Out of the options select the one which best expresses the following sentence in Indirect Speech:
The daughter said to her mother, "They have not returned the keys".
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 1
The correct answer is Option (1) → The daughter told her mother that they had not returned the keys
Explanation:
-
Change of Reporting Verb:
- "said to" changes to "told" in indirect speech because there is a person being addressed (her mother).
-
Tense Change (Backshifting):
- The direct speech sentence is in present perfect tense ("have not returned").
- In indirect speech, it must shift to past perfect tense ("had not returned").
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Pronoun and Structure Correction:
- "her mother" is retained correctly.
- The structure follows the correct pattern:
Subject + told + object + that + subject + verb (past perfect).
The daughter told her mother that they had not returned the keys
OTHER OPTIONS
"The daughter had told mother that they have not returned the keys."
- "had told" is past perfect, which is unnecessary here. Simple past ("told") is enough.
- "have not returned" should be "had not returned" to maintain tense consistency.
"The daughter told mother that they are not returning the keys."
- "are not returning" (present continuous) does not correctly match the original tense.
- The correct transformation requires past perfect ("had not returned").
"The daughter informed mother that they had not return the keys."
- "informed" is incorrect because "said to" is better replaced by "told."
- "had not return" is grammatically incorrect; it should be "had not returned" (past perfect).