Direct and indirect speech MCQ — 8 Practice Questions with Answers

Explanation

In indirect speech, the reporting verb “said” is followed by “that”, and present tense usually shifts back when the reporting verb is in the past. “I am” becomes “he was”, and “I do” becomes “he did”; the pronoun “my” changes to “his”. The answer with “was” and “did” applies all these changes correctly. The choices retaining “is” or “does” fail to backshift the tense. The version using “informed” is also awkward here and introduces “can”, which is not in the original statement.

Explanation

In indirect speech, the imperative sentence changes to a to-infinitive construction, and your changes according to the speaker-reporter relationship. Since the books belong to the students, their is the correct pronoun. The wording with your books keeps the direct-speech pronoun and is therefore wrong. The version saying take back books drops the possessive and does not faithfully report the original sentence. Ordered is too forceful for this neutral classroom instruction, while asked is acceptable for the request-like imperative.

Explanation

The sentence is an imperative command or instruction. In indirect speech, the reporting verb can become "told", the object is supplied as "her", and the imperative verb changes to the infinitive "to wait". "Rahim told her to wait for him at the bridge" also changes "me" to "him" correctly. "Requested her to keep waiting" changes the force and adds continuation. "Asked to wait her" is ungrammatical. "Said that you have to wait for me" keeps the direct-speech pronouns and structure.

Explanation

In indirect speech, the reporting verb "said" can remain "said" when no object is supplied, and the simple past "waited" normally changes to the past perfect "had waited." The pronoun "I" changes to "he" because John is the speaker. "John told me that he waited" fails to backshift the tense. "John told me that I had waited" wrongly changes the speaker to the reporter. "Had been waiting" changes the meaning to a continuous action, while the original sentence uses simple past.

Explanation

In indirect speech, the reporting verb is in the past, so "will" normally changes to "would". The pronoun "I" changes to "he" because Ravi is the speaker, and "tomorrow" changes to "the next day" or "next day" in the printed choice. The sentence with "will" and "tomorrow" keeps the direct-speech tense and time word. The sentence with "would" but "tomorrow" changes only part of the sentence. "Ordered" changes the reporting sense; Ravi is making a statement, not giving a command.