I hope this will help you solve the narration change exercises, but if you have any difficulty, just let us know, and we will try to solve it.
Have you read these?
- Choosing the Right Verb: Laying vs Lying Explained
- Flier vs Flyer: Learn The Difference And Use Each Correctly
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