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 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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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 in the direct speech are past simple, so after a past reporting verb both move back to the past perfect: passed becomes had passed and went becomes had gone. The options that shift only one of the two leave the sentence half in each tense.
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He said to me, “They will hurt you.”
Answer: C
Correct answer: He said to me that they would hurt me
Three changes are needed at once. The reporting verb is past, so will becomes would; the pronoun you refers to the listener, who is the reporter, so it becomes me; and they is unchanged because it refers to nobody in the conversation.
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My father said to me, "You must work hard"
Answer: D
Correct answer: My father said to me that I had to work hard
You in the direct speech refers to the speaker of the report, so it becomes I. Must has no past form of its own, so after a past reporting verb it is replaced by had to. The options keeping you leave the sentence addressed to the wrong person.
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She said, "My parents are going to Karachi"
Answer: C
Correct answer: She said that her parents were going to Karachi
My belongs to the original speaker, so from the reporter's side it becomes her. The present continuous are going then moves back to were going. Keeping my would make them the reporter's parents.
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Mother said, "Where are you going?"
Answer: C
Correct answer: Mother asked where I was going
A question is reported with asked, not said; the word order becomes that of a statement, so the auxiliary follows the subject; and the tense moves back from are going to was going. All three changes are needed together.
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"Did you come from India"?, said Sara to boy.
Answer: A
Correct answer: Sara asked the boy if he had come from India
A yes-or-no question is reported with asked… if (or whether), and the past simple did you come moves back to the past perfect had come. Came would leave the tense unshifted, and come is not a finite form.
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You said, "You have brought books for me"
Answer: B
Correct answer: You said that you had brought books for me
The present perfect have brought moves back to the past perfect after a past reporting verb. Me in the direct speech refers to the listener, so it stays me from the reporter's side.
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My uncle said to me, "How is your studies going on now?"
Answer: C
Correct answer: My uncle asked me how my studies were going on then
Four changes: said to becomes asked; the question order is dropped, so the subject comes before the verb; your becomes my; and now becomes then while is becomes the past. Studies is plural, so the verb is were.
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You said, "He was there"
Answer: A
Correct answer: You said that he had been there
The past simple was moves back to the past perfect had been. There stays as it is - it is already the distant form; it is here that would have to change to there, not the other way round.
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