Narration: Direct and Indirect Speech
Subject: General English (सामान्य अंग्रेजी)
Reporting assertions, interrogatives, imperatives, exclamations and tense changes.
Sample Practice Questions
Question 1: Choose the correct indirect form: She said, 'Alas! I have lost my purse.'
- She exclaimed with sorrow that she had lost her purse.
- She exclaimed with joy that she lost her purse.
- She said alas that she had lost purse.
- She cried that her purse is lost.
- Question unattempted / अनुत्तरित प्रश्न
Explanation: 'Alas!' expresses grief or sorrow, so reporting verb changes to 'exclaimed with sorrow/grief'. Tense changes from Present Perfect ('have lost') to Past Perfect ('had lost') and pronouns change accordingly ('my' -> 'her').
Question 2: Convert into indirect speech: Rita said, 'I may visit Jaipur tomorrow.'
- Rita said that she might visit Jaipur the next day.
- Rita said that I might visit Jaipur tomorrow.
- Rita said that she may visit Jaipur next day.
- Rita said that she will visit Jaipur tomorrow.
- Question unattempted / अनुत्तरित प्रश्न
Explanation: Modal 'may' changes to 'might', pronoun 'I' changes to 'she', and 'tomorrow' changes to 'the next day / following day'.
Question 3: Change the speech: The teacher said to students, 'The sun rises in the east.'
- The teacher told students that the sun rises in the east.
- The teacher told students that the sun rose in the east.
- The teacher said that the sun will rise in the east.
- The teacher told students that sun had risen in east.
- Question unattempted / अनुत्तरित प्रश्न
Explanation: Universal truths and scientific facts do not change their tense in indirect speech even if the reporting verb is in the past tense.
Question 4: Convert into indirect speech: He said to me, 'Where do you live?'
- He asked me where I lived.
- He asked me where did I live.
- He inquired me where do I live.
- He said to me where I was living.
- Question unattempted / अनुत्तरित प्रश्न
Explanation: In Wh-question indirect speech: 1. 'said to' changes to 'asked'; 2. Wh-word ('where') serves as the conjunction; 3. The interrogative structure changes to assertive (Subject + Verb: 'I lived'). 'Did' is not used in affirmative assertive past statements.
Question 5: Select the correct indirect speech: The doctor said to the patient, 'Take these medicines regularly.'
- The doctor advised the patient to take those medicines regularly.
- The doctor ordered the patient take these medicines regularly.
- The doctor suggested the patient that take those medicines.
- The doctor said to the patient taking these medicines regularly.
- Question unattempted / अनुत्तरित प्रश्न
Explanation: In imperative sentences, reporting verb 'said to' changes to 'advised/ordered/requested', conjunction is 'to + V1', and demonstrative 'these' changes to 'those'.
Question 6: Choose the correct indirect form: He said, 'I cannot help you today.'
- He said that he could not help me that day.
- He said that he cannot help you today.
- He said that I could not help him that day.
- He said that he would not help you.
- Question unattempted / अनुत्तरित प्रश्न
Explanation: Cannot -> could not, you -> me, today -> that day.
Question 7: Convert the sentence into Indirect Speech: She said to me, 'Where do you live?'
- She asked me where I lived.
- She asked me where did I live.
- She told me where do I live.
- She enquired me that where I lived.
- अनुत्तरित प्रश्न / Question unattempted
Explanation: In Wh-question indirect speech, the reporting verb changes to 'asked', the Wh-word acts as conjunction, and question word order changes to assertive: where + subject + past tense verb ('lived').
Question 8: Change into Indirect Speech: He said, 'I have completed my assignment.'
- He said that he had completed his assignment.
- He said that he has completed his assignment.
- He said that I had completed my assignment.
- He told that he had completed his assignment.
- अनुत्तरित प्रश्न / Question unattempted
Explanation: Present perfect ('have completed') shifts to past perfect ('had completed'), and first person pronoun 'I' changes to 'he'.
Question 9: Select the correctly punctuated and formatted sentence:
- Rohan said, "I am going to Jaipur tomorrow."
- Rohan said "I am going to Jaipur tomorrow."
- Rohan said, I am going to Jaipur tomorrow.
- Rohan said, "I am going to jaipur tomorrow".
- अनुत्तरित प्रश्न / Question unattempted
Explanation: Proper direct speech formatting requires a comma after the reporting verb, capital letter for proper nouns ('Jaipur'), and punctuation inside quotation marks.