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 said that her brother was getting married
Answer: A
Correct answer: She said, “My brother is getting married.”
Working backwards: her brother was getting married gives my brother is getting married - the possessive returns to the first person and the tense comes forward. The options keeping her or was leave the report's own forms in the direct speech.
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“What did you see at the South Pole?” Ashok asked Anil.
Answer: B
Correct answer: Ashok asked Anil what he had seen at the South Pole
A wh- question keeps its question word and drops the auxiliary; did you see therefore becomes he had seen. Reporting it with if would turn an open question into a yes-or-no one.
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John asked, "How long will it take to travel from Germany to South Africa?"
Answer: D
Correct answer: John asked how long it would take to travel from Germany to South Africa
In a reported question the inversion disappears, so the subject comes before the verb: how long it would take. Will also moves back to would. The option with would it take keeps the question order the report removes.
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The Prime Minister said that no one would be allowed to disturb the peace.
Answer: A
Correct answer: The Prime Minister said, “We shall not allow anyone to disturb the peace.”
Working backwards: no one would be allowed is a passive whose agent is the government, so the direct form is the active we shall not allow anyone, with would coming forward to shall. The options saying no one will disturb drop the allowing altogether.
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Which of these sentences in DIRECT speech is incorrect?
Answer: D
Correct answer: “When will this match be over? asked a bored spectator.
The closing inverted comma is missing after over?, so the reader cannot tell where the spoken words end. The other three are correctly punctuated: each has its quoted words enclosed, the end punctuation inside the marks, and the reporting clause outside.
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The headmistress says, “The young people of today are tomorrow’s leaders.” ( An hour later, you report her statement. )
Answer: B
Correct answer: The headmistress says that the young people of today are tomorrow’s leaders.
The reporting verb says is present, so nothing shifts: the tense stays, and so do today and tomorrow. Reporting an hour later does not change this - it is the tense of the reporting verb, not the passage of time, that triggers backshift.
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Which of the following sentences is the wrong form of DIRECT speech?
Answer: D
Correct answer: Chloe said, “what is the flea market?”
Quoted speech begins with a capital letter, and what here does not have one. The other three are correctly formed: each opens its quotation with a capital, closes the marks, and keeps the end punctuation inside them.
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He said, “It used to be a lovely, quiet street.”
Answer: C
Correct answer: He said that it used to be a lovely, quiet street.
Used to is already a past form and has no past of its own, so it does not shift: had used to be is not English. Only the pronoun and the reporting verb change, and it stays it - replacing it with there alters what the sentence is about.
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He said, “I am looking at the diagram.”
Answer: D
Correct answer: He said that he was looking at the diagram.
I becomes he and the present continuous am looking moves back to was looking. Keeping I makes the reporter the one looking, and keeping says would leave the tense unshifted.
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What punctuation mark needs to be added to the following sentence in DIRECT speech James asked “Are you coming to my house today?”
Answer: D
Correct answer: ,
A reporting clause that comes before the quoted words is separated from them by a comma: James asked, “Are you coming to my house today?” The question mark inside the marks belongs to the quoted question and does not do this job.
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