you think I may count on her consent? (Direct Speech) (ii) Lomov asked Stepan Stepanovitch respectfully if he thought he might count on her consent. (Reported Speech) . (i) L OMOV : I’m getting a noise in my ears from excitement.
(Direct Speech) (ii) Lomov said that he was getting a noise in his ears from excitement. (Reported Speech) . (i) N ATALYA : Why haven’t you been here for such a long time? (Direct Speech) (ii) Natalya Stepanovna asked why he hadn’t been there for such a long time.
(Reported Speech) . (i) C HUBUKOV : What’s the matter? (Direct Speech) (ii) Chubukov asked him what the matter was. (Reported Speech) .
(i) N ATALYA : My mowers will be there this very day! (Direct Speech) (ii) Natalya Stepanovna declared that her mowers would be there that very day. (Reported Speech) You must have noticed that when we report someone’s exact words, we have to make some changes in the sentence structure. In the following sentences fill in the blanks to list the changes that have occurred in the above pairs of sentences.
One has been done for you. . To report a question, we use the reporting verb (as in Sentence Set ). .
To report a statement, we use the reporting verb . . The adverb of place here changes to . .
When the verb in direct speech is in the present tense, the verb in reported speech is in the tense (as in Sentence Set ). . If the verb in direct speech is in the present continuous tense, the verb in reported speech changes to tense. For example, changes to was getting .
. When the sentence in direct speech contains a word denoting respect, we add the adverb in the reporting clause (as in Sentence Set ). . The pronouns I , me , our and mine , which are used in the first person in direct speech, change according to the subject or object of the reporting verb such as , , or in reported speech.
III. Here is an excerpt