Select the correct option for the Direct Speech conversion of the sentence below:
She posited that the narrative would have achieved greater cohesion had the author maintained a single focalisation.
Show answer & explanation
Correct answer: B
Explanation
The correct answer is option 2 i.e. She said, 'The narrative would have achieved greater cohesion had the author maintained a single focalisation.'
Changes required:
Verb: The reporting verb 'posited' is a formal way of saying 'said', and in direct speech, it is commonly reverted to 'said' to follow the standard format for quoting.
Conjunction: The conjunction 'that' is removed, and the quoted text is placed within inverted commas preceded by a comma.
Tense: In this sentence, the structure 'would have achieved... had the author maintained' represents a Type 3 Conditional (expressing a hypothetical situation in the past). According to the rules of narration, the tense in a Type 3 Conditional does not change when moving between direct and indirect speech because it is already in the most remote past form.
Pronoun: No pronoun changes are required for the subjects 'the narrative' or 'the author' as they are third-person nouns.
Converted sentence: She said, 'The narrative would have achieved greater cohesion had the author maintained a single focalisation.'
Hence, the chosen option is correct.