Select the option that expresses the given sentence in indirect voice.
He told me, 'I was trying to call you, but my phone's battery died, so I have been looking for a public phone since then.'
Show answer & explanation
Correct answer: C
Explanation
so he had been looking for a public phone since then.
The original sentence is in direct speech. To convert it to indirect speech, several changes are required:
The reporting verb "told" is already used correctly.
The inverted commas are replaced with "that".
Pronouns change: "I" becomes "he", "you" becomes "me", and "my" becomes "his".
Tenses change: "was trying" (past continuous) becomes "had been trying" (past perfect continuous), "died" (simple past) becomes "had died" (past perfect), and "have been looking" (present perfect continuous) becomes "had been looking" (past perfect continuous).
Time references change: "then" is used correctly in the options.
Option (C) correctly follows all these changes.