AN INTRODUCTION TO ENGLISH GRAMMAR & LANGUAGE
      Thus as a general rule we change:                             * Inverted commas (“ ” or ‘ ’) deleted.
  (A)               (B)                                             * If the R.S. is Yes/No question, if / whether is used
  Now          ® then                                                 before the R.S. in the Indirect Speech. As,
  This         ® that                                               * He said to me, “Is Gopal Your brother”? - Direct.
  These        ® those                                                He asked me if Gopal was my brother. - Indirect
  Ago          ® before                                               If the R.S. is Wh-question (the R.S. beginning with who
                                                                      / what / how / where / when / why), no conjunction
  Thus         ® so
                                                                      is used before the R.S. As,
  Here         ® there                                                He said, “where is the book?”
  Hence        ® thence                                                                          - Direct
  To-day       ® That day                                             He asked me where the book was.             - Indirect
  Tomorrow® the next day                                              * The R.S. becomes Assertive.
  Yesterday ® the previous day/                                       Interrogative R.S. changes into Assertive R.S.
                    the day before                                    Verb + Subject ® Subject + Verb
  Last night® the previous                                            As, Nitu said to me, “When will he sleep?”
  night/ the night                                                    Nitu asked me when he would sleep.
                    before                                            *Will changes into would
  Next weekthe following week                                         Shall changes into should
      If the tense of the R.S. changes, the following words           *In the end ‘?’ (Mark of Interrogative) is deleted and full
also change                                                           stop (.) is used instead of ‘?’
      (A)               (B)                                         * Note :Do not use ‘asked to’. Use object after ‘ask’ - ask
      Shall             should                                        me, asked him etc.
      Will              would                                         General rules for changing the Direct Speech of Im-
      Can               could                                    perative sentences into the Indirect speech :
      May               might                                       * Imperative sentence has ‘Order’, ‘Request’, ‘Negative
      Am/is             was                                           command’.
      Are               were                                        * This type of sentence begins with - Go, Bring (with
      Makes             made                                          verb)
      Would help would have helped                                  * Negative command begins with ‘do not’ or ‘don’t.’
   Note : Universal or habitual facts can be expressed only           As,
in the Simple Present (Present Indefinite)                            He said, “Don’t be foolish”.
For example                                                           His friend said to him, “Join his party”. etc.
      He said, “The earth moved round the sun.”           —      Rules regarding order / request :
Incorrect                                                           * Say / said is changed into order / ordered, request /
      He said, “The earth moves round the sun.”           —           requested; ask/ asked, beg / begged, tell /told etc.
Correct                                                             * Inverted commas deleted
      He said, “Honesty is the best policy.” — Direct               * ‘to’ is used in front of the R.S.
      He said that honesty is the best policy. — Indirect           * Kindly / please is not used in the Indirect speech,
      In direct speech the R.S. begins with capital letter, but       because we do not use kindly / please with request.
in Indirect the R.S. begins with small letters, barring a few    Rules regarding Negative Command
exception (as, ’I’)                                                 * Say / said is changed into ask / asked, tell / told,
Indirect Narration of Assertive Sentences                             remind / reminded, as per need.
      He said, “Man is mortal”.— Direct                             * ‘do’ is avoided in the Indirect speech.
      The R.S. of the sentence bears universal fact :               * Negative word ‘Not’ is used before ‘to’.
      “Man is mortal”.                                              * Please / kindly is not used in the Indirect speech.
      He said (Ist Part of the sentence) is in past tense. Ac-        As,
cording to rules, the tense of the R.S. Changes, if the R.V.          Mohan said to me, “Do not forget to tell her”. - Direct
is in the Past Tense. But, if the R.S. is a universal fact (i.e.      Mohan told / asked / reminded me not to forget to tell
in simple present tense), the tense of R.S. does not change.          her.                        - Direct        I advised him
Thus, both tje parts of the given sentence remain unchanged           not to go abroad for further studies.       - Correct
while changing it from direct to indirect. The only change            * Remember,
can take place is the use of that between the R.V. and the
                                                                      Forbid / Forbade + Object + to + V2
R.S. and inverted commas (“ ”) will be deleted.
                                                                      Prohibit / prohibited, prevent / prevented + Object +
      He said that Man is mortal.
                                                                 From + V(ing)
                             — Indirect
                                                                      Sita said to him, “Don’t go out”.- Direct
      General rules for changing the Direct speech of In-
                                                                      Sita forbade him to go out.- Indirect
terrogative Sentences into the Indirect Speech.
                                                                      *Rules for changing the sentences beginning with let
   * R.V. ‘Say’ is changed into ask, enquire (of), want to
                                                                 from the Direct to the Indirect :
      know (of).
                                                            SEE–93