Select the option that expresses the given sentence in reported speech.
The soldier said to his fellow soldiers, 'I have buried our brave comrade here.
Show answer & explanation
Correct answer: A
Explanation
The correct answer is option 1 i.e. The soldier told his fellow soldiers that he had buried their brave comrade there.
Reported Speech Transformation:
- The correct structure is: Reporting verb + (subject) + that + reported speech (with necessary tense, pronoun, and adverbial adjustments)
- Reporting verb: 'told' (used when the speaker is addressing someone directly, in this case, 'his fellow soldiers')
- Pronoun Change: 'I' (the first-person pronoun) becomes 'he' because the speaker is now reported in the third person.
- Verb Tense Change: The present perfect 'have buried' changes to 'had buried' to follow the rule of shifting tenses in reported speech. When reporting something in the past (direct speech in present tense), the tense is typically shifted one step back (present perfect to past perfect).
- Possessive Pronoun: 'our' changes to 'their' because the speaker's point of view is now removed, and it reflects the perspective of the fellow soldiers.
- Adverbial Change: 'here' changes to 'there' because the location is no longer relative to the speaker, but to the listener (the fellow soldiers) in the reported speech.
Hence, the correct sentence is:- 'The soldier told his fellow soldiers that he had buried their brave comrade there.'