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, "I expect you to attend the function."
Answer: A
Correct answer: He told me that he expected me to attend the function
The present expect moves back one step, to the past simple expected - not two steps to had expected. The infinitive to attend does not shift at all, which is why to have attended and to attended both fail.
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He said, "Why didn't you send your application to me ?"
Answer: A
Correct answer: He enquired why I had not sent my application to him.
A wh- question needs no if; the question word does that work. The auxiliary disappears with the statement order, and didn't send moves back to had not sent. You becomes I and me becomes him.
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Dinesh asked, "Are you going to the party tomorrow, Rani ?"
Answer: C
Correct answer: Dinesh asked Rani whether she was going to the party the next day
The vocative Rani becomes the object of asked, so the person addressed is named once rather than twice. You then becomes she, are going becomes was going, and tomorrow becomes the next day.
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Suresh asked, " How long will it take to travel from Germany to South Africa ?"
Answer: B
Correct answer: Suresh asked how long it would take to travel from Germany to South Africa
In a reported question the inversion disappears: the subject comes before the verb, giving how long it would take, not how long would it take. Will also moves back to would.
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"What did you see at the South Pole ?" Ashok asked Anil.
Answer: B
Correct answer: Ashok asked Anil what he had seen at the South Pole
A wh- question keeps its question word and drops the auxiliary; did you see therefore becomes he had seen. Reporting it with if would turn an open question into a yes-or-no one.
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My father said to us, "We should study and get a good division in the examination."
Answer: B
Correct answer: My father told us that we should study and get a good division in the examination
Should is a modal and is followed by the bare infinitive, so both verbs stay in their base form: study and get. Should studied and should got are impossible, and said us and told to us both mishandle the reporting verb.
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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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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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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,"Be quiet and listen to my words."
Answer: D
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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