SUBJECT: ENGLISH LANGUAGE

STD. VIII
ACTIVE-PASSIVE VOICE
REPORTED SPEECH
ACTIVE AND PASSIVE VOICE:
Active voice: When a subject is directly acting on the object, the sentence is written in Active
voice.
Passive voice: When the object is acted upon by the subject, the sentence is written in
Passive voice.
In both the above sentences, the meaning remains the same and only the structure is what that
changes. Usually, the structure or sequence of the subject, verb, and object expressed in the
active voice sentence gets reversed in the passive voice of the same sentence.
Structure of Active and Passive voice:
Active voice: Subject + Verb + Object
Passive voice: Object + Verb + Subject
As a thumb rule, Passive voice sentences always take the third form of the verb also called
the past participle form of the verb (example- eat, ate, eaten- eaten is the third form of a
verb). Notice this being used in the sentence above in the table: “The strawberry pie was
eaten by me.”
Rules for changing Active voice to Passive voice:
TENSE ACTIVE VOICE PASSIVE VOICE
Simple Present Give / gives Is / are given
Present Continuous Is / are giving Is / are being given
Present Perfect Has / have given Has / have been given
Simple Past gave Was / were given
Past Continuous Was / were giving Was / were being given
Past Perfect Had given Had been given
Simple Future Shall / will give Shall / will be given
Future Perfect Shall / will have given Shall / will have been given

EXAMPLE:
 Mom read the novel in one day. (Act. V)
 The novel was read by Mom in one day. (Pass. V)
 I will clean the house every Saturday. (Act. V)
 The house will be cleaned by me every Saturday. (Pass. V)

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  The company requires staff to watch a safety video every year. (Act. V)
 The staff are required by the company to watch a safety video every year. (Pass. V)
 The two kings are signing the treaty. (Act. V)
 The treaty is being signed by the two kings. (Pass. V)
 Water fills a tub. (Act. V)
 A tub is filled with water. (Pass. V)

THE REPORTED SPEECH

# There are two ways of reporting speech of a person.

 Direct Speech: 1. Simmi said, “I am unwell.”

 Indirect Speech: 2. Simmi said that she was unwell.

* In sentence 1, the actual words spoken by the speaker are given within inverted commas.
This form of speech is called DIRECT SPEECH.

* In sentence 2, the substance of what the speaker said is given. This form of speech is called
REPORTED SPEECH.

* Reporting Verb: the verb that reports a speech is called ‘the reporting verb’. In sentence 1,
‘said’ is the reporting verb.

* In Direct Speech:

 The speech is put within inverted commas(“”)

 The first word of the Direct speech starts with a capital letter.
 The Direct speech is separated by comma from the reporting verb.

* In Indirect Speech:

 Inverted commas are not used.

 The comma separating the Reporting verb from Reported speech is removed.
 The conjunction ‘that’ is used after the reporting verb.
 The tense of the reporting verb is never changed.
 The rules for the change of tenses are followed.
 The rules for the change of personal pronouns are followed.

# RULES FOR THE CHANGE OF TENSES:

RULE – 1: If the reporting verb is in the Present Tense or Future Tense, the tense of the verb
in the reported speech is never changed.

Example:

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 1. She says, “I am unwell”. – Present
She says that she is unwell. – Present
2. Hemant says, “I will learn English.” – Future
Hemant says that he will learn English. – Future
3. He will say, “I am going to London tomorrow.”
He will say that he is going to London the next day.

RULE – 2: If the reporting verb is in the Past Tense, the verb in the reported speech is
changed into corresponding past tense.

Direct Speech Indirect Speech

Simple Present Simple Past
He said, “I never eat meat.” He said that he never ate meat.
Present Continuous Past Continuous
She said, “I am waiting for Reena.” She said that she was waiting for
Reena.
Present Perfect Past Perfect
He said, “I have found a pen.” He said that he had found a pen.
Present Perfect Continuous Past Perfect Continuous
She said, “I have been waiting for Reena.” She said that she had been waiting for
Reena.
Simple Past Past Perfect
Ram said, “I went to the market.” Ram said that he had gone to the
market.
Future Conditional
He said, “I will/shall be in Paris on Monday.” He said that he would be in Paris on
Monday.
Future Continuous Conditional Continuous
He said, “I will/shall be going there tomorrow.” He said that he would be going there
the next day.
Past Continuous Past Perfect Continuous
He said, “I was thinking of selling the house.” He said that he had been thinking of
selling the house.

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# Exception to Rule 2:

If the Direct Speech expresses UNIVERSAL TRUTHS, SAYINGS, PROVERBS,

HABITUAL ACTION, then the tense does not change.

 He said, “The Earth moves round the Sun.”

 He said that the Earth moves round the Sun.
 The Physics teacher said, “Newton was a genius.”
 The Physics teacher said that Newton was a genius.

# Rules for the change of Personal Pronouns:

Rule 1: First person (I, me, my, we, our, us) in the direct speech is changed into the person of
the subject of the Reporting verb.
Example:
 Amrita said, “I am busy.”
 Amrita said that she was busy.

Rule 2: Second person (you, your) in the direct speech is changed into the person of the
object of the Reporting verb.
Example:
 Anil said to Radha, “You sing well.”
 Anil told Radha that she sang well.

Rule 3: Third person (he, she, it, they, him, his, her, them) remains unchanged.
Example:
 Harry said to me, “He is sick.”
 Harry told me that he was sick.

# Reporting a question:

 To change the introductory verb to words like ask, inquire, demand or other words
expressing the same meaning.
 The use of ‘whether’ or ‘if’ after an introductory verb when the question has ‘Yes’ or
‘No’ for an answer.
 To change the interrogative form into declarative form.

Examples:
1. Direct: The teacher said to me, “Have you done your homework?”
Indirect: The teacher asked me whether I had done my homework.

2. Direct: Rita said, “Do you know the way to the theatre?”
Indirect: Rita enquired if I knew the way to the theatre.

# Reporting exclamations and wishes:

 To change the introductory verb into words like wish, claim, bless, cry, etc.
 To omit the words like ‘alas, hurrah’, i.e., exclamation words.
 To omit the sign of exclamation (!).

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Examples:
1. Direct: Grandmother said to her son, “May you live long!”
Indirect: Grandmother blessed her son that he might live long.
2. Direct: The boys’ team shouted, “Hurrah! We have won the match.”
Indirect: The boys’ team exclaimed with joy that they had won the match.

# Change of Expression of Time or Place:

 Ago ● before
 Today ● that day
 Tomorrow ● the next day/the following day
 Yesterday ● the day before/the previous day
 Last night ● the previous night
 Next week/month/year ● the following week/month/year
 Now ● then
 This ● that
 Here ● there
 These ● those