Select the correct direct form of the given sentence.

Shravan said that the prisoner had slept throughout the journey.

The correct answer is Shravan said, "The prisoner had slept throughout the journey."

Key Points

• The given sentence is in Indirect Speech. As per the question we have to change it to Direct Speech. 

• If in a direct speech, the reported verb is in Past Tense & reported speech is in Past Perfect Tense, the tense will not change in indirect speech.

  • e.g. Mr Roy said, “I had bought a house.” -  Mr Roy said that he had bought a house.

• The process of transformation is as follows:

  • 'Said' will not change because in the given sentence Reporting Verb does not have any 'object'. 
  • Commas and inverted commas will be added. 
  • 'had slept' will not change because past perfect tense does not change in 'direct to indirect' speech.
  • Thus, the correct answer is Option 4.

Correct Sentence: Shravan said, "The prisoner had slept throughout the journey."

Mistake Points 

• Option 3 has the reported verb 'says' i.e. "Shravan says, "The prisoner has slept throughout the journey." which states the given sentence is in the Present Tense. 
  • The tenses of direct speech do not change if the reporting verb is in the future tense or present tense.
• However, the indirect speech given in the question is in the Past Perfect Tense i.e. Shravan said that the prisoner had slept throughout the journey. 
• Hence, Option 3 will not be the answer.