Select the option that expresses the given sentence in reported speech.
Mother said, “Abhinav slipped while trying to board a bus.”
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 4
The correct option is: Mother said that Abhinav had slipped while trying to board a bus.
The other options are incorrect because they do not follow these rules:
- Mother told that Abhinav slipped while trying to board a bus. - This sentence does not change the present tense to the past tense for the reporting verb "told."
- Mother said that Abhinav slipped while trying to board a bus. - This sentence does not change the present tense to the past tense for the auxiliary verb "had."
- Mother says that Abhinav slipped while trying to board a bus. - This sentence uses the present tense for the reporting verb "says," which is incorrect in indirect speech.