In the following section the sentences have been given in Direct or Indirect speech. From the given alternatives, choose the most appropriate sentence that best suits the given sentence in Indirect or Direct speech.
She asked him, "What did you say?"
Answer: B
Correct answer: She asked him what he had said
The past simple did you say moves back to the past perfect had said, and the question order becomes a statement order. What did you say keeps the direct form untouched.
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He said, "Are you doing your job?"
Answer: D
Correct answer: He asked me whether I was doing my job
A yes-or-no question needs whether or if, never that. You becomes I, your becomes my, and are doing becomes was doing.
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I said, "You may need help"
Answer: C
Correct answer: I said to her that she might need help
May becomes might after a past reporting verb, and you becomes she. Dropping the modal altogether, as she needed help does, turns a possibility into a fact.
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My mother says to me, “You are not hard working.”
Answer: A
Correct answer: My mother says to me that I am not hard working
The reporting verb says is present, so no tense moves. Only the pronoun changes: you refers to the reporter, so it becomes I, and are follows it as am.
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Change into indirect speech: He said, “I am reading a book.”
Answer: A
Correct answer: He said that he was reading a book
The reporting verb is in the past, so the present continuous shifts back to the past continuous, and the pronoun I becomes he to match the speaker. The conjunction that introduces the reported clause and the quotation marks disappear.
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She said, "Will you help me?".
Answer: C
Correct answer: She asked me whether I would help her
Will becomes would, the question takes whether, and the pronouns cross over: you to I, me to her. The option keeping will leaves the tense unshifted.
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He said, "We are doing our home task now"
Answer: C
Correct answer: He said that they were doing their home task then
We becomes they, our becomes their, are doing becomes were doing, and now becomes then. Every one of the four has to change.
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Students said, "We are taking our class"
Answer: A
Correct answer: The students said that they were taking their class
We becomes they and our becomes their, and the present continuous moves back to the past continuous. Keeping we and our would report the students as speaking about the reporter's class.
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Imran said, "I may come to you".
Answer: C
Correct answer: Imran said that he might come to me
May becomes might after a past reporting verb; I becomes he; and you, the listener who is now reporting, becomes me.
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They say, "We try to win each match"
Answer: B
Correct answer: They say that they try to win each match
The reporting verb say is present, so nothing shifts back. Only we becomes they. The option changing try to tried applies a backshift the present reporting verb does not call for.
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