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.
He said to the interviewer, "Could you please repeat the question?"
Answer: C
Correct answer: He requested the interviewer to repeat the question
Could you please…? is a request in the form of a question, and a request is reported with requested… to + infinitive rather than with if. The politeness marker please is carried by the verb requested and is not repeated.
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The father warned his son that he should be beware of him.
Answer: A
Correct answer: The father warned his son, “Beware of him!”
Working backwards from indirect to direct: warned… that he should beware reports an imperative, so the original was the command Beware of him!. The other three options say something similar but are not what the reported form yields - a warning to watch that chap or be careful would have been reported with different words.
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"You can't bathe in this sea," he said to me, "it's very rough."
Answer: D
Correct answer: He said that I couldn't bathe in that sea as it was very rough
You becomes I, can't becomes couldn't, this sea becomes that sea, and it's becomes it was. The two sentences of direct speech are joined with as, which makes the second the reason for the first.
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Seeta said to me,"Can you give me your pen?"
Answer: B
Correct answer: Seeta asked me if I could give her my pen
Can becomes could, and the pronouns cross: you becomes I, me becomes her, and your becomes my. Getting one of the three pronouns wrong changes who owns the pen.
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Change into indirect speech: The teacher said, “The earth revolves around the sun.”
Answer: A
Correct answer: The teacher said that the earth revolves around the sun
The usual backshift of tense is suspended for a universal truth or a permanent fact, which stays in the present. Changing revolves to revolved would wrongly suggest the statement is no longer true.
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The teacher said to Mahesh, "Congratulations! Wish you success in life."
Answer: D
Correct answer: The teacher congratulated Mahesh and wished him success in life
Two separate speech acts are reported with the verbs proper to each: congratulated for the congratulation and wished for the good wish. The options keeping wish you success or said congratulations leave a piece of direct speech unconverted.
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Jagdish said, "We passed by a beautiful lake when we went on a trip to Goa."
Answer: C
Correct answer: Jagdish said that they had passed by a beautiful lake when they had gone on a trip to Goa
Both verbs are past simple in the direct speech, so both move back to the past perfect. Shifting only the first leaves the two halves of the sentence in different tenses.
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David said to Anna,"Mona will leave for her native place tomorrow."
Answer: D
Correct answer: David told Anna that Mona would leave for her native place the next day
Will becomes would and tomorrow becomes the next day. The option keeping will leaves the tense unshifted, and left replaces a future with a past.
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The Captain said to his men,"Stand at ease."
Answer: D
Correct answer: The Captain commanded his men to stand at ease
Stand at ease is a military order, so the reporting verb must carry that force: commanded. Urged and wanted weaken it to persuasion or wish, and told them that they should turns an order into advice.
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Manna asked Rohan,"Have you sat in a trolley bus before?"
Answer: A
Correct answer: Manna asked Rohan whether he had sat in a trolley bus earlier.
A yes-or-no question takes whether or if, and the question order is straightened out, so no inversion survives. The present perfect have you sat moves back to had sat, and before becomes earlier.
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