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Guidelines for writing Poems, Stories and Tales

Indirect Narration Style?

Asked by: Bill Cox

What is indirect writing style?

By Dr Oliver Tearle. Free indirect style, alternatively known as free indirect speech or free indirect discourse, is a narrative style which requires some explanation and unpicking, since it is subtle and sometimes difficult to spot in a work of fiction.

What is indirect narration with example?

Indirect speech is speech which tells you what someone said, but does not use the person’s actual words: for example, ‘They said you didn’t like it’, ‘I asked her what her plans were’, and ‘ Citizens complained about the smoke’.

What is indirect narration?

Indirect speech is also known as reported speech, indirect narration, or indirect discourse. In grammar, when you report someone else’s statement in your own words without any change in the meaning of the statement, it is called indirect speech.

How do you write indirect narration?

To construct indirect speech, you usually use reporting verbs like “to ask”, “to say” and “to tell”, and you may often include the word “that” to describe what was said. For example: “My mother said that he had not come back in months.” “She told him that he had to stop calling her.”

What is free indirect style example?

Free indirect speech is what happens when the subordinate clause from reported speech becomes a contained unit, dispensing with the “she said” or “she thought.” For instance: Kate looked at her bank statement. Why had she spent her money so recklessly?

What is an example of indirect discourse?

Indirect discourse is speech that tells you what someone said, but does not use the person’s actual words; for example, ‘They said you didn’t like it. ‘, ‘I asked him what his plans were. ‘, and ‘ Citizens complained about the smoke.

What are the 4 types of reported speech?

The reported speech can be Assertive/Declarative, Imperative, Interrogative, and Exclamatory. Reported verb is the tense in which the sentence is spoken.

What is direct and indirect narration?

You can answer the question What did he say? in two ways: by repeating the words spoken (direct speech) by reporting the words spoken (indirect or reported speech).

What is difference between direct and indirect speech?

The difference between direct and indirect speech are discussed as under: Direct Speech refers to the literal repetition of the words spoken by someone, using a quotative frame. On the other hand, indirect speech is one that reports something said or written by another person, without making the use of exact words.

How do you change direct to indirect?

Rules to change Direct Speech into Indirect Speech:



The tenses of the verbs inside the quotation marks and commas should be changed. For Example: Direct Speech: Raj said, ‘I have to be in the meeting by 3:00 p.m.’ Indirect Speech: Raj said that he would have to be in the meeting by 3:00 p.m.

How do you convert indirect speech?

Present Tenses in the Direct Speech are changed into Past Tense. If the reporting or principal verb is in the Past Tense. If in direct speech you find say/says or will say.



Rules for changing Direct into Indirect Speech.



Change of place and time Direct Speech Word Indirect Speech Word
Hither Thither
Hence Thence
Come Go

Why do we use indirect speech?

Indirect speech is used to report what someone may have said, and so it is always used in the past tense. Instead of using inverted commas, we can show that someone’s speech is being described by using the word “that” to introduce the statement first. For example: “She said that she was not hungry.”

What are the rules of indirect speech?

Changes as per Tense

Direct Speech Indirect Speech
Present simple (Subject +V1st + Object) Past simple (Subject +V2 + Object)
Present continuous (Subject +is/am/are+V1 +ing+ Object) Past Continuous (Subject +was/were+V1 +ing+ Object)
Present perfect (Subject + has/have+V3+Object) Past perfect (Subject+had+V3+Object)

What is mean by indirect?

Definition of indirect



: not direct: such as. a(1) : deviating from a direct line or course : roundabout. (2) : not going straight to the point an indirect accusation. (3) : being or involving proof of a proposition or theorem by demonstration that its negation leads to an absurdity or contradiction.

What is an example of indirect?

The definition of indirect is a person or thing that is not straight, or not direct and honest. An example of indirect is a flight that goes from Los Angeles to Denver in order to get to Seattle; an indirect flight.

What is indirect in grammar?

In English grammar, an indirect object is the word or phrase that receives the direct object. In the sentence The teacher gave the students cake, the indirect object is the students. The direct object is cake, and the students are the ones who eat it.



What are indirect questions?

a question that is reported to other people in speech or writing, rather than the exact words of the original question, for example ‘”He asked me what was wrong.”

How do you write an indirect question in a sentence?

To make an indirect ‘yes / no’ question, we use ‘if’ and the word order of a normal positive sentence. This is the same as for reported ‘yes / no’ questions. On the other hand, we don’t usually need to ‘backshift’ (change the tense of the verb) as we do with reported questions.

How do you write a direct and indirect speech?

But in indirect speech we don't use quotation marks the second point is the word that. This is used in indirect speech but it is never used in direct speech.

How do you teach Indirect questions?

Teaching Tip:



There are three parts to Indirect Questions: The Introductory Clause – for reported speech, this is “She asked”, “He wondered”, and so on. For polite or formal questions, it’s polite expressions like “Do you mind if I ask” or “Could you tell me”, among others.

How do you make an indirect request?

When we want to report an order or request, we can use a verb like ‘tell’ with a to-clause: He told me to go away. The pattern is verb + indirect object + to-clause. The indirect object is the person spoken to.



Examples.



Direct speech Indirect speech
“Could you please be quiet,” she said. She asked me to be quiet.

Can you tell me indirect questions?

Indirect: I’d like to know how much this motorcycle costs. To form the indirect question, remove does and change “cost” to “costs.” Direct: Can you finish the project by tomorrow? Indirect: Would it be possible for you to finish the project by tomorrow?

How do you teach embedded questions ESL?

Embedded questions are introduced by whether, whether or not, and if when there is no question word in the sentence (yes/no questions). Will he be there? Do you know if he will be there? Do you know whether or not he will be there?

What is the meaning of embedded clause?

An embedded clause is a clause used in the middle of another clause to give the reader more information about a sentence. Embedded clauses rely on the main clause and don’t make sense in isolation.

What is the difference between indirect questions and embedded questions?

In some analyses, the term embedded question is reserved for the function of being oblique and more polite when asking a question and the term indirect question is used for reported questions.