Direct to Indirect Speech MCQ Quiz - Objective Question with Answer for Direct to Indirect Speech - Download Free PDF

The correct answer is '4' i.e. Rajesh said that he had bought a car the previous day.

Key Points

• The given sentence is in direct speech, where Rajesh says, “I bought a car yesterday.”
• When converting direct speech to indirect speech, we make the following changes:
  • The pronoun changes from "I" (speaker) to "he" (third person).
  • The verb tense shifts from "bought" (simple past) to "had bought" (past perfect), as per the rules of indirect speech.
  • The word "yesterday" changes to "the previous day" to reflect the indirect speech format.
• Option 4 correctly implements these changes.

Correct sentence: Rajesh said that he had bought a car the previous day.

Additional Information

• Rules for Changing Direct to Indirect Speech:
  • Change pronouns to suit the context.
  • Adjust verb tenses according to the reporting verb (e.g., past tense in reporting verb typically requires past perfect in indirect speech).
  • Replace time and place indicators appropriately (e.g., "yesterday" becomes "the previous day").
• Incorrect Options:
  • Option 1: Incorrect tense usage ("have bought" instead of "had bought").
  • Option 2: Incorrect auxiliary verb ("did bought" is grammatically incorrect).
  • Option 3: Incorrect reporting verb ("told" should be "said" for this context).

The correct answer is '1' i.e. Nancy said that she might leave the next day .

Key Points

• The sentence in the Direct Speech is in the simple present tense (specifically, the modal verb "may" in the present form).
• Hence, the sentence in the Indirect Speech must be in the simple past tense (denoted by "might").
• To report the sentence in indirect speech, the verb "may" changes to "might",
• The time expression "tomorrow" changes to "the next day".
• The pronoun "I" is changed into "she".
• Thus, the correct indirect speech sentence is: "Nancy said that she might leave the next day."

Correct sentence: Nancy said that she might leave the next day.

Key Points

• Exclamatory Sentences: The sentence begins with “Oh!” indicating an exclamation of sorrow or disappointment. In indirect speech, "He exclaimed with sorrow" is used.
• Tense Change: "It’s" becomes "it was" and "can’t" becomes "couldn’t" as per the rules of changing present to past in reported speech.
• Pronoun Change: "I" becomes "he" in indirect speech to maintain third person narration.
• Correct Verb Form: "Couldn’t drive" correctly reflects the inability expressed in the original sentence.

Additional Information

• Option 1: Incorrect — “can’t” should change to “couldn’t” in reported speech.
• Option 2: Incorrect — “was not to drive” is grammatically and contextually incorrect.
• Option 4: Incorrect — Reporting verb "exclaims" should be in past tense "exclaimed" for consistency with "said".

The correct answer is '4' i.e. He told me that he did not believe me at all .

Key Points

• When converting Direct Speech to Indirect Speech, the reporting verb and the tense of the reported speech must be modified appropriately.
• In this case, the reporting verb ‘said to’ is changed to ‘told’, which is the correct verb to use when the sentence is directed at someone.
• The sentence in direct speech, ‘I don’t believe you at all,’ is in the Present Simple tense.
• In Indirect Speech, the Present Simple tense changes to the Past Simple tense, so ‘don’t believe’ becomes ‘did not believe’.
• The pronouns are also adjusted: ‘I’ becomes ‘he’ (referring to the speaker), and ‘you’ becomes ‘me’ (referring to the person being addressed).

Correct sentence: He told me that he did not believe me at all.

Additional Information

• Rules for changing Direct Speech to Indirect Speech:
  • Present tense in Direct Speech changes to Past tense in Indirect Speech.
  • Words indicating nearness (e.g., this, now) change to words indicating distance (e.g., that, then).
  • Pronouns are changed based on the context of the sentence.
• Common reporting verbs: said, told, asked, explained, replied, etc.

The correct answer is '1' i.e. He asked me how my mother was.

Key Points

• The given sentence is in Direct Speech, and the task is to convert it into Indirect Speech.
• In Indirect Speech for interrogative sentences, the reporting verb (e.g., "said to") changes to "asked," "enquired," or similar, depending on the context.
• In this case, the sentence is a question introduced by "How," so the reporting verb changes to "asked."
• The question word "How" remains unchanged, but the sentence is converted into a statement form (no question mark).
• The tense of the verb changes from present tense ("is") in Direct Speech to past tense ("was") in Indirect Speech due to the rule of tense backshifting.

Correct sentence: He asked me how my mother was.

Additional Information

• Rules for changing Direct Speech to Indirect Speech for questions:
  • Remove quotation marks and the question mark.
  • The reporting verb changes based on the type of question (e.g., "asked," "enquired").
  • If the question starts with a question word (e.g., "How," "What," "Why"), it remains unchanged.
  • The verb tense changes according to backshifting rules.
• Common Mistakes:
  • Do not retain the question mark in Indirect Speech.
  • Avoid incorrect word order like "how was my mother" (which is grammatically incorrect for Indirect Speech).

Here the correct answer is She asked me where I was going for the vacation.
Key Points

• Let's look at the steps for changing the sentence from direct to indirect speech:
• As the reporting verb is in the past tense and direct speech is in the present continuous tense, we will take the following steps:-
  • The reporting verb 'said' is changed to 'asked' because 'Reporting verbs such as said/ said to changes to enquired, asked, or demanded'.
  • The conjunction 'that' is not used because 'No conjunction is used, if a sentence in direct speech begins with a question (what/where/when) as the "question-word" itself acts as a joining clause'.
  • For Example:-
  • Direct: “Where do you live?”, asked the boy.
  • Indirect: The boy enquired where I lived.
  • The present continuous tense (are going) is changed to the past continuous tense (was going) in the direct speech.
  • The pronoun 'You' is changed to 'I' as the first person changes according to the subject.​

Additional Information
The following table will enable us to know how tense changes in indirect speech:-

The correct answer is: She said that she had to leave all the bad habits.

Key Points 

• The given sentence is in direct speech and we need to convert it to indirect speech.
• When we change a direct speech to an indirect speech, we must follow these rules:
  • The reporting verb "said" remains unchanged in the indirect speech.
  • The inverted commas ("...") are replaced with the conjunction 'that' to show the indirect speech part.
  • The comma (,) is removed in the indirect speech.
  • The first word of the indirect speech should be in capital letters.
  • 'Must' in direct speech changes to 'Had to' in indirect speech.
• Thus, option 3 is the correct answer.
   

Hence, indirect speech is - She said that she had to leave all the bad habits.

Important Points

• 'MUST changes into HAD TO' from direct speech to indirect speech
  • He said, “I must study for the exam”. - He said that he had to study the exam.
  • She said, “I must finish the work in time”.- She said that she had to finish the work in time.

The correct sentence is He confirmed whether she was going to the party or not.

Key Points

• While changing the narration of an assertive sentence + question tag, we make the following changes:
  • 'Said to' is changed according to the tone. In this sentence the person is confirming, the reported verb is changed accordingly.
  • The first person (I/We) changes according to the subject, the second person (You) changes according to the object and the third person (He/She/It) remains unchanged.
  • Conjunction if/whether is used if the question is a close-ended question ( if the answer is "yes" or "no").
  • Question mark (?) is replaced with full-stop (.).
• Tense, place, and time change according to the rules for both assertive and interrogative sentences.
   

So, the final sentence is - He confirmed whether she was going to the party or not.

Additional Information

Tense, place, and time change according to the following rules:

The correct answer is option 3) i.e. 'Ramita said she wished she didn’t have to meet her step-mother.'

Key Points  

• The given sentence is in Direct Speech. As per the given directions, we have to change it into Indirect Speech.
• The given sentence is an optative sentence.
• The process of transformation is as follows:
  • The comma and inverted commas will be removed.
  • In the Indirect speech 'said' will not be changed because the reporting verb has no object.
  • The indirect speech will begin like 'Ramita said.'
• The Tense used in the sentence after wish/ if only, etc. does not change in indirect speech.
  • ​Example:- 
    • She said to him, “Wish you were here.”
    • She wished that he was there.
• Hence, 'didn’t have to' will be as it is in the indirect speech.
• Here the pronoun 'I' will be changed into 'she' twice.
• The pronoun 'my' will be changed into 'her' twice.
• The present form of the verb 'wish' will be changed into the past form 'wished.'
• The remaining part will not change.
• Finally, the indirect speech is 'Ramita said she wished she didn’t have to meet her step-mother.'
• ​So, the correct answer is option 3.

Correct Sentence: Ramita said she wished she didn’t have to meet her step-mother.

Confusion Points

• The modal verb "didn't have to" in the direct speech remains the same in the indirect speech because it refers to a present or future action that has not yet occurred at the time of reporting.
• Therefore, "didn't have to" does not change to "had not."

The correct answer is 'Ajay says that there is going to be a snowfall.'

Key Points

• The given sentence is in Direct Speech. As per the question we have to change it into Indirect Speech. 
• In the given sentence, the reporting verb is in the present tense.
• So, the tense of the reported speech will remain the same.
• We change the tense and pronouns of reported speech only when reporting verb is in the past tense.
• While changing the given Direct narration into Indirect narration, comma and inverted commas will be removed and connector 'that' will be added and the reported speech will be written after 'that'.

Correct Sentence: Ajay says that there is going to be a snowfall.

The correct answer is She said that she was in no mood to work then.

Key Points

• In the original sentence, "She said, 'I am in no mood to work now,'" the verb is in the present tense ("am") and the time reference is the present ("now").

• When converting this to indirect speech:

  • The pronoun "I" changes to "she" to match the subject of the sentence.

  • The verb tense changes, or "backshifts," from the present tense ("am") to the past tense ("was").

  • This reflects that the reported speech happened in the past.

  • The time reference changes from "now" to "then" to show that the time of the reported speech is different from the time the words were originally spoken.

  • Hence, the correct answer will be Option 3, "She said that she was in no mood to work then."

The correct answer is 'Mother told me that she was worried about my safety.'

Key Points

• The given sentence is in Direct Speech. As per the question, we have to change it into Indirect Speech. 
• The process of transformation is as follows:
  • In the given sentence the reporting verb has an object. Hence, 'said to' will be changed into 'told'. 
  • Comma and inverted commas will be removed. 
  • The conjunction 'that' will be added.
  • 'I' will be changed into 'she' because the first person pronouns are changed according to the subject of the reporting verb.
  • 'am' will be changed into 'was'.
  • 'your' will be changed into 'my' because the second-person pronouns are changed according to the object of the reporting verb.
  • Thus, the correct answer is Option 2.
     

Correct Sentence: Mother told me that she was worried about my safety. 

The correct answer is 'The lawyer asked the witness to tell the court what he had seen on Saturday night.'

Key Points

• The given sentence is an imperative sentence. 
• While changing the narration of an imperative sentence, we need to follow these steps -
  • ​The reporting verb 'said' changes to "asked." 
  • The second person you will be changed into "he" 
  • The tense of the given sentence is simple past tense (saw) which changes to past perfect tense (had seen).
  • "told" option is incorrect because the tense of the sentence given is incorrect.
     

​The correct answer is 'The librarian said that no student was to be issued a book till the following week.'

Key Points 

• The given sentence is assertive.
• While changing the narration of an assertive sentence, these steps need to be followed - 
  • The reporting verb said remains the same ( In assertive sentences which does not have a direct personal object like in the given situation, the reporting verb said remains unchanged.)
  • The conjunction 'that' is used in place of commas and inverted commas. 
  • The verb issued expresses the past tense form.
  • The infinitive be issued is changed to past infinitive was to be issued.
  • The expression of time in the given speech next week is changed to the following week in the reported speech.
• Eventually, we will get the final sentence - The librarian said that no student was to be issued a book till the following week.

The correct answer is I exclaimed that there was a remarkable likeness between the two sisters.

Key Points

• The given sentence is a direct speech.
• The basic rules for changing or converting direct speech into indirect speech:​
  • The commas and inverted commas are removed and 'that' is added.
  • The exclamation mark '!' in the direct speech indicates the use of the reporting verb 'exclaimed' in indirect speech.
  • Also, if the reporting verb is in the past tense, we usually change the present form to a past form in reported speech.
  • Therefore, from the given options, only the first option fits suitably.

Thus the correct option is Option 1).