Question

Read the following dialogue

Raghu : I think one of my snakes has escaped.
Sheela : Isn’t it dangerous? You really must stop collecting snakes, Raghu.
Raghu : But I like snakes – they are unusual pets.
Sheela : But I think it’s a dangerous thing to keep such pets.
Raghu : No, they’re not dangerous; they are really… .er… .quite friendly.
Sheela : Huh, snakes require a great deal of careful handling and are still a risk.
Raghu : i don’t mind. What matters is that I like them.
Sheela : Well, quite frankly, I hate them. They are awfully frightening to look at.
Raghu : Look, I am very careful and I handle them very gently. In fact, I don’t have many.
Sheela : Have you ever been bitten?
Raghu : Well, it’s true I’ve been bitten once or twice, but…

You are a friend who has overheard this conversation between Raghu and Sheela. Write to your sister reporting it. Give the conversation an interesting, unexpected or humorous ending. (The first part has been done for you.)

Janpath
5 January 2016
Dear Varsha

As you’re very interested in Raghu and his snakes, I thought I’d tell you about a conversation I heard between him and Sheela.

He told her he thought one of his snakes had escaped and, as usual, she told him to stop collecting them because they were dangerous. (Typical of Sheela, don’t you think?)

                                                                    Pronouns

Direct speech                  indirect speech                       

	masculine	feminine	plural
i	he	she	they
you	he	she	they
you	him	her	them
your	his	her	their
me	him	her	them
my	his	her	their
myself	himself	herself	themselves
we			they
use			them, their

                               WORDS DENOTING TIME AND POSITION
When the reporting verb is in the past tense, certain words denoting nearness of
time and place are changed into words denoting distance.
It is treated necessary to change the words denoting nearness to words denoting
distance because, when we report the words of a person to somebody, the place
and time of the reporting is changed.
So the reported speech must be in line with the modified time and place.

DIRECT SPEECH	INDIRECT SPEECH
this	that
these	those
now	then
ago	before
last night	the previous night the night before
next day	the following day the day after
today	the day
tonight	that night
yesterday	the previous day the day before
tomorrow	the next day the following day the day after
day before yesterday	the day before the previous day or two days before
day after tomorrow	the day after the next day ot in two days
week	the following week
now	then
here	there

Answer 1

But Raghu insisted that despite that they were unusual pets and quite friendly. Sheela cautioned him that they required a great deal of careful handling and still they were at risk. Raghu told her that he did not mind because what mattered was that he liked them. Sheela (You know how frank she is !) told Raghu frankly that she hated them as they were awfully frightening to look at. Raghu reminded Sheela that he was very careful and handled them very gently. He added further that he didn’t have many. Sheela asked him if he had ever been bitten. Raghu admitted that he had been bitten once or twice. But he had taken medicines immediately.

I now tell you an interesting feature of their conversation. Once a thief had entered his house. When he had been ransacking the house, the big snake (cobra) had woke him up through wriggling over him. Sheela exclaimed with wonder that it was very strange. Raghu told her that it was not complete yet. He added further that another snake had begun hissing near the thief. (You can imagine how Sheela was wonderstruck at this !) Raghu told her that the thief had frozen with fear. A cry had escaped his throat. By then, all at home had woken up. The thief had been caught and handed over to the Police.

Pay my regards to uncle and aunt.
Yours affectionately
Minu