A sentence is provided in direct speech. From the four given options, choose the one that most accurately conveys the sentence in its corresponding indirect speech.
Mohan said, "I saw him yesterday."
Show answer & explanation
Correct answer: B
Explanation
Correct Answer
Mohan said that he had seen him the previous day.
Explanation
When changing a sentence from direct speech to indirect speech, specific grammatical conversions must be applied because the reporting verb (said) is in the past tense. First, the simple past tense inside the quotation marks (saw) shifts backward into the past perfect tense (had + seen). Second, the first-person pronoun I changes to the third-person pronoun he to align with the subject Mohan. Finally, time-specific adverbs must be updated to reflect a shifted perspective; therefore, yesterday converts into the previous day or the day before.
Key Points
Word: Mohan said that he had seen him the previous day.
Meaning: The grammatically correct indirect transformation of the original direct speech sentence.
Grammatical Role: Assertive indirect speech clause (functions as a complex declarative statement with adjusted tense and time adverbs).