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Chapter 12 of 12

Voice & Narration

In the IOCL Graduate Engineer Civil syllabus under General English · 2 parts

Active & Passive Voice · Direct & Indirect Speech (Narration)

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📑 Contents (20 sections)

Part 1 of 2

Active & Passive Voice

Last reviewed 30 Sept 2026 · 8 min read

Voice — active and passive

Voice shows whether the subject does the action or receives it.

Active voice: the subject is the doer — The engineer designed the bridge.
Passive voice: the subject receives the action — The bridge was designed by the engineer.

Only transitive verbs (verbs that take an object) can be changed into the passive. Intransitive verbs (arrive, go, sleep, fall) have no passive.

Why use the passive?

The doer is unknown, unimportant or obvious: The office was broken into last night. English is spoken all over the world.
To keep the focus on the receiver of the action: The road has been repaired.
In formal, scientific and technical writing: The sample was heated to 100 °C.

The basic transformation

Step	Active	Passive
1	Subject (doer)	becomes the agent after by (or is omitted)
2	Object	becomes the subject
3	Verb	be (in the tense of the active verb) + past participle (V3)

The workers built the wall. → The wall was built by the workers.

Pronoun forms change: subject pronouns in the active become object pronouns after by; object pronouns become subject pronouns. She helped me. → I was helped by her. He invited them. → They were invited by him.

Passive in the twelve tenses

Tense	Active	Passive (be-form + V3)
Simple present	He writes a letter.	A letter is written* by him.*
Present continuous	He is writing a letter.	A letter is being written* by him.*
Present perfect	He has written a letter.	A letter has been written* by him.*
Present perfect continuous	He has been writing a letter.	(rarely used; often has been being written is avoided)
Simple past	He wrote a letter.	A letter was written* by him.*
Past continuous	He was writing a letter.	A letter was being written* by him.*
Past perfect	He had written a letter.	A letter had been written* by him.*
Past perfect continuous	He had been writing a letter.	(not used)
Simple future	He will write a letter.	A letter will be written* by him.*
Future continuous	He will be writing a letter.	(not used)
Future perfect	He will have written a letter.	A letter will have been written* by him.*
Future perfect continuous	He will have been writing ...	(not used)

RememberThe pattern to remember

Passive = be in the same tense as the active verb + V3.

is/am/are + V3, was/were + V3, has/have/had been + V3, will be + V3, is/are/was/were being + V3 (continuous).
Perfect continuous and future continuous tenses have no natural passive.

Passive with modals and other structures

Structure	Active	Passive
Modal + V1	You must finish the work.	The work must be finished* (by you).*
Modal perfect	He should have done it.	It should have been done.
Infinitive	I want him to help me.	I want to be helped* by him.*
Gerund	He hates people laughing at him.	He hates being laughed at.
Have to / ought to / used to	We have to obey rules.	Rules have to be obeyed.
Going to	They are going to build a dam.	A dam is going to be built.

Part 2 of 2

Direct & Indirect Speech (Narration)

Last reviewed 30 Sept 2026 · 8 min read

Direct and indirect speech

There are two ways of reporting what someone said.

Direct speech gives the exact words in inverted commas: He said, "I am tired."
Indirect (reported) speech gives the meaning without quoting: He said that he was tired.

The sentence has two parts: the reporting clause (He said) and the reported clause ("I am tired"). When we change from direct to indirect, we normally change three things: the conjunction/form, the pronouns and the tense (and the words of time and place).

The three changes

1. Pronouns

Change according to sense, using the rule S – O – N (Subject, Object, No change):

S — Subject: the first-person pronoun in the reported speech (I, we, my, our) changes to match the subject of the reporting verb. He said, "I am ill." → He said that he was ill.
O — Object: the second-person pronoun (you, your) changes to match the object of the reporting verb. He said to me, "You are late." → He told me that I was late.
N — No change: third-person pronouns (he, she, they, it) usually stay the same. She said, "He is coming." → She said that he was coming.

2. Tenses (when the reporting verb is in the past)

Move each verb one step back:

Direct	Indirect
Simple present (is, works)	Simple past (was, worked)
Present continuous (is working)	Past continuous (was working)
Present perfect (has worked)	Past perfect (had worked)
Present perfect continuous	Past perfect continuous
Simple past (worked)	Past perfect (had worked)
Past continuous	Past perfect continuous
Simple future (will work)	would work
can / may / shall	could / might / would (should)
must	had to (obligation); must stays if it is a general truth or a strong inference
would, could, might, should, ought to	unchanged

3. Words of time and place

Direct	Indirect
now	then
today	that day
tonight	that night
tomorrow	the next day / the following day
yesterday	the previous day / the day before
last night / week / year	the night / week / year before, the previous ...
next week	the following week
ago	before
here	there
this / these	that / those
come	go
thus	so

NoteWhen the tenses do NOT change

The reporting verb is in the present or future (He says / will say that ...): He says, "I am ill." → He says that he is ill.
The reported speech is a universal truth, habit, proverb or scientific fact: The teacher said, "The earth moves round the sun." → The teacher said that the earth moves round the sun.
The reported speech has a modal that does not change (could, would, might, should, ought to).
The reported speech is a statement about something still true or a historical past already in the past perfect.
The words are reported soon after being spoken and the event is still true: He said, "I live in Delhi." → He said that he lives in Delhi (acceptable).

Types of sentence

Statements

Use that (often omitted) after the reporting verb (said, told, stated, explained, added, replied). He said, "I work hard." → He said that he worked hard. She said to him, "I will help you." → She told him that she would help him.

Said to → told; said (no listener named) stays said.

Questions

Use asked / enquired / wanted to know and remove the question mark; the word order becomes normal (statement order), and do/does/did is dropped.

Yes/No questions: join with if / whether: He said to me, "Are you ready?" → He asked me if/whether I was ready.
Wh- questions: keep the question word: She asked, "Where do you live?" → She asked where I lived. "What is your name?" → He asked me what my name was.
Order: subject before the verb; no auxiliary do: "Why did you leave?" → He asked me why I had left.

Commands, requests, advice, prohibitions

Use the infinitive (to + V1) with a suitable reporting verb — ordered, commanded, told, requested, begged, advised, forbade, warned, urged, invited, suggested.

He said to me, "Shut the door." → He ordered me to shut the door.
"Please help me," she said. → She requested me to help her.
"Do not smoke here," he said. → He forbade me to smoke there. / He told me not to smoke there.
"You should rest," the doctor said. → The doctor advised me to rest.

Exclamations and wishes

Use exclaimed with joy/sorrow/surprise that ..., cried out that ..., wished / prayed:

He said, "Hurrah! We have won." → He exclaimed with joy that they had won.
She said, "Alas! I am ruined." → She exclaimed with sorrow that she was ruined.
"What a beautiful scene!" he said. → He exclaimed that it was a very beautiful scene.
"May you live long!" she said. → She prayed that I might live long.

Suggestions with let

He said, "Let us go for a walk." → He suggested that they should go for a walk. "Let him go," she said. → She said that he should be allowed to go.

Greetings and thanks

He said, "Good morning!" → He wished me good morning. "Thank you," she said to him. → She thanked him. "Congratulations!" → He congratulated me.

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