The Subject.

Find Your Voice - III

# Harry said to his brother Dick that he hoped he would come to see him in his new house. Dick said he would love to go, and that Harry was lucky to get a house so easily in those clays. Harry said the house wasn’t quite ready yet, but they must fix a day soon when both of them were free.

# Peter packed up a number of his better books and took them to a second-hand shop. The shopkeeper offered him four pounds for the lot. Then Peter said that most of them were as good as new. The shopkeeper increased his offer to five pounds, and told Peter he could take it or leave it.

# Miss Gatty asked Catherine what she was going to do now that she had left school. Catherine said she expected she would have to look after the little ones. Miss Gatty said she would have thought that Catherine’s mother would want her to earn her living instead, and Catherine replied that she didn’t think her mother could spare her.

# A man told me that he had dreamt some nights before that he was a panther that haunted a village of huts and some very tasty dogs, and how he was hunted for three years and shot at five times before he was killed. He said he could remember killing a gipsy woman and hiding part of her body till the next day.

# The old gentleman told me that I had startled him as I went in, and he asked me how I had found my way in. I told him that I had got in through the front door, and then he said that he had forgotten to lock it. He went on to say that he supposed I had gone in to steal, but I told him it was not so, but because I had lost my way.

# He told me that his was not a large family, only his father and himself, his mother having died when he was only three. They had lived in a boarding house for twelve years. From the age of fifteen he had had several situations, lasting from a few days to two months.

# A little old man said to us that some nights before he had gone out for a walk and felt as if he had become part of the evening wind and wandered slowly across the world. Sunset had always been his favourite time for being out of doors. And yet everywhere he went
that night, round the earth and back again, he found suffering, great suffering.

# A Chinaman who was walking in a graveyard saw a beautiful lady fanning a mound of earth. It was so strange a sight that he approached the lady and asked her courteously what she was doing. The lady told him that the grave contained her husband, and the stupid man, just before he died, had made her promise not to marry again until the earth that covered his grave was dry. The lady had watched the grave for some days, but it got dry so very slowly she was fanning it to make it dry more quickly. As she said this she looked up into the man’s face with so charming a look that he offered to help her. When he asked her to let him have the fan, she agreed gladly, saying that she would be extremely grateful to him if he would fan it dry as soon as possible.

# The carpet merchant said to his servant that it was in his mind to buy the house of one Mahmud Effendi, a house which the servant no doubt knew. The owner was asking a vast sum for it, a fortune indeed. But it was known that he needed money, and that his creditors were troubling him for payment. And if they waited a little he would be glad to accept less. It was a very fine house, and the price of it would be more than he had in hand. So he thought of selling all his carpets and that upper room in which they were. He asked the servant, whom he knew to be a wise man, to give him good advice.

# ‘Are you going to keep this house on?’ she asked.

‘I hardly know’ he said. ‘I’m very likely going to Canada.’

‘To Canada? What for?’

‘Well,’ he said slowly, ‘to try the life.’

‘But which life?’

‘There are various things, farming, or mining or lumbering’. I don’t mind much what it is.’

‘And is that what you want?’

‘I don’t know,’ he said, ‘till I’ve tried.’

# The doctor himself was ill. He sat up and the lady entered his consulting room.

‘My husband is very ill!’ she sobbed. ‘For mercy’s sake come quickly . . . Make haste!’

‘What is it?’ said the doctor, drowsily.

Find Your Voice - I

Express the following passages in Indirect Speech:—

# ‘How did you get here?’ asked the baron.

‘Through the door,’ replied the figure.

‘What are you?’ said the baron.

‘A man’ replied the figure.

‘I don’t believe it,’ said the baron.

‘Disbelieve it then’ said the figure.

‘I will,’ rejoined the baron.

# She called out to Mary in the next room: ‘Mary, listen to that bird. Isn’t it a nightingale? It sounds like one all right.’

# The hermit came to me in a friendly way. I said to him: ‘I have had a very long walk, and am tired out. I should be grateful if you would let me rest here for a little while.’ ‘You are heartily welcome’, he said, ‘The little which I can offer you as refreshment is at your service. ’

# The traveller knocked at the cottage door, and an old man put his head out of the window.

‘What do you want?’

‘Is Jadrino far from here?’

‘Not far; about ten miles.’

‘Good heavens! So far! What shall I do?’

‘Where do you come from?’ asked the old man.

The traveller took no notice of the question.

‘Listen, old man; can you get me horses to take me to Jadrino?’

‘How should we poor people have such things as horses?’

‘Well, then, can I get a guide? I will pay him what he asks.’

‘Wait,’ said the old man, shutting the window. I will send my son out to you. He will show you the way.’

# Antonio took a couple of oranges out of his basket.

‘Here is something to eat with your bread, Laurella,’ he said.

‘Eat them yourself. Bread is enough for me.’

‘They will refresh you in this heat. You have had so far to walk.’

‘They gave me a drink of water at the last house I went to.’

‘As you please’, he said and let them fall into his basket. Then he began again.

‘You might take the oranges to your mother.’

‘We have oranges at home, and when they are finished I can buy some more.’

‘Nay, take these to her, and give her them with my compliments. ’

‘She does not know you.’

‘You could tell her who I am.’

‘I do not know you either.’

A Test on Exclamatory Form.

The Exclamatory Form.

A Test on Interrogative Form.

1. ‘What is it that is smelling so sweet?’ asked the lady.

2. ‘Are you quite sure that we shall be in time?’ my friend asked.

3. ‘How can I tell which is the right way?’ he wondered.

4. ‘What shall we do if night comes on and we can’t find a house?’ asked the little boy.

5. ‘What are you two whispering about?’ asked the teacher.

6. Mother said: ‘What was it you asked me just now?’

7. ‘Are you going to see the film that has just come?’ my cousin asked.

8. The first thing Miss Allen said to me was : ‘Were you ever at School in Leicester?’ (Pron. Lester.)

9. ‘Will nobody come and help me tie my shoe-laces?’ the little fellow asked.

10. ‘What is it you are wanting now?’ said the policeman.

11. ‘Can you tell me, please, where the nearest doctor lives?’ asked the stranger.

12. ‘Who are you?’ I said. ‘And what are you doing here?

13. ‘Do you know who I am?’ I asked.

14. ‘Is this beautiful present for me?’ she asked.

15. I said to him: ‘Wouldn’t you like to come for a walk with me?’

16. ‘Where can I have left my umbrella?’ I said.

17. ‘Will you kindly allow me to pass?’ someone behind us said.

18. I said to my teacher: ‘Do you know what is the name of the bird on that branch?’

19. I asked Father: ‘Are you going to be long away? When are you likely to be back?’

20. ‘May I have a little more cake, please?’ the little girl said.

21. ‘Why was I born a girl?’ she said to herself.

22. ‘Why do you tease me? Can’t you leave me alone?’ he said to the other boys in a tearful voice.

23. ‘Did you leave all these bits of paper lying about the floor?’ asked mother sternly.

24- ‘Haven’t you brought anything to drink?’ asked Tom.

25. ‘Where are your manners?’ said Father. ‘Haven't you learnt to speak politely?’

Interrogative Form - Indirect Speech.

The Interrogative Form.

A Test on Imperative Form.

Imperative Form - Indirect Speech. 

A Test on Direct Speech. 

Indirect into Direct Speech.

2. The Captain said that they should wait for him there, and when he came nearer they should hide behind one of the big rocks.

Direct.

A Test on Indirect Speech.