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329
The predicate of the principal clause is the verb to ask or one of its synonyms.
“Did you tell Frank?” he asked me.
“Won’t your husband forgive you?” he said after a
while.
He asked me if (whether) I had told Frank.
After a while he asked (her) if (whether) her husband
would not forgive her.
§ 188. If direct speech is an imperative sentence, the following changes take place when reporting it in
indirect speech: the predicate of the sentence takes the form of the infinitive and becomes an object to the verb
introducing indirect speech; one more object, a noun or a pronoun denoting the person to whom the order or
request is addressed, is supplied. Note that this object is an obligatory component of the sentence structure. If
the person to whom the order or request is addressed is not indicated in direct speech, it is to be supplied from
the previous context or from the speech situation.
Orders, requests, etc., in indirect speech are introduced by the verbs of inducement to tell, to order, to ask, to
beg, etc.
I said, “Say hello to the family for me, Mr. Hunt.”
“Get me out of here, baby. Get me out of here.
Please.”
The tall boy did not stop. “Shut up, you fool,” cried
she.
One of the boys turned away.
“Look me full in the face,” said the woman.
I asked Mr. Hunt to say hello to the family for me.
He begged me to get him out of there.
The tall boy did not stop, and she ordered him to shut
up.
One of the boys turned away,
but the woman told him to look her full in the face.
If the predicate of the imperative sentence is negative, the negation not is placed before the infinitive in
indirect speech.
“Don’t go,” said he.
“Don't stop!” cried he and ran after them.
He asked her not to go.
He ordered them not to stop and ran after them.
APPENDIX I
SOME WAYS OF SENTENCE EXTENSION
Sentence extension embraces different parentheses and direct address mentioned above (§ 113); it also
includes homogeneous parts, appended parts, and different kinds of repetitions.
Homogeneous parts
§ 189. Homogeneous parts are two or more components
of the
sentence which are characterized by the
following features:
1. They are connected by coordination, that is, are of equal syntactical rank. They are connected either by a
coordinating conjunction (a), or Joined asyndetically (b).
(a) The men were cold and sick and silent.
(b) They crawled ahead, waited, listened to the bombardment.
2. They have one and the same syntactical function in the sentence and similar syntactical relations with
other parts of the sentence.
The grass was long and high and wet ——>
long
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and