We have labelled each part of the text with what we think is the relevant category by putting our analysis in square brackets immediately before the relevant part. We have added comments, where appropriate, after our analysis of each sentence.

[N] Lais unlocked the cabin door and pushed her inside.
[DS] 'Come on then, into bed with you.'
[N] She pulled off Peach's pretty white dress hurriedly.
[N] Peach sat on the edge of her bed sliding off the little red slippers.
[DS] 'What about my teeth?' [N] she asked, thinking of her mother.

Note that the [N] in this sentence is rather different from the previous two N sentences in the passage, which have presented physical actions. The first clause ('she asked') is a reporting clause which specifies who spoke the previous DS clause. The second clause represents a kind of 'mental action' - it tells us what Peach is thinking about (but not what she actually thought in any more precise terms). Effectively, this is the thought presentation equivalent of NV in speech presentation. We will examine thought presentation in the last page of this topic (under 'Thought presentation' on the topic menu).

[DS] 'In the morning,' [N] called Lais, already at the door.

Like the previous sentence, the N here is complex, consisting of a reporting clause plus a reference to Lais's position, not an action.

[DS] 'But Lais. Where are you going?'
[N] Peach sat up in bed anxiously.
[N] She still wore her vest and knickers and her socks.

[N??] There was no sign of her nightie, or a drink of milk or anything.

This 'N' is complicated in a rather different way from the others we have seen. Effectively the sentence is ambiguous. We can see it as a statement by the narrator of what is the case in the fictional world. In which case it is N. But it is also possible (indeed perhaps more likely??) to see the sentence as a representation of what Peach realises or thought, in which case it is thought presentation (which we will look at in the last section of this topic). We won't go into it in any detail now, but if you see it as thought presentation, it is the thought equivalent of FIS, which we could call 'Free Indirect Thought' (FIT). If you wanted to capture the ambiguous quality of the sentence, you could label it as N-FIT.

[FIS] And where was Teddy?

This sentence might, under other circumstances, be a presentation of Peach's thoughts [FIT]. But it is clear contextually, from the last two sentences of the extract, that Peach must have spoken (note in general terms how we sometimes have to take in following as well as preceding context in order to arrive at the most reasonable analytical decisions). The next two sentences have Lais's response to the question. So either Peach asked a question about the whereabouts of her teddy or we have to assume that the sisters can communicate telepathically. As there is no indication of telepathic communication between the sisters elsewhere in the novel, we have gone for the first alternative analytically. Once it is decided that the sentence is a presentation of speech, it must be FIS. There is no subordination involving a 'reporting clause + reported clause' structure, and the sentence appears to be a mixture of DS and IS features. The past tense is characteristic of IS (if it was DS, we would expect Peach to have used 'is'). But the question form, the 'and' connecting the sentence with her previous utterance and the naming of teddy (cf. the capital 'T') are typical DS features.

[N] Lais hesitated then hurried back across the room and hauled the teddy bear from beneath a pile of clothes.
[DS] 'There,' [N] she said.

The [N] clause at the end of this sentence is another reporting clause. Note that in fiction (and many other text-types), when DS is being used it is more usual to get reporting clauses in fiction coming after the DS they 'introduce' than before it. Putting the reporting clause first tends to reduce the effects of dramatisation, and so novelists have a preference for the other ordering. If they use them at all. Leaving out the reporting clauses increases the drama and better captures the rapid to and fro of speech, but the 'he said, she said' clauses often can't be dispensed with entirely because the author needs to make clear to the reader who says what. Sometimes reporting clauses can be found in the middle of two stretches of DS, too (which can have more complex effects).

[DS] 'Now go to sleep.'

 

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