Speech change
21.
Direct Speech: ‘Did people use stamps in those days?’ asked Rafiq. ‘Yes!’ answered Mr. Jamil. ‘The first stamps were used in 1840.’ ‘Are they easy to get now?’ asked Shafiq. ‘They are very difficult to get,’ his uncle replied.
Indirect Speech: Rafiq inquired of Mr. Jamil whether people had used stamps in those days. Mr. Jamil replied in the affirmative and answered that the first stamps had been used in 1840. Shafiq asked his uncle if they were easy to get then. His uncle told in reply that they were very difficult to get.
22.
Direct Speech: Once I asked a sweet little girl, ‘What is your mother’s name?’ She replied cleverly, ‘I know my mother’s name but I won’t tell you that.’ I said, ‘What a clever girl you are!’ ‘I don’t tell my mother’s name to anybody whom I don’t know’ she spoke with an air of confidence.
Indirect Speech: Once I asked a sweet little girl what her mother’s name was. She replied cleverly that she knew her mother’s name but she would not tell me that. I exclaimed with wonder that she was a very clever girl. With an air of confidence she spoke that she did not tell her mother’s name to anybody whom she did not know.
প্রকাশ কুমার দাস, সহকারী অধ্যাপক, মোহাম্মদপুর প্রিপারেটরি স্কুল অ্যান্ড কলেজ, ঢাকা