Some important tips about narration in Grammar

Direct Speech / Quoted Speech

Saying exactly what someone has said is called direct speech (sometimes called quoted speech)

Here what a person says appears within quotation marks ("...") and should be word for word.

For example:

She said, "Today's lesson is on presentations."

or

"Today's lesson is on presentations", she said.

Indirect Speech / Reported Speech

Indirect speech (sometimes called reported speech), doesn't use quotation marks to enclose what the person said and it doesn't have to be word for word.

When reporting speech the tense usually changes. This is because when we use reported speech, we are usually talking about a time in the past (because obviously the person who spoke originally spoke in the past). The verbs therefore usually have to be in the past too.

For example:

Direct speech	Indirect speech
"I'm going to the cinema", he said.	He said he was going to the cinema.

Tense change

As a rule when you report something someone has said you go back a tense: (the tense on the left changes to the tense on the right):

Direct speech		Indirect speech
Present simple She said, "It's cold."	›	Past simple She said it was cold.
Present continuous She said, "I'm teaching English online."	›	Past continuous She said she was teaching English online.
Present perfect simple She said, "I've been on the web since 1999."	›	Past perfect simple She said she had been on the web since 1999.
Present perfect continuous She said, "I've been teaching English for seven years."	›	Past perfect continuous She said she had been teaching English for seven years.
Past simple She said, "I taught online yesterday."	›	Past perfect She said she had taught online yesterday.
Past continuous She said, "I was teaching earlier."	›	Past perfect continuous She said she had been teaching earlier.
Past perfect She said, "The lesson had already started when he arrived."	›	Past perfect NO CHANGE - She said the lesson had already started when he arrived.
Past perfect continuous She said, "I'd already been teaching for five minutes."	›	Past perfect continuous NO CHANGE - She said she'd already been teaching for five minutes.

Modal verb forms also sometimes change:

Direct speech		Indirect speech
will She said, "I'll teach English online tomorrow."	›	would She said she would teach English online tomorrow.
can She said, "I can teach English online."	›	could She said she could teach English online.
must She said, "I must have a computer to teach English online."	›	had to She said she had to have a computer to teach English online.
shall She said, "What shall we learn today?"	›	should She asked what we should learn today.
may She said, "May I open a new browser?"	›	might She asked if she might open a new browser.

!Note - There is no change to; could, would, should, might and ought to.

Direct speech	Indirect speech
"I might go to the cinema", he said.	He said he might go to the cinema.

You can use the present tense in reported speech if you want to say that something is still true i.e. my name has always been and will always be Lynne so:-

Direct speech	Indirect speech
"My name is Lynne", she said.	She said her name was Lynne. or She said her name is Lynne.

You can also use the present tense if you are talking about a future event.

Direct speech (exact quote)	Indirect speech (not exact)
"Next week's lesson is on reported speech", she said.	She said next week's lesson will be on reported speech.

Time change

If the reported sentence contains an expression of time, you must change it to fit in with the time of reporting.

For example we need to change words like here and yesterday if they have different meanings at the time and place of reporting.

Now	+ 24 hours - Indirect speech
"Today's lesson is on presentations."	She said yesterday's lesson was on presentations. or She said yesterday's lesson would be on presentations.

Expressions of time if reported on a different day
this (evening)	›	that (evening)
today	›	yesterday ...
these (days)	›	those (days)
now	›	then
(a week) ago	›	(a week) before
last weekend	›	the weekend before last / the previous weekend
here	›	there
next (week)	›	the following (week)
tomorrow	›	the next/following day

In addition if you report something that someone said in a different place to where you heard it you must change the place (here) to the place (there).

For example:-

At work	At home
"How long have you worked here?"	She asked me how long I'd worked there.

Pronoun change

In reported speech, the pronoun often changes.

For example:

Me	You
"I teach English online."	Direct Speech She said, "I teach English online." "I teach English online", she said. Reported Speech She said she teaches English online. or She said she taught English online.

Reporting Verbs

Said, told and asked are the most common verbs used in indirect speech.

We use asked to report questions:-

For example: I asked Lynne what time the lesson started.

We use told with an object.

For example: Lynne told me she felt tired.

!Note - Here me is the object.

We usually use said without an object.

For example: Lynne said she was going to teach online.

If said is used with an object we must include to ;

For example: Lynne said to me that she'd never been to China.

!Note - We usually use told.

For example: Lynne told me (that) she'd never been to China.

There are many other verbs we can use apart from said, told and asked.

These include:-

accused, admitted, advised, alleged, agreed, apologised, begged, boasted, complained, denied, explained, implied, invited, offered, ordered, promised, replied, suggested and thought.

Using them properly can make what you say much more interesting and informative.

For example:

He asked me to come to the party:-

He invited me to the party.

He begged me to come to the party.

He ordered me to come to the party.

He advised me to come to the party.

He suggested I should come to the party.

Use of 'That' in reported speech

In reported speech,  the word that is often used.

For example: He told me that he lived in Greenwich.

However, that is optional.

For example: He told me he lived in Greenwich.

!Note - That is never used in questions, instead we often use if.

For example: He asked me if I would come to the party.

The sneaky comma

I'm British, so I only tend to place the comma inside quotation marks when it's part of the sentence being quoted.

"I didn't notice that the comma was inside the quotation marks," Lynne said, "but Hekner did."

That said, I read so much American literature, that even I tuck them away sometimes.

Really, no one has set in stone what the rules of the English language are. It's a diverse language, and the rules that exist have arisen through usage, and they can change in exactly the same way, so maybe it doesn't matter, but it's best to be consistent. (Thanks Hekner.)

IBPS PO Exam: English Language: Cloze Test-Study Material

Institute of Banking and Personnel Selection is all set to conduct Common Written Examination for Recruitment of Probationary Officers in Public Sector Banks of the country. The examination will be conducted on 19 October 2013, 20 October 2013, 26 October 2013 and 27 October 2013.
A total of 40 questions will come in English Language Section of IBPS PO Exam contains different topics like Reading Comprehension, Close Test, Sentence Skills, Synonyms, antonyms, etc. Jagranjosh.com, renowned educational website offers study material on Sentence Skills to help aspirants in getting ready for the upcoming IBPS PO Exam 2013..
Chapter: Fill in the Paragraph Gaps (Cloze Test)
Chapter Guidelines
The English Language Section of IBPS PO Exam includes the questions from ‘Fill in the Paragraph Gaps’ (Cloze Test). In Cloze Test, generally a passage is provided with 10 or 12 spaces. The candidates have to fill up the spaces with most appropriate words/phrases provided in options. These types of questions are asked to judge the candidates vocabulary power, grammatical knowledge, and common sense.
While answering these questions, the candidate should read the entire passage once to get the theme as sometimes more than one options seems appropriate for blank. Complete passage reading will help the candidate to choose the best option. Good Knowledge of Grammar, command over vocabulary and little bit of common sense will be ideal for attempting these questions.
Introduction:
Cloze test is a type of comprehension exercise in which the reader is required to supply words that have been omitted from the text (passage). Other names of this exercise are:
I. Fill in the Blanks in passages and comprehensions, and
II. Choosing words in a running passage to maintain the sequence of various sentences in the paragraphs.
In the examination you will find a small passage with numbered blanks. Below the passage these numbers are repeated and against each number four or five choices of word are given. You are required to choose an appropriate word from the given choices to fill in the respective blanks in the passage. This test is designed to evaluate your knowledge of words and their correct grammatical usage so as to keep the meaning of the passage intact.
Strategy to Tackle Cloze Tests
To tackle the Cloze test, it is advisable to quickly read through the passage before starting to fill in the blanks. This gives you a fair idea about the content of the passage and with this background choosing appropriate words from the provided answer choices becomes easier.
Example
Tibet                  up images of a mystic land. Snow-capped mountain peaks pierce the blue sky and fierce chilly winds sweep the rolling grasslands. Maroon-robed Buddhist monks pray in remote monasteries and                    horsemen pound the rugged earth. People in this high plateau perform punishing rituals like prostrating hundreds of miles in tattered clothes on pilgrimage. Spirits, spells and flying apparitions are part of the Tibetan world. In short, Tibet remains an exotica. Such images are largely the result of books by Western travellers and explorers in the last century, which helped in keeping the mystique alive. And when the Communist rulers took over Tibet in the 1950s and began                  Chinese language and culture on the people, Tibet's own history started to                     in the background. Thus, the only books available in English to Tsering Wangmo Dhompa as a young girl growing up in India and Nepal as a refugee                  those written by Westerners, and so she came to view the country as a forbidden land, a place where fantasy and fable collaborated against a dramatic backdrop of mountains, black magic and people with strange customs and appearances.
1. (a) makes                      (b) conjures     (c) puts            (d) toil.
2. (a) sturdy                       (b) wobbly       (c) handsome    (d) herculean.
3. (a) implementing            (b) evading      (c) imposing     (d) experimenting.
4. (a) amplify                     (b) stretch        (c) die             (d) recede.
5. (a) are                           (b) have been  (c) was             (d) were.
Answers and Explanations:
1. (b). ‘Makes up’ would mean create by altering or modifying such as ‘making up a story.’ ‘Puts up’ is also an incorrect expression here as it means ‘stays.’ ‘Toil up’ is again incorrect option as it means to put hard work into. Option (b) ‘conjures’ is the right answer which means ‘to recall.’
2. (a). ‘Sturdy’ means ‘with strong built up’, ‘wobbly’ means ‘unsteady’, ‘herculean’ means ‘having great strength.’, ‘handsome’ means ‘good looking.’ Option (a) is the most appropriate here as a horseman is generally visualized as the one having strong built up.
3. (c). Since the sentence talks about communist rulers ‘taking over’, option (c) ‘imposing’ which means ‘to thrust.’
4. (d). ‘Amplify’ and ‘stretch’ both mean an increase. ‘Die’ would be a little extreme word here. ‘Recede’ which means ‘to move back’ matches up with the word background used in the sentence.
5. (e). The correct tense form here would be option (d) i.e.; ‘were.’

IBPS CWE PO (Online) Exam-2013 Analysis

The Institute of Banking Personnel Selection (IBPS) conducted online examination, for the recruitment of Probationary Officers/Management Trainee across the country on the 19th of October, 2013.

There were 200 questions in the paper, which had to be answered in 2 hours. There were five sections in all - Reasoning, English Language, Quantitative Aptitude, General Awareness with special reference to Banking Industry, and Computer Knowledge.  All the other sections except English Language section were available bilingually, that is, in both English and Hindi. Each question had 5 options. There was negative marking of one-fourth or 0.25 of the marks assigned to that question for all the sections.

The pattern of the test was as follows:

Section	Total Questions	Max. Marks	Level of Difficulty	Possible Attempts	Possible Score
Reasoning	50	50	Moderate to Tough	28-32	26-28
English Language	40	40	Tough	22-25	18-20
Quantitative Aptitude	50	50	Moderate	35-38	30-32
General Awareness	40	40	Easy to Moderate	26-30	25-27
Computer Knowledge	20	20	Easy	15-18	15-18
Total	200	200			114-125

The details of the individual sections are given below:

Reasoning
This section primarily saw moderate level of questions. A student should have attempted at least 30 questions. Some of the questions were time consuming. There were questions on symbols, Linear Arrangement, Seating Arrangement, Syllogism, Word Arrangement, Data Sufficiency and Critical Reasoning.

English Language
There were two Reading Comprehension passages with 10 questions each. The passages were not easy reads and both of them were related to the Indian economy. There were 5 questions on sentence correction, Parajumbles and there was a cloze passage of 10 questions. The questions in this section were tougher as compared to last year.

Quantitative Aptitude
In general, this section was of moderate to tough difficulty level. This section was dominated by questions of Arithmetic, Number Series and Data Interpretation that include Pie Chart, Line Chart, Table etc. Some DI questions were wrong resulted in students wasting their time unnecessarily.

General Awareness  
This section was the easiest. Unlike last year, wherein the maximum number of questions was from Banking and Economy, this year, questions were mostly based on Current Affairs.

Computer Knowledge
This section comprised questions of moderate difficulty level based on basic knowledge of computers. The main areas from which questions were asked are: Windows, Networking, Hardware and Software.

check the comprehension abilty

Passage 1

Bernard Bailyn has recently reinterpreted the early history of the United States by applying new social research findings on the experiences of European migrants. In his reinterpretation, migration becomes the organizing principle for rewriting the history of preindustrial North America. His approach rests on four separate propositions.

The first of these asserts that residents of early modern England moved regularly about their countryside; migrating to the New World was simply a “natural spillover.” Although at first the colonies held little positive attraction for the English—they would rather have stayed home—by the eighteenth century people increasingly migrated to America because they regarded it as the land of opportunity. Secondly, Bailyn holds that, contrary to the notion that used to flourish in America history textbooks, there was never a typical New World community. For example, the economic and demographic character of early New England towns varied considerably.

Bailyn’s third proposition suggests two general patterns prevailing among the many thousands of migrants: one group came as indentured servants, another came to acquire land. Surprisingly, Bailyn suggests that those who recruited indentured servants were the driving forces of transatlantic migration. These colonial entrepreneurs helped determine the social character of people who came to preindustrial North America. At first, thousands of unskilled laborers were recruited; by the 1730’s, however, American employers demanded skilled artisans.

Finally, Bailyn argues that the colonies were a half-civilized hinterland of the European culture system. He is undoubtedly correct to insist that the colonies were part of an Anglo-American empire. But to divide the empire into English core and colonial periphery, as Bailyn does, devalues the achievements of colonial culture. It is true, as Bailyn claims, that high culture in the colonies never matched that in England. But what of seventeenth-century New England, where the settlers created effective laws, built a distinguished university, and published books? Bailyn might respond that New England was exceptional. However, the ideas and institutions developed by New England Puritans had powerful effects on North American culture.

Although Bailyn goes on to apply his approach to some thousands of indentured servants who migrated just prior to the revolution, he fails to link their experience with the political development of the United States. Evidence presented in his work suggests how we might make such a connection. These indentured servants were treated as slaves for the period during which they had sold their time to American employers. It is not surprising that as soon as they served their time they passed up good wages in the cities and headed west to ensure their personal independence by acquiring land. Thus, it is in the west that a peculiarly American political culture began, among colonists who were suspicious of authority and intensely anti-aristocratic.

1.   Which of the following statements about migrants to colonial North America is supported by information in the passage?

(a) A larger percentage of migrants to colonial North America came as indentured servants than as free agents interested in acquiring land.

(b) Migrants who came to the colonies as indentured servants were more successful at making a livelihood than were farmers and artisans.

(c) Migrants to colonial North America were more successful at acquiring their own land during the eighteenth century than during the seven-tenth century.

(d) By the 1730’s, migrants already skilled in a trade were in more demand by American employers than were unskilled laborers.

(e) A significant percentage of migrants who came to the colonies to acquire land were forced to work as field hands for prosperous American farmers.

2.   The author of the passage states that Bailyn failed to

(a) give sufficient emphasis to the cultural and political interdependence of the colonies and England

(b) describe carefully how migrants of different ethnic backgrounds preserved their culture in the united States

(c) take advantage of social research on the experiences of colonists who migrated to colonial North America specifically to acquire land

(d) relate the experience of the migrants to the political values that eventually shaped the character of the United States

(e) investigate the lives of Europeans before they came to colonial North America to determine more adequately their motivations for migrating

3.   Which of the following best summarizes the author’s evaluation of Bailyn’s fourth proposition?

(a) It is totally implausible.

(b) It is partially correct.

(c) It is highly admirable.

(d) It is controversial though persuasive.

(e) It is intriguing though unsubstantiated.

4.   According to the passage, Bailyn and the author agree on which of the following statements about the culture of colonial New England?

(a) High culture in New England never equaled the high culture of England.

(b) The cultural achievements of colonial New England have generally been unrecognized by historians.

(c) The colonists imitated the high culture of England, and did not develop a culture that was uniquely their own.

(d) The southern colonies were greatly influenced by the high culture of New England.

(d) New England communities were able to create laws and build a university, but unable to create anything innovative in the arts.

5.   According to the passage, which of the following is true of English migrants to the colonies during the eighteenth century?

(a) Most of them were farmers rather than trades people or artisans.

(b) Most of them came because they were unable to find work in England.

(c) They differed from other English people in that they were willing to travel.

(d) They expected that the colonies would offer them increased opportunity.

(e) They were generally not as educated as the people who remained in England.

6.   The author of the passage is primarily concerned with

(a) comparing several current interpretations of early American history

(b) suggesting that new social research on migration should lead to revisions in current interpretations of early American history

(c) providing the theoretical framework that is used by most historians in understanding early American history

(d) refuting an argument about early American history that has been proposed by social historians

(e) discussing a reinterpretation of early American history that is based on new social research on migration

7.   It can be inferred from the passage that American history textbooks used to assert that

(a) many migrants to colonial North America were not successful financially

(b) more migrants came to America out of religious or political conviction that came in the hope of acquiring land

(c) New England communities were much alike in terms of their economics and demographics

(d) many migrants to colonial North America failed to maintain ties with their European relations

(e) the level of literacy in New England communities was very high

8.   The author of the passage would be most likely to agree with which of the following statements about Bailyn’s work?

(a) Bailyn underestimates the effects of Puritan thought on North American culture.

(b) Bailyn overemphasizes the economic dependence of the colonies on Great Britain.

(c) Bailyn’s description of the colonies as part of an Anglo-American empire is misleading and incorrect.

(d) Bailyn failed to test his propositions on a specific group of migrants to colonial North America.

(e) Bailyn overemphasizes the experiences of migrants to the New England colonies, and neglects the southern and the western parts of the New World.

9.   What according to writer does natural spillover means in this passage?

      (a)  The economic and demographic character of early New England towns varied considerably   

      (b)  Residents of early modern England moved regularly about their countryside; migrating to the New World

      (c)  The colonies were a half-civilized hinterland of the European culture system

      (d)  Those who recruited indentured servants were the driving forces of transatlantic migration

      (e)  None of these

10.  According to the passage the phrase ‘passed up’ implies

      (a)  To pass an examination or inspection

      (b)   To exchange greetings

      (c )   To exchange greetings

      (d)   To let go by

      (e)   To lose consciousness.    

Pick out the most appropriate synonym of the following words as used in the passage   

11.   Periphery

(a)   realm                   (b)   arena       (c)   circumference     (d)   isolation               (d)   disruption                                                         12. Indentured           

(a)   exonerated                      (b)   yielded     (c)   To bind into          (D)   inspected             (d)    supervised                     

Passage 21
1. D 2. D 3. B 4. A 5. D 6. E 7. C 8. A 9.B 10.D 11.D 12.C

ANSWER TO SYNONYM AND ANTONYM EXERCISE

IMPORTANT IDIOMS WITH THEIR MEANING

BREAK DOWN : FAIL,STOP,CEASE TO FUNCTION
BREAKIN/INTO : ENTER BY FORCE
BREAK OUT : BEGINING OF UNPLEASANT EVENTS
BREAK UP : END,DISPERSE
BREAK WITH : END A RELATION WITH
BRING FORTH : PRODUCE SOMETHING
BRING UP : RAISE,REAR,EDUCATE,AWARE
BRING OUT : CAUSE SOMETHING TO APPEAR OR OPEN
BRING DOWN : CAUSE TO FALL,, LOWER.
BRING ABAOUT : CAUSE SOMETHING TO HAPPEN
BRING UNDER : BRING SOMETHING UNDER CONTROL OR SUPERVISION
BRING AROUND : CAUSE SOMEBODY TO REGAIN CONCIOUSNESS