Suresh said, “I did it yesterday.”
Which one of the following options is the correct form of this sentence in indirect speech?
Options:
(A) Suresh said that I did it yesterday.
(B) Suresh says I did it yesterday.
(C) Suresh says that he did it the day before.
(D) Suresh said that he had done it the day before.
Official Answer Key:
D
Step-by-Step Solution & Explanation
Converting direct to indirect speech requires three simultaneous shifts:
(i) Pronoun shift — the speaker’s “I” becomes “he”.
(ii) Tense back-shift — the reporting verb “said” is in the past, so simple past “did” moves back to past perfect “had done”.
(iii) Adverbial shift — “yesterday” becomes “the day before”.
Only (D) applies all three. (A) omits the pronoun shift; (B) and (C) wrongly retain the present-tense reporting verb “says”.
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