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 me, " what time do the offices close?"
Answer: C
Correct answer: He asked me what time the offices closed.
Said to becomes asked, the auxiliary do disappears with the question order, and the present close moves back to closed. Did close keeps the auxiliary that the statement order removes.
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Mary said to Robert, "Let him come, then we shall see."
Answer: D
Correct answer: Mary told Robert that once he came, they would see him.
Let him come is a proposal to wait and see, and once he came reports it as a condition of time. Shall then becomes would. The option using might come adds a doubt the original does not express, and shall see leaves the modal unshifted.
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Gavaskar said, "Bravo!Azhar, you have done well."
Answer: C
Correct answer: Gavaskar congratulated Azhar, saying that he had done well.
Bravo! is a word of congratulation, so the report needs a verb that carries that act - congratulated. The statement that follows is then reported in the usual way, with the present perfect have done moving back to had done. Exclaimed with joy reports an emotion rather than the congratulation, and praised is a different speech act.
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Rajan said, "O that I were a child again !"
Answer: C
Correct answer: Rajan strongly wished that he had been a child again.
O that I were…! is an optative - a wish for something contrary to fact - so it is reported with wished, and the subjunctive were moves back to had been. Exclaimed with wonder and prayed both misname the speech act.
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He said, "Can you sing?" And I said "NO".
Answer: B
Correct answer: He asked me if I could sing and I said that I couldn't.
Two speech acts are reported in turn. The question takes asked… if with can moving back to could; the answer No is reported as a full clause, I said that I couldn't, rather than left as the bare word. Denied would report a charge being rejected, which is not what happened.
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I don't know the way. Do you? he asked.
Answer: C
Correct answer: He said that he didn't know the way and asked me if I did.
The sentence contains a statement and a question, so it needs two reporting verbs: said for the first and asked for the second. Keeping did I know it leaves the second half in direct form, and reporting both with one verb blurs the two acts.
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My cousin said, “My room-mate snored throughout the night.”
Answer: A
Correct answer: My cousin said that her room-mate had snored throughout the night
My becomes her, and the past simple snored moves back to the past perfect had snored. Complained and felt substitute an interpretation for what was actually said.
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The teacher said, "Be quiet boys."
Answer: C
Correct answer: The teacher urged the boys to be quiet.
An imperative is reported with a verb of command or exhortation followed by to + infinitive. The vocative boys becomes the object of that verb. The options keeping be quiet inside a that clause leave the imperative unconverted.
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Change the speech of the given sentence:
She said to him, "Why don't you go today?"
Answer: A
Correct answer: She asked him why he did not go that day.
Said to becomes asked, the question order is straightened out, the auxiliary do moves back to did, and today becomes that day. Reporting it as asked him not to go turns a question into an instruction.
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Change the speech of the given sentence:
"Are you alone, my son?" asked a soft voice close behind me.
Answer: D
Correct answer: A soft voice behind me asked if I was alone.
A yes-or-no question takes asked… if; you becomes I and are becomes was. The vocative my son is dropped, since the report names the person addressed by the pronoun instead.
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