Narration

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Narration — converting direct speech into indirect — changes four things every time: the reporting verb, the pronouns, the tense, and any words of time or place. Work through them in that order and the transformation becomes routine.

About the examples on this page. Narration did not appear in the 2022 Constable paper, so the sentences below are constructed for practice and marked as such.

Step 1 — The Reporting Verb

Speech typeReporting verbLinker
Statementsaid / toldthat
Yes-no questionasked / enquiredif / whether
Wh- questionaskedkeep the question word
Orderordered / commandedto + verb
Requestrequestedto + verb
Adviceadvisedto + verb
Exclamationexclaimed with joy / sorrowthat

said takes no object; told requires one. "He said that…" but "He told me that…" — so "said to me" becomes "told me".

Step 2 — Pronouns

First person (I, we, my) changes to match the subject of the reporting verb.

Second person (you, your) changes to match the object of the reporting verb.

Third person (he, she, they) does not change.

Step 3 — Tense Backshift

DirectIndirect
simple presentsimple past
present continuouspast continuous
present perfectpast perfect
simple pastpast perfect
willwould
can / may / mustcould / might / had to
Three cases where the tense does not shift: a universal truth ("The sun rises in the east"), a habitual fact, and any sentence whose reporting verb is already in the present or future ("He says that…").

Step 4 — Words of Time and Place

DirectIndirectDirectIndirect
nowthenherethere
todaythat daythisthat
tomorrowthe next daythesethose
yesterdaythe previous dayagobefore
next weekthe following weeklast nightthe previous night

Practice Examples

Constructed practice question

Change to indirect speech: She said to me, "I will meet you tomorrow."

Reporting verb: "said to" becomes told.
Pronouns: "I" follows the subject (she); "you" follows the object (me).
Tense: will becomes would. Time: tomorrow becomes the next day.
She told me that she would meet me the next day.

Constructed practice question

Change to indirect speech: He said to her, "Where do you live?"

A wh- question, so the reporting verb becomes asked and the question word stays as the linker.
The word order becomes that of a statement, and the question mark disappears.
"do you live" becomes "she lived" — the auxiliary do vanishes on backshift.
He asked her where she lived.
The commonest error is leaving the question order intact: "asked her where did she live" is wrong.

Constructed practice question

Change to indirect speech: The officer said to the constable, "Submit the report at once."

An imperative, so use ordered with to + verb. No that and no tense shift.
The officer ordered the constable to submit the report at once.
Match the verb to the tone: a polite request takes requested, guidance takes advised, and a prohibition takes forbade or "ordered … not to".

Constructed practice question

Change to indirect speech: The teacher said, "The earth revolves around the sun."

This is a universal truth, so the present tense is kept despite the past reporting verb.
The teacher said that the earth revolves around the sun.
Note: "revolved" would be wrong here — it would imply the fact was only true at the time of speaking. This exception is examined precisely because the backshift rule is drilled so hard.

Work the four steps in order. Reporting verb, pronouns, tense, then time and place words. Candidates who change the tense first routinely forget the pronouns, because the sentence already reads plausibly by then.

Also see: Active & Passive Voice · Sentence Correction · Tenses

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