Select the option that expresses the given sentence in indirect voice.
She said to him, "You were sleeping."
Show answer & explanation
Correct answer: B
Explanation
When converting a sentence from direct to indirect speech, several changes are made. The reporting verb "said to" changes to "told". The comma and quotation marks are removed, and a conjunction, typically "that", is added. The pronoun "You" changes to "he" to reflect that the person being spoken to is a male third person.
The most significant change is the tense. The direct speech is in the past continuous tense ("were sleeping"). According to the rules of sequence of tenses, the past continuous tense in direct speech changes to the past perfect continuous tense ("had been sleeping") in indirect speech.