SarkariPYQ

SSC CGL 2021 PYQ — Question 11

SSC CGL - 24 Aug 2021 - Shift 3 • English • Q11

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In the following passage, some words have been deleted. Fill in the blanks with the help of the alternatives given. Select the most appropriate option for each blank.
John was an artist (1)______ profession. He was very (2)______ at his work and could
(3)______ any subject he could think of, but circumstances forced him to (4)______ in
(5)______ the work of renowned artists.

Select the option that expresses the given sentence in indirect speech.
Nelson said, “I was playing cricket.”

Show answer & explanation

Correct answer: C

Explanation

The correct answer is option 3 i.e. Nelson said that he had been playing cricket.

  • The above sentence is in 'Direct speech'.
  • The rules for converting direct speech to indirect is as follows.
  1. The commas and inverted commas will be removed.
  2. The conjunction 'that' will be added.
  3. The first person pronoun 'I' will be converted to 'he' as per the subject of reporting verb.
  4. 'Past continuous tense' will ve converted to 'Past perfect continuous tense'.
  5. Therefore, 'was playing' will be changed to 'had been playing'.

The correct answer is-

Nelson said that he had been playing cricket.