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

The correct answer is '2'.

Key Points

• When converting indirect speech to direct speech, we reverse the changes made during the direct to indirect conversion.
• Original Sentence (Indirect Speech): "The teacher asked her students why they had been quiet in the previous class."
• Let's apply the reverse rules:
  • Reporting Verb: "asked" indicates a question in direct speech. It can revert to "said to" or "asked."
  • Pronoun Change: "they" (referring to the students) reverts to "you."
  • Tense Change: "had been quiet" (Past Perfect) usually reverts to "were quiet" (Simple Past) or "have been quiet" (Present Perfect) in direct speech. "Why were you quiet?" is the most common and natural direct question for a past state.
  • Time/Place Adverb Change: "the previous class" remains "the previous class" or could revert to "the last class."
  • Question Structure: Since it's a 'why' question, it remains a 'why' question.
• Let's evaluate the options:
  • 1) The teacher asked her students, “Why were they keeping quiet in the previous class ?” Incorrect pronoun ("they" instead of "you") and different verb tense/aspect ("keeping quiet" instead of a form related to "had been quiet").
  • 2) The teacher said to her students, “Why were you quiet in the previous class ?” Correct reporting verb and structure. Pronoun "you" is correct. Tense "were quiet" (Simple Past) correctly backshifts to "had been quiet" (Past Perfect). "the previous class" is retained. This option is grammatically correct and natural.
  • 3) The teacher said to her students, “Why had you been quiet in the previous class ?” While "had been quiet" would also backshift to "had been quiet," the Simple Past "were quiet" is often the original form that leads to Past Perfect in indirect speech unless a clear sequence of past events is implied. This option is less natural for a direct question than option 2.
  • 4) The teacher said to her students, “Why were you quiet in previous class ?” Incorrect: Missing the definite article "the" before "previous class".

Correct sentence: The teacher said to her students, “Why were you quiet in the previous class ?”

The correct answer is '2'.

Key Points

• The given sentence is an exclamatory sentence, expressing admiration for the painting. The presence of "What a..." and the implied emotion make it an exclamation, despite the question mark which might be a typo or an unusual stylistic choice in the original.
• When converting exclamatory sentences to indirect speech, we follow these rules:
  • The reporting verb 'said to' changes to verbs like 'exclaimed', 'remarked', 'wondered', etc., depending on the emotion conveyed.
  • The exclamatory phrase is converted into a declarative sentence. For "What a + adjective + noun + it is/was", it typically becomes "it was a very + adjective + noun" or "it was a + adjective + noun".
  • Tense backshift occurs: 'is' changes to 'was'.
  • The conjunction 'that' is usually used.
• Let's analyze the options:
  • 1) Nitin wondered to his brother that what a beautiful painting it was. This option has redundant phrasing ("that what a") and "wondered to his brother" is awkward.
  • 2) Nitin wondered before his brother that it was a beautiful painting. While "wondered before his brother" is slightly awkward, the conversion of the exclamation "What a beautiful painting it is?" to "it was a beautiful painting" is grammatically correct. The tense is correctly backshifted from 'is' to 'was'. This is the best available option for converting the exclaimed content into a reported statement.
  • 3) Nitin exclaimed that it is a beautiful painting. Incorrect: The tense 'is' is not backshifted to 'was'.
  • 4) Nitin asked his brother whether it was beautiful painting. Incorrect: The original sentence is an exclamation, not a question, so 'asked' and 'whether' are inappropriate.

Correct sentence: Nitin wondered before his brother that it was a beautiful painting.

The correct answer is '1'.

Key Points

• When converting direct speech to indirect speech, several changes occur, especially regarding pronouns, tenses, and time/place adverbs.
• Let's analyze the changes from the original sentence: "Charu said to her friend, “I want you to be here at 6.00 p.m. tomorrow for the meeting.”"
  • The reporting verb "said to" changes to "told" because there is an object ("her friend").
  • The pronoun "I" changes to "she" (referring to Charu).
  • The present tense verb "want" changes to the past tense "wanted" (backshift of tense).
  • The pronoun "you" changes to "her" (referring to the friend).
  • The adverb of place "here" changes to "there".
  • The adverb of time "tomorrow" changes to "the next day".
  • The conjunction "that" is used to introduce the reported speech.
• Let's evaluate the given options:
  • 1) Charu told her friend that she wanted her to be there at 6.00 p.m. the next day for the meeting. This option correctly applies all the rules of conversion.
  • 2) Charu told her friend that she wanted her to be there at 6.00 p.m. tomorrow for the meeting. Incorrect: "tomorrow" is not changed to "the next day".
  • 3) Charu requested her friend that she wanted her to be there at 6.00 p.m. tomorrow for the meeting. Incorrect: While it's a request, "I want you to be here" is typically reported with "told that she wanted". More importantly, "tomorrow" is not changed.
  • 4) Charu told her friend that she will want her to be here at 6.00 p.m. the next day for the meeting. Incorrect: The tense "want" is not correctly backshifted to "wanted", and "here" is not changed to "there".

Correct sentence: Charu told her friend that she wanted her to be there at 6.00 p.m. the next day for the meeting.

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).

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 '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 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 '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).