She asked, ‘Are you an Indian?’ ‘Yes.’ ‘Excuse me, are you a vegetarian?’ ‘Why do you ask that? ‘

Question

Read the material given on 

The following sentences are from the story ‘The Price of Flowers’. Read them. 

She asked, ‘Are you an Indian?’ 

‘Yes.’ 

‘Excuse me, are you a vegetarian?’ 

‘Why do you ask that? ‘ 

‘I have heard that most Indians are vegetarians.’ 

‘How is it that you know anything about India?’ 

‘My elder brother is in India. He is a soldier.’

The very next day the narrator told his friend about the girl and their conversation. 

Read and find out how he presented it.

The girl asked me whether I was an Indian. I answered in the affirmative. 

Then she asked me politely if I was a vegetarian. 

I enquired why she asked that. 

She said (that) she had heard that most Indians were vegetarians. 

I further asked her how it was that she knew anything about India. 

She replied that her elder brother was in India and added that he was a soldier.

see the difference between direct speech and reported speech. Study the notes given there. Rewrite the following sentences in reported speech: “Shall I call you work of a secretary.”

Answer 1

The narrator asked the girl if he should call her Miss Clifford or Alice. She replied saying that she was not grown up and he might call her what he liked. She laughingly added that she was usually called Maggie. The narrator then wanted to know if she was anx¬ious to grow up. Her answer was yes. He then wanted to know why she wanted to grow up. He said that when she would be grown she would be paid more for her work and her mother was old. The narrator wanted to know if the work she was doing was to her liking. She said she did not like the work as it was very mechanical. She wanted some work that needed the use of her brain. She wanted to be a secretary.