She said, "Would that my father were alive!"

[Tait-ka]

She said, "Would that my father were alive!"
She wished that her father had been alive.


She said, "What a pity you missed that function."
She exclaimed with sorrow that I had missed that function.

Source: From "Sunshine English", a handbook written by Prof Musarrat Hussain (a Pakistani English teacher) for grade 10 students.

My question:
Can I ask whether the bolded reported speech sentences are correct?

 

[emsr2d2]

1. She said, "Would that my father were alive!"
She wished that her father had been alive.

2. She said, "What a pity you missed that function."
She exclaimed with sorrow that I had missed that function.

Source: From "Sunshine English", a handbook written by Prof Musarrat Hussain (a Pakistani English teacher) for grade 10 students.

My question:
Can I ask whether the bolded reported speech sentences are correct?

Note my corrections/changes above. Please number your examples in future to make it easier for us to refer to them in our responses. You're making your actual questions far too wordy. As you can see above, you didn't need "My question:". You also made the full question unnecessarily long. Don't faff around with the opening "May I ask whether". Just ask "Are the bolded reported speech sentences correct?"

1. It's OK.
2. A bit like the ones you posted where you kept using "prayed" when the word didn't appear with the originals, using "exclaimed with sorrow" doesn't work here. You can extrapolate from "What a pity" that she thought it was a shame, but not how she said the words. The reported speech version would just be "She said what a pity it was that I'd missed the function" or "She said it was a pity [that] I'd missed the function".

 

[Tait-ka]

using "exclaimed with sorrow" doesn't work here. You can extrapolate from "What a pity" that she thought it was a shame, but not how she said the words.

I am sorry, I don't understand. Can you explain more why "exclaimed with sorrow" doesn't work here in this example? Why doesn't "What a pity" express sorrow?

 

[5jj]

The words What a pity could be said with sadness, sarcasm or a dozen emotions. As emsr2d2 noted, You can extrapolate from "What a pity" that she thought it was a shame, but not how she said the words.

 

[jutfrank]

Source: From "Sunshine English", a handbook written by Prof Musarrat Hussain (a Pakistani English teacher) for grade 10 students.

I wonder what decade/century this book was written in. Mr Hussain seems to think that the sentence Would that my father were alive! is an appropriate model sentence to give to Grade 10 Pakistani students.

@Tait-ka: I implore you to stop using this book and get a decent replacement. You're really not going about this in the right way, in my professional opinion.

 

[5jj]

I agree entirely with @jutfrank

@Tait-ka, please do not submit any more posts about material in that awful book. If you do, they will be deleted.

 

[SoothingDave]

I don't think 1 is correct at all. I mean, her father had been alive. He must have been in order to conceive her.

She wished that her father was alive.

 

[emsr2d2]

I am sorry, I don't understand. Can you explain more why "exclaimed with sorrow" doesn't work here in this example? Why doesn't "What a pity" express sorrow?

If the direct speech starts with "She said" then that's how you start the indirect (reported) speech. That's the simplest way I can think of to explain it to you.

If the direct speech were "She exclaimed with sorrow "What a pity you missed that function"", you could start the reported speech with "She exclaimed with sorrow".

Don't change the main verb that describes the saying of the sentence.

 

[Tait-ka]

@Tait-ka, please do not submit any more posts about material in that awful book. If you do, they will be deleted.

With due respect, @5jj If I don't ask things from that book, how will I be able to know where the book is wrong and where it is not?
If I am posting questions on things from that book, it means I am correcting myself and the other learners who visit this website who are reading that book too or will read that book in the future.
My purpose of asking from that book is not cause any trouble for native speakers here, but gain correct knowledge for myself and other learners.
Please don't ban me from asking from that book.
Sorry for my bad English.

 

[Skrej]

I don't think 1 is correct at all. I mean, her father had been alive. He must have been in order to conceive her.

She wished that her father was alive.

I gather it's supposed to suggest that she's wishing her father had still been alive for some particular event in the past that she's reminiscing about now. She wishes her father had been alive to see whatever this past event was.


Community played upon this subjunctive construction in the episode where the various cast members used prop guns to fake shooting each other to get revenge on the Dean for his inability to stop double-crossing double crossers who'd double-crossed him. Great episode, but the scene ends with the Dean using this construction to wish for a hooddie that would let him travel back in time.

Would that this hoodie were a time hoodie

I've linked to the relevant line, but highly recommended watching the whole scene. It's just under four and a half minutes and is well worth the watch.

 

[5jj]

Please don't ban me from asking from that book.

I can't stop you using that book for your own confusion, but I can ensure that no more members have their time wasted here.

 

[jutfrank]

If I don't ask things from that book, how will I be able to know where the book is wrong and where it is not?

Why do you need to know that?

If I am posting questions on things from that book, it means I am correcting myself

I'm not sure I understand what you mean. How are you correcting yourself? Do you mean that everything you know about English comes from that book?

and the other learners who visit this website who are reading that book too or will read that book in the future.

I don't think there will be many of those, don't worry.

My purpose of asking from that book is not cause any trouble for native speakers here, but gain correct knowledge for myself and other learners.

We're telling you that this book is not a good way to gain knowledge. To understand in the best possible way, you need to study very high quality examples of use.

Why is this book so dear to you? Is there a personal connection?