Direct and Indirect Narration Questions for SSC CGL

The Basic Concept

Direct Speech is when you quote someone's exact words inside inverted commas. Indirect Speech (Reported Speech) is when you report what someone said without quoting word for word. The sentence reporting the speech is called the Reporting Clause, and the sentence inside quotes is the Reported Speech. When you convert Direct to Indirect, you typically remove the inverted commas and apply three changes: tense change, pronoun change, and time or place expression change.

• Direct: She said, 'I am happy.' — Indirect: She said that she was happy.
• The verb in the reporting clause (said, told, asked) controls the changes.
• If the reporting verb is in past tense, the reported speech tense goes one step back.
• If the reporting verb is in present or future tense, no tense change is needed.
• Universal truths and habitual facts do not change tense even after a past reporting verb.
• Said + no object = said that. Said + object = told (not said to).

Tense Backshift Rules

When the reporting verb is past tense, every tense in the reported speech shifts one step back into the past. This is called backshift. Think of it as a reverse gear — present becomes past, past becomes past perfect, will becomes would, can becomes could, and so on. This is the most tested rule in SSC CGL.

• Simple Present becomes Simple Past: 'I play' becomes 'he played'.
• Simple Past becomes Past Perfect: 'I played' becomes 'he had played'.
• Present Continuous becomes Past Continuous: 'I am playing' becomes 'he was playing'.
• Present Perfect becomes Past Perfect: 'I have played' becomes 'he had played'.
• Will becomes Would, Can becomes Could, May becomes Might, Shall becomes Should.
• Must (obligation) becomes Had to. Must (probability) stays Must.

Pronoun Changes

Pronouns in the reported speech change based on who is speaking and who is listening. Use the POO rule: first check the Person of the subject of the reporting verb, then the Object of the reporting verb, and then Others. First person pronouns (I, we, me, us, my, our) change according to the subject of the reporting verb. Second person pronouns (you, your) change according to the object of the reporting verb. Third person pronouns (he, she, they) do NOT change.

• I/We/Me/Us/My/Our — change according to reporting verb subject.
• You/Your/Yours — change according to reporting verb object.
• He/She/They/His/Her/Their — no change.
• Example: He said, 'I love my work.' — He said that he loved his work.
• Example: He said to me, 'You are smart.' — He told me that I was smart.
• Common error: changing third person pronouns unnecessarily.

Time and Place Expression Changes

Words that indicate nearness in time or place shift to words that indicate distance in the past, because the reporting is happening later. Think of it as moving from a live broadcast to a recorded replay — words like 'now' and 'here' no longer apply at the time of reporting.

• Now becomes Then.
• Today becomes That day.
• Yesterday becomes The previous day or The day before.
• Tomorrow becomes The next day or The following day.
• This becomes That. These becomes Those.
• Here becomes There. Ago becomes Before.
• Last night becomes The previous night. Next week becomes The following week.

Changing Interrogative Sentences (Questions)

When reported speech is a question, the indirect form uses assertive (statement) word order — the subject comes before the verb, and you do NOT use do/does/did. For Yes/No questions, use if or whether. For Wh-questions, use the same Wh-word as the connector. The question mark is removed.

• Yes/No Question: He said, 'Are you tired?' — He asked me if I was tired.
• Wh-Question: She said, 'Where do you live?' — She asked me where I lived.
• Never use 'that' for questions — always use if, whether, or the Wh-word.
• Reporting verb for questions: asked, enquired, wanted to know.
• Remove the auxiliary do/does/did and restore normal subject-verb order.
• Remove question mark and use full stop in indirect speech.

Changing Imperative and Exclamatory Sentences

Imperatives (commands, requests, advice) are reported using a to-infinitive. The reporting verb changes to ordered, commanded, requested, advised, warned, begged, or urged depending on the tone. Exclamatory sentences are changed using exclaimed with joy/sorrow/surprise, or wished, or prayed, and the exclamation mark is removed.

• Command: 'Sit down.' — He ordered me to sit down.
• Request: 'Please help me.' — She requested me to help her.
• Advice: 'You should rest.' — He advised me to rest.
• Prohibition (negative): 'Don't go.' — He told me not to go.
• Exclamatory: 'What a beautiful day!' — She exclaimed that it was a very beautiful day.
• Wish: 'May you live long!' — He prayed that I might live long.

• Using 'said to' instead of 'told' when there is an object — always write 'He told me' not 'He said to me' in indirect speech.
• Forgetting to change time expressions like 'today', 'now', 'yesterday' — paper setters deliberately plant these to trap students.
• Changing third person pronouns (he, she, they) when they should stay the same — only first and second person pronouns change.
• Keeping question word order (inverted subject-verb) in indirect questions — must restore normal order and remove do/does/did.
• Changing the tense of a universal truth or proverb — 'The sun rises in the east' stays as is even after a past reporting verb.

• POO Rule for pronouns: First person = Person of subject of reporting verb. Second person = Object of reporting verb. Others (third person) = no change.
• TENSE GEAR SHIFT: Think of changing tenses as shifting gears backward. Present goes to Past, Past goes to Past Perfect — one step back every time the reporting verb is past.
• QAIET for question types: Questions use Asked/Enquired + If/Whether for yes-no, and the actual Wh-word for Wh-questions. Never use 'that' for questions.
• LIVE vs REPLAY: Time/place words like now, here, today belong to a live conversation. In reported (replay) mode, they shift — now becomes then, here becomes there, today becomes that day.

• SSC CGL typically asks 2-3 direct transformation questions — one sentence is given in direct speech and you must choose the correct indirect form from four options. Tense and pronoun errors are the most common distractors.
• In recent Tier-1 papers, error spotting questions also test narration indirectly — a sentence in reported speech is given and you must find the wrong tense or wrong pronoun in an underlined part.
• Questions on imperative and exclamatory conversion have increased in recent years. Practice choosing the correct reporting verb (ordered vs requested vs advised) — the tone of the original sentence is the clue.
• Attempt narration questions in under 30 seconds each — first check the reporting verb tense, then scan for pronoun errors, then check time expressions. This three-second checklist will eliminate two wrong options immediately.
• Universal truth questions are classic SSC traps — if the reported speech contains a scientific fact or proverb, the tense does NOT change. Watch for sentences like 'He told us that the earth moves around the sun.'