Shortcut Rules of Narration Change

Narration change (Direct to Indirect Speech) often feels confusing. To make it easier for you, I have compiled everything—from the basic reporting verbs to the advanced tense transformation and "magic" shortcuts.

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1. Reporting Verbs & Linkers

When converting Direct to Indirect speech, you must choose the right verb and linker based on the sentence type:

Sentence Type	Reporting Verb	Linker
Assertive	told / said	that
Interrogative	asked / enquired	if / whether
Imperative	ordered / requested / advised / proposed	no linker
Optative	wished / blessed	that
Exclamatory	exclaimed	that

2. Complete Tense Transformation Rules

Note: Tense in Reported Speech is changed only when the Reporting Verb is in the past tense.

Direct Speech	Indirect Speech
Present Indefinite	Past Indefinite
Present Continuous	Past Continuous
Present Perfect	Past Perfect
Present Perfect Continuous	Past Perfect Continuous
Past Indefinite	Past Perfect
Past Continuous	Past Perfect Continuous
Past Perfect	Past Perfect
Past Perfect Continuous	Past Perfect Continuous
Future (shall/will)	Future in the past (should/would)

3. The "Magic" Shortcut Rules

Keep these handy for quick conversions. These shortcuts cover verbs, modals, and negative forms:

• am / is / are ➔ was / were
• was / were ➔ had been
• had been ➔ had been
• have / has ➔ had
• had ➔ had
• shall / will ➔ should / would
• can ➔ could
• may ➔ might
• must ➔ must
• do not ➔ did not
• did not ➔ had not

4. Change in Words of Time and Place

Direct	Indirect
today	that day
yesterday	the previous day
tomorrow	the next day
now	then
ago	before
here	there
this	that
these	those

5. Quick Examples

Ex 1: The boy said, "I am going to school."
Ans: The boy said that he was going to school.

Ex 2: The teacher said to the girl, "What is your name?"
Ans: The teacher asked the girl what her name was.

Ex 3: The boys said, "Alas! We are defeated."
Ans: The boys exclaimed with sorrow that they were defeated.

Practice these rules daily to master English Narration!