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.
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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I said to him, "Why are you working so hard?"
Answer: A
Correct answer: I asked him why he was working so hard
Said to becomes asked, and the inverted order are you working becomes the statement order he was working. A wh- question needs no if or whether - the question word does that work.
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He said to her, "What a cold day!"
Answer: D
Correct answer: He exclaimed that it was a very cold day
An exclamation is reported with a verb of exclaiming, and the force carried by what a…! has to be preserved by an intensifier - hence a very cold day. Dropping very loses that force, told turns the exclamation into a statement, and sorrowfully adds an emotion the original does not express.
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The tailor said to him, "Will you have the suit ready by tomorrow evening?"
Answer: C
Correct answer: The tailor asked him if he would have the suit ready by the following evening
A yes-or-no question takes if, not that; will becomes would; and tomorrow evening becomes the following evening.
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He said to 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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He said, “Be quiet and listen to my words.”
Answer: A
Correct answer: He urged them to be quiet and listen to his words
A command or exhortation is reported with a verb such as urged, ordered or told, followed by to + infinitive. The direct imperative cannot survive, which is why the options that keep be quiet and listen as an imperative fail. My becomes his.
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He said to me, “I have often told you not to play with fire.”
Answer: B
Correct answer: He told me that he had often told me not to play with fire
The present perfect have told moves back to the past perfect had told, I becomes he, and you becomes me. The negative imperative inside the sentence - not to play - is already in infinitive form and does not change.
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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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Pawan said to me, "If I hear any news, I'll phone you."
Answer: D
Correct answer: Pawan told me that if he heard any news, he would phone me
In a first conditional the if clause keeps the past simple after backshift and the main clause moves from will to would. Pushing the if clause to the past perfect, as one option does, turns a real condition into an unreal one.
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He said,"I cannot help you at present because I am myself in difficulty."
Answer: B
Correct answer: He said that he could not help me at present because he was himself in difficulty.
I becomes he, you becomes me, cannot becomes could not, and am becomes was. The reflexive myself follows its subject and becomes himself. The options keeping you report the refusal to the wrong person, and asked that cannot introduce a statement.
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