Narration — Quick Revision

Tense Back-Shift Table

Direct	Indirect
Present Simple	Past Simple
Present Continuous	Past Continuous
Present Perfect	Past Perfect
Past Simple	Past Perfect
will	would
can	could
may	might
shall	should

NO Tense Change

• Universal truth (earth moves around sun)
• Habitual fact (I always drink tea)
• Historical fact (WW2 ended in 1945)

Pronoun Rule (S-O-N)

• 1st person → matches Subject of reporting verb
• 2nd person → matches Object of reporting verb
• 3rd person → No change

Time/Place Word Changes

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

Sentence Type Rules

Questions:

• Wh-question → keeps wh-word + statement order
• Yes/No → if/whether + statement order
• No question mark in indirect!

Imperative:

• Command → told/ordered + to + V1
• Request (please) → requested + to + V1
• Negative → told + not to + V1

Exclamatory:

• "What a...!" → exclaimed with wonder/joy/sorrow that...

Reporting Verb Changes

• said to → told
• said to (question) → asked
• said to (request) → requested
• said to (command) → ordered/commanded

Top Traps

• "He said me" is WRONG → "He told me" or "He said to me"
• Universal truth stays present tense
• Question mark removed in indirect
• Statement order in indirect questions (NOT "asked if was I")