Choose the correct sentence :
(A) He said that honesty has been the best policy.
(B) He said that honesty had been the best policy.
(C) He said that honesty was the best policy.
(D) He said that honesty is the best policy.
(E) He said that honesty will be the best policy.
Choose the correct answer from the options given below :
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 4
The correct answer is Option (4) → (D) only
Universal truths in indirect speech: when the reported words state a universal truth or a proverb, their tense does not change even after a past reporting verb. "Honesty is the best policy" is a proverb, so it stays in the simple present.
Example: The teacher said that the earth moves round the sun.
(A) He said that honesty has been the best policy. — Incorrect.
- The present perfect turns a timeless truth into something that has been true up to now.
(B) He said that honesty had been the best policy. — Incorrect.
- The past perfect suggests it was true once but no longer.
(C) He said that honesty was the best policy. — Incorrect.
- This is the ordinary backshift, which the universal-truth rule sets aside.
(D) He said that honesty is the best policy. — Correct.
- The universal truth keeps the present tense "is".
(E) He said that honesty will be the best policy. — Incorrect.
- The future tense limits the truth to a time to come.