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.
“Where will you be tomorrow,” I said, “in case I have to ring you?”
Answer: B
Correct answer: I asked where he would be the next day in case I had to ring him
Said becomes asked, you becomes he, will becomes would, tomorrow becomes the next day, and have to becomes had to. Five changes, and only one option makes all of them.
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I said to my brother, "Let us go to some hill station for a change."
Answer: D
Correct answer: I suggested to my brother that we should go to some hill station for a change
Let us… is a proposal, so it is reported with suggested that… should. Asked and permitted both change who is deciding: a suggestion invites agreement, a request seeks it, and permission grants it.
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He said to his servant, "Why are you so lazy today?"
Answer: A
Correct answer: He asked his servant why he was so lazy that day.
The question order is straightened out, you becomes he, are becomes was, and today becomes that day. The past perfect and past continuous options add a shade of tense the original does not carry.
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Sarita said to me, "I will do it now or never."
Answer: D
Correct answer: Sarita told me that she would do it then, or never.
I becomes she, will becomes would, and now becomes then. The option keeping now leaves one of the three untouched, and the one keeping will leaves the tense unshifted.
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The Manager said, "Well, what can I do for you?"
Answer: C
Correct answer: The Manager wanted to know what he could do for him.
Well, what can I do for you? is a question, so the report needs a verb of enquiry; wanted to know supplies it. Can becomes could, I becomes he, and you becomes him.
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The employer said to the workman, "I cannot pay you higher wages."
Answer: B
Correct answer: The employer told the workman that he could not pay him higher wages.
Cannot becomes could not, I becomes he, and you becomes him. The passive option reverses who cannot pay whom, and forbade misreads a statement of inability as a prohibition.
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Rajesh said, "I bought a car yesterday."
Answer: D
Correct answer: Rajesh said that he had bought a car the previous day.
The past simple bought moves back to the past perfect, and yesterday becomes the previous day. Keeping yesterday would measure the time from the moment of reporting rather than from the moment of speaking.
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He asked his teacher, "Need I read this chapter?"
Answer: D
Correct answer: He asked his teacher if he had to read that chapter.
Need I…? is a yes-or-no question, so it takes if; need as a modal has no past form and is replaced by had to; and this chapter becomes that chapter.
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The sage said, “God helps those who help themselves.”
Answer: A
Correct answer: The sage said that god helps those who help themselves
A universal truth keeps its present tense even after a past reporting verb - the statement is as true at the moment of reporting as it was when it was made. This is the standing exception to backshift.
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My friend said to me, "Has your father returned from Calcutta?"
Answer: B
Correct answer: My friend asked me if my father had returned from Calcutta.
A yes-or-no question takes asked… if; your becomes my, since the father belongs to the person now reporting; and the present perfect has returned moves back to had returned. The options with his father give the father to the wrong person.
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