Voice and Narration form a core grammar component in the Bihar TET Language II (English) paper. These topics test your ability to transform sentences while preserving their original meaning—a skill essential for both exam success and effective English teaching.
**Voice** deals with the relationship between the subject and the action in a sentence. In active voice, the subject performs the action; in passive voice, the subject receives the action. **Narration** (also called reported speech) involves converting direct speech (exact words in quotation marks) into indirect speech (reported without quotation marks).
Expect 3–5 questions on these topics in the Bihar TET exam. Mastery requires understanding the transformation rules and practising sentence conversion until the patterns become automatic.
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Key Concepts
**Active Voice**: The subject performs the action. Structure: Subject + Verb + Object. Example: "Ram eats an apple."
**Passive Voice**: The subject receives the action. Structure: Object (becomes subject) + be-verb + past participle + by + agent. Example: "An apple is eaten by Ram."
**Direct Speech**: The exact words of the speaker enclosed in quotation marks. Example: He said, "I am going home."
**Indirect Speech**: The reported version without quotation marks, with necessary changes in pronouns, tenses and time expressions. Example: He said that he was going home.
**Reporting Verb**: The verb introducing the speech (said, told, asked, ordered). It determines whether the reported clause uses "that," "if/whether," or a question word.
**Backshift of Tense**: When the reporting verb is in past tense, the tense inside the reported speech shifts one step back (present becomes past, past becomes past perfect).
**Pronoun Change Rule**: First person pronouns change according to the subject of the reporting verb; second person pronouns change according to the object; third person pronouns remain unchanged.
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Formulas / Key Facts
### Voice Transformation Table
| Active Tense | Passive Structure | |--------------|-------------------| | Simple Present (writes) | is/am/are + written | | Present Continuous (is writing) | is/am/are + being + written | | Present Perfect (has written) | has/have + been + written | | Simple Past (wrote) | was/were + written | | Past Continuous (was writing) | was/were + being + written | | Past Perfect (had written) | had + been + written | | Simple Future (will write) | will + be + written | | Future Perfect (will have written) | will + have + been + written | | Modals (can/must write) | can/must + be + written |
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| Direct Speech | Indirect Speech | |---------------|-----------------| | Simple Present → | Simple Past | | Present Continuous → | Past Continuous | | Present Perfect → | Past Perfect | | Simple Past → | Past Perfect | | Will → | Would | | Can → | Could | | May → | Might |
### Time/Place Word Changes
| Direct | Indirect | |--------|----------| | now → then | today → that day | | tomorrow → the next day | yesterday → the previous day | | here → there | this → that | | ago → before | next week → the following week |
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Worked Examples
### Example 1: Active to Passive (Simple Past)
**Active**: The teacher corrected the papers.
**Step 1**: Identify subject (the teacher), verb (corrected), object (the papers).
**Step 2**: Object becomes new subject → The papers
**Step 3**: Add appropriate be-verb for simple past → were
**Step 4**: Change main verb to past participle → corrected
**Step 5**: Add "by" + original subject → by the teacher
**Passive**: The papers were corrected by the teacher.
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### Example 2: Direct to Indirect (Statement)
**Direct**: She said, "I am preparing for the exam."
**Step 1**: Remove quotation marks and add "that" after reporting verb.
**Step 2**: Change pronoun "I" to "she" (matches the subject of reporting verb).
**Indirect**: She said that she was preparing for the exam.
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### Example 3: Direct to Indirect (Question)
**Direct**: He asked me, "Where do you live?"
**Step 1**: For wh-questions, retain the question word but remove the question mark.
**Step 2**: Change word order to statement order (subject before verb).
**Step 3**: Change "you" to "I" (matches object of reporting verb "me").
**Step 4**: Backshift: "do live" → "lived"
**Indirect**: He asked me where I lived.
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### Example 4: Imperative to Indirect
**Direct**: The captain said to the soldiers, "March forward."
**Step 1**: Replace "said to" with "ordered/commanded/requested" based on context.
**Step 2**: Use "to + infinitive" structure.
**Indirect**: The captain ordered the soldiers to march forward.
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Common Mistakes
**Forgetting "by" in passive voice** → Always include "by + agent" unless the agent is unknown or unimportant. Wrong: "The letter was written Sita." Correct: "The letter was written by Sita."
**Double backshift error** → If the direct speech is already in simple past, shift to past perfect only—do not leave it unchanged. "I went" becomes "he had gone," not "he went."
**Using "that" with questions** → For yes/no questions, use "if" or "whether," not "that." Wrong: "He asked that I was coming." Correct: "He asked if I was coming."
**Incorrect pronoun conversion** → Students often change all pronouns to third person. Remember: first person follows reporting subject, second person follows reporting object. "You told me, 'You are late'" becomes "You told me that I was late."
**Ignoring modal changes** → Modals like "can/will/may" must shift to "could/would/might" in past reporting. "She said, 'I can help'" becomes "She said that she could help."
**Changing tense when reporting universal truths** → No backshift needed for facts. "The teacher said, 'The earth revolves around the sun'" → "The teacher said that the earth revolves around the sun."
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Quick Reference
1. **Passive formula**: Object + be-verb (matching tense) + past participle + by + subject
2. **Narration rule of thumb**: Past reporting verb triggers one-step tense backshift
3. **Pronoun trick**: S-O-T (Subject-Object-Third) — 1st person follows Subject, 2nd follows Object, 3rd stays same
4. **Yes/No questions**: Use "if" or "whether" — never "that"
5. **Imperatives**: Replace "said" with request/order/advise + to + verb
6. **Universal truths and habitual facts**: No tense change required in indirect speech