SSC Stenographer 2025 PYQ — Question 139

SSC Stenographer - 06 Aug 2025 - Shift 1 • English • Q139

Choose the correct indirect speech form of the following sentence. Rehan said to Mallika, "The Somnath Temple is in Prabhas Patan in Gujarat." 

Show answer & explanation

Correct answer: D

Explanation

The correct indirect speech form for the sentence provided is: "Rehan told Mallika that the Somnath Temple is in Prabhas Patan in Gujarat."

Explanation:

Universal Truth/Geographical Fact: When a sentence expresses a universal truth or a permanent geographical fact (like the location of a temple), the tense of the verb in the reported speech does not change, even if the reporting verb ("said to") is in the past tense.

Reporting Verb: "Said to" correctly changes to "told" when followed by an object (Mallika).Conjunction: The word "that" is used to connect the reporting verb with the reported speech.

Verb Tense: Because the temple's location is a permanent fact, the present tense "is" remains unchanged in the indirect speech rather than shifting to "was" or "had been."