Indirect Speech - Changes in Personal Pronoun


 
 
Concept Explanation
 

Indirect Speech - Changes in Personal Pronoun

Changes in Personal Pronoun:

When reporting a speech the pronoun should be changed according to the relationship of the speaker to the person whose speech is being reported. If the spoken words contain a pronoun or determiner in the first or second person, this often changes to a different person in indirect speech: The third person remains the same.

  • "I should have asked my friend to lend me his notebook", admitted Rohan.(Direct Speech)
  • Rohan admitted that he should have asked his friend to lend him his notebook.  (Indirect Speech)
  • Our teacher said, "You ought to pass your exams after working so hard".(Direct Speech)
  • Our teacher said we ought to pass our exams after working so hard.(Indirect Speech)
  • (A)  Personal Pronoun : - While changing into indirect speech, the personal pronoun of the reported speech are changed as per following :

  • First person pronoun According to subject of reporting verb.
  • Second person pronoun According to object of reporting verb.
  • Third  person pronoun No change.
  • The 'number' and 'case' of the 'person' do not change. Learn well the following table to understand the change of personal pronouns :

    (B)  Form of Personal Pronouns : -

    PersonNominative CaseObjective CasePossessive AdjectivePossessive Pronoun
    First Person

    I

    We

    me

    us

    my

    our

    mine

    ours

    Second personYouYouYourYours
    Third person

    He

    She

    It

    They

    him

    her

    it

    them

    his

    her

    its

    their

    his

    hers

    X

    theirs

    (C)  Conjuction 'that' is commonly usedwhile changing into indirect speech. e.g.

          (a) Maya says, "I am going to Lucknow".                                                 Direct

               Maya says that she is going to Lucknow.                                           Indirect

    Look at the methodology of transformation into indirect speech :

    Sentence (a) :

  • Ascertain the tense of the reporting verb 'says'. It is present tense. So, there will be no change in the tense of the reported speech.
  • Reporting verb 'says' will remain unchanged.
  • The personal pronoun 'I' (first person) will change according to subject of the reporting verb 'Maya'.
  •           So in indirect narration, the pronoun will be 'she' instead of 'I' and the verb will be 'is'.

         (b)  She says to Mukta, "You are writing a letter to him".                           Direct

               She tells Mukta that she is writing a letter to him.                              Indirect

    Look at the methodology of transformation into indirect speech :

    Sentence (b) :

  • Ascertain the tense of the reporting verb. It is present tense. So, there will be no change in the tense of the reported speech.
  • The reportying verb 'says to' changes to 'tells'.
  • Thye personal pronoun 'you' (second person) will change according to the object of the reporting verb 'Mukta'.        So, it will change  into 'she' and the objective pronoun 'him' (third person) will remain unchanged.
  • Sample Questions
    (More Questions for each concept available in Login)
    Question : 1

    Change the following sentence into Indirect speech .

    She says to Mukta, "You are writing a letter to him".       

    Right Option : A
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    Explanation
    Question : 2

    Change the following sentence into Indirect speech .

    We said , " We are decorating our house " .

    Right Option : B
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    Explanation
    Question : 3

    Change the following sentence into Indirect speech .

    1. She said , "He work in a factory " .

    2. He said , " She made tea for them " .

    Right Option : C
    View Explanation
    Explanation
     
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