In the following question, a sentence has been given in Direct/Indirect speech. Out of the four alternatives suggested, select the one which best expresses the same sentence in Indirect/Direct speech.
The children said, "They were busy playing thus they did not notice the stranger."
Show answer & explanation
Correct answer: B
Explanation
The correct answer is option 2 i.e. The children said that they had been busy playing so they had not noticed the stranger.
- As the reporting verb is in the past tense there will be a change in the tense of the reported speech.
- There will be no change in the reporting verb as there is no object after it.
- "Past continuous tense" will be changed into "past perfect continuous tense".
- The inverted comma will be changed into "that".
- "didn't + v1" will be changed into "had + v3".
- As all the rules are followed by the chosen option it will be correct.