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.
I said, "Sushil will be here by midnight."
Show answer & explanation
Correct answer: C
Explanation
The correct answer is option 3 i.e. I said that Sushil would be there by midnight.
Changes required:
- Conjunction: The inverted commas are removed and that is used to connect the reporting verb with the reported clause.
- Pronoun change: No pronoun changes are required because the sentence does not contain first/second-person pronouns inside the quoted speech.
- Tense change: “Will be” changes to “would be” because the reporting verb “said” is in the past tense.
- Other changes: “Here” becomes “there” in indirect speech because the place of reporting changes.
Converted sentence: I said that Sushil would be there by midnight.
Hence, the chosen option is correct.