Interrogative Sentences
W-Family
Model Sentences
| Direct Speech |
Indirect Speech |
| 1. The passengers said to the driver,"Why are you driving unsafely?" |
The man passengers asked the driver why he was driving unsafely. |
| 2. Owner said to us,"When did you do it?" |
Owner asked us when we had done it. |
| 3. My uncle said to me,"What will you do after your exams finishes?" |
My uncle asked me what I would do after my exams finished. |
| 4. I said to Muaz,"When shall I come back?" |
I asked Muaz when I would come back. |
| 5. You said to me,"Why were we always keeping rotten apples?" |
You asked me why you had always been keeping rotten apples. |
| 6. He said to the woman ,"Where can we spot these errors?" |
He asked the woman where they could spot these errors. |
| 7. He said,"How long could you throw the disk?" |
He asked how long I could throw the disk. |
Rules of Conversion:- To convert these sentences into indirect narration following instructions must be observed.
- Change say to ask, says to asks and said to asked. Say can also be changed into inquire, want to know etc.
- Nothing will be written in the place of inverted commas.
- Question words like why, where, when, what etc will remain.
- Change pronouns of reported speech according to rules stated in change of pronouns lesson.
- Change tenses of reported speech according to rules stated in change of tenses lesson.
- Reported speech will be written in a positive /affirmative sense.
- Change Question Mark (?) with Full Stop.
Exercise No.5
Change the voice.
- He said to his servant."Why are you sad today?"
- Interviewer said to the candidate,"What are your qualifications?"
- The teacher said to the monitor,"Who was not obeying my orders?"
- Rafay said to the Rayan,"How shall I repay the money?"
- They said to Aayan,"Why were you crying?"
- Visitor said to the shopkeeper,"Where is his computer?"
- He said to her,"Where was I born?"
- The teacher said to students,"What have you learnt from your lesson till now?"
- I said to Rabia,"How were you?"
- The teacher said to me,"Where have you had your house?"
- Rustam said to one of his servants,"Why were you not able to complete this assignment despite I taught you twice?"
- Raheem said to his captain before match,"Why I did not play as I was sick due to severe cold?"
- They said to me,"Where were we throwing a Christmas party in which we were to invite our parents and neighbours?"
- My friend said to me,"Where were you when my business was falling and I was in great distress?"
- Ahmad said to his teacher,"When will you visit our village?How will it be a great source of pleasure to all of us? We will look forward to your visit to our village eagerly."
One Step Further into W-Family
'Do' will be converted into did and 'Did' eliminates owing to positive sense we have to make in indirect speech. We are bound to make positive sense of sentence after conversion so when we convert 'did' into positive or affirmative sense did changes into 2nd form. However in negative sentences we do not eliminate 'did' (example no 4 below). See examples given below.
Model Sentences
| Direct Speech |
Indirect Speech |
| 1. The man said to his servant,"Why does he write a letter?" |
The man asked his servant why he wrote a letter. |
| 2. My uncle said to my friends,"What do they do in their spare time?" |
My uncle asked my friends what they did in their spare time. |
| 3. She said to me,"Why do you come here and what do you want?" |
She asked me why I came here and what I wanted. |
| 4. Waiter said to beggar,"Why do you not eat rice?" |
Waiter asked beggar why I did not eat rice. |
Exercise No.6
Change the voice.
- The judge said to the accused,"Why do you beat your servant?"
- I said to her,"How did she look after my father?"
- They said to us,"Why do we do it at any cost?"
- I said to him,"When did I meet Salman on my way to school?"
- He said to his brother,"When did I learn my lesson?"
- Aslam said to me,"What do we want?"
- Esha said to her,"Why do you stop her?"
- He said to me,"What do you intend to teach me?"
- He said,"Why does train not reach at nine?"
- Sonia said,"How did they make me do so?"
- Policeman said,"Why do people disobey the traffic rules?"
- Sajjad said,"Why do we get up early in the morning everyday?"
- The old man said to me,"Why do you want to know her name and address?"
- Raheem said to me,"Why does she like it?"
- He said to me,"Where did you go yesterday?"