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.
Steven said, “I don’t have any money to pay for this ticket.”
Answer: C
Correct answer: Steven said that he didn’t have any money to pay for that ticket.
I becomes he, the present don't have moves back one step to didn't have, and this ticket becomes that ticket. Hadn't had shifts two steps, which the direct present does not call for.
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Jill said, “Jack must give his answer to me.”
Answer: C
Correct answer: Jill said that Jack had to give his answer to her.
Must has no past form, so it becomes had to; and me refers to Jill, so it becomes her. Keeping me makes the reporter the person to be answered.
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Susan said, “I met your sister last week.”
Answer: D
Correct answer: Susan said that she had met my sister the week before.
Three changes: I becomes she, since Susan is speaking; your becomes my, since the sister belongs to the person now reporting; and last week becomes the week before.
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Socrates said, “Virtue is its own reward.”
Answer: A
Correct answer: Socrates said that virtue is its own reward.
A general truth keeps its present tense even after a past reporting verb, because it is as true when reported as when said. This is the standing exception to backshift, and it is what the question is testing.
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Bee Lee said, “I am very happy today because my father has given me a car.” ( A month later, you report his statement. )
Answer: B
Correct answer: Bee Lee said that he was very happy that day because his father had given him a car.
Two tenses move: am to was and the present perfect has given to the past perfect had given. Today becomes that day, which matters here because the report comes a month later.
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I said to my friend, “Good morning. Let us go for a picnic today.”
Answer: D
Correct answer: I wished my friend good morning and proposed that we should go for a picnic that day.
Two speech acts are reported in turn: a greeting with wished, and a proposal with proposed that… should. Let us includes the speaker, so we is right and they is not, and today becomes that day.
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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 that includes the speaker, so it is reported with suggested that we should. Keeping let us or let them inside the that clause leaves the imperative unconverted, and they excludes the speaker from his own suggestion.
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My uncle once said to me, “If I can’t trust my people, then I don’t want to be doing this.”
Answer: B
Correct answer: My uncle once said to me that if he couldn’t trust his people then he did not want to be doing that.
My uncle and me both stay as they are, since the reporter is the person addressed. I becomes he, my people becomes his people, don't becomes did not, and this becomes that.
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The new student asked the old one, “Do you know my name?”
Answer: B
Correct answer: The new student asked the old one if he knew his name.
A yes-or-no question takes if alone - that whether doubles the link. Do you know then becomes he knew, with the auxiliary disappearing along with the question order, and my becomes his.
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I reiterated, “I don’t care about the job.”
Answer: A
Correct answer: I reiterated that I did not care about the job.
The reporting verb is given in the sentence itself, so it is kept; only the that clause changes, with don't moving back to did not. Replacing reiterated with said again and again paraphrases what is already there, and cared without the negative reverses the meaning.
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