Back to: Direct and Indirect Speech (Narration)
Rules for Narration Change of Optative Sentences
- Optative sentence is different from exclamatory sentence in the sense that this kind of sentence expresses hope, wish, prayer, whereas exclamatory sentence expresses emotions. Optative sentence starts with ‘may’ or ‘wish’
- Instead of a question mark (?), a full stop (.) or exclamatory mark (!) can be used in case of optative sentence.
- The reporting verb of optative sentence changes to wished/prayed/hoped in narration change from direct to indirect speech.
- The reporting clause and reported clause is connected with conjunction ‘that’, sometimes no conjunction is used.
Examples
| Direct Speech | Indirect Speech |
|---|---|
| The man said to the old man, “May you live a longer life.” | The man wished that the old man might live a longer live. |
| The priest said, “May the god bless you.” | The priest prayed that the god might bless him/her. |
| She said to me, “Wish you a happy life ahead.” | She wished me a happy life ahead. |
| Mother said, “May my son recover soon.” | Mother wished that her son might recover soon. |
| His friend said to him, “may you find success in life.” | His friend wished that he might find success in life. |
| I said to my brother, “May you pass the exam.” | I wished that my brother might pass the exam. |
| The monk said, “May you find your path in life.” | The monk wished that he/she might find his/her path in life. |
| The villagers said to the volunteers, “May you be rewarded for your good works.” | The villagers wished that the volunteers might be rewarded for their good works. |
| She said to him, “Wish you were here.” | She wished that he was there. |
| He said, “May the truth triumph against all odds.” | He wished that the truth might triumph against all odds. |
