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.
He said, "I have completed the project."
Show answer & explanation
Correct answer: A
Explanation
Correct Answer
He said that he had completed the project.
Explanation
Reporting Verb Rule When changing direct speech to indirect speech, if the reporting verb is in the past tense ("said"), the tense of the verb inside the quotation marks changes to its corresponding past tense form.
Tense Shift (Present Perfect to Past Perfect) The original statement uses the Present Perfect Tense ("have completed"). Following the rules of backshifting in indirect speech, Present Perfect changes directly into the Past Perfect Tense ("had completed").
Pronoun Change The first-person pronoun "I" shifts to the third-person pronoun "he" to align accurately with the subject of the reporting verb.
Conjunction Placement The conjunction "that" is introduced to smoothly connect the reporting clause with the reported speech clause.
Key Points
Direct Form Subject + said, "I + have + V3..."
Indirect Form Subject + said + that + he + had + V3...
Grammatical Role Indirect speech transformation (accurately relays a past completed action while maintaining correct tense backshifting rules).