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.
The CEO said, “It’s time we begin planning our work.”
Answer: C
Correct answer: The CEO said that it was time they began planning their work
It's time becomes it was time, we becomes they, and our becomes their. The verb after it is time does not take a perfect form, which is why had begun fails.
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“How clever of you to have solved the puzzle so quickly,” said the mother.
Answer: D
Correct answer: The mother exclaimed admiringly that it was very clever of him to have solved the puzzle so quickly
How clever of you…! is an exclamation of admiration, so it needs a verb of exclaiming and a manner word carrying the admiration. The how…! pattern becomes very, and you becomes him.
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He said he goes for a walk every morning.
Answer: D
Correct answer: He said, “I go for a walk every morning.”
Working backwards: he goes in the report comes from I go in the original - the reporting verb said did not shift the tense because the statement is a habit that still holds. Keeping he in the direct speech would make him speak of somebody else.
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Rekha wrote in her report, “The rainfall has been scanty till now.”
Answer: D
Correct answer: Rekha reported that the rainfall had been scanty till then
The present perfect has been moves back to the past perfect, and till now becomes till then. Both changes are needed; each option that makes only one leaves half the sentence at the moment of writing.
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He said to me, “Where have you lost the pen I brought for you yesterday?”
Answer: D
Correct answer: He asked me where I had lost the pen he had brought for me the previous day.
Both verbs shift: have you lost becomes had lost and brought becomes had brought. Yesterday becomes the previous day, measured from the moment of speaking rather than from the moment of reporting.
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The spectators said, “Bravo! Well done, players.”
Answer: D
Correct answer: The spectators applauded the players saying that they had done well
Bravo! Well done is applause, so the report needs a verb that carries the act rather than an emotion. The vocative players becomes the object of that verb, and well done becomes the reported clause they had done well.
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I wondered how many discoveries went unheeded.
Answer: D
Correct answer: I said, “How many discoveries go unheeded?”
Working backwards: I wondered how many discoveries went unheeded is a reported question whose past tense comes from the backshift, so the original was the present go unheeded. The option keeping went shifts the tense twice.
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“How long does the journey take?” my co-passenger asked me.
Answer: A
Correct answer: My co-passenger wanted to know how long the journey would take
Asked is replaced by a verb of enquiry, the question order is dropped, and does the journey take becomes the journey would take. The option that keeps the question mark and the inversion has not converted the sentence at all.
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He said, “I will do it now or never.”
Answer: A
Correct answer: He said that he would do it then or never.
I becomes he, will becomes would, and now becomes then. The options that move now or never in front of the verb also change the emphasis of the phrase.
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Ravi said to the judge, “I did not commit this crime.”
Answer: C
Correct answer: Ravi said to the judge that he had not committed that crime
The past simple did not commit moves back to the past perfect had not committed, and this crime becomes that crime. Did not committed is not a verb form, and keeping this leaves a pointing word that no longer points.
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