Select the correct indirect form of the given sentence.
The tailor said to Neha, “Your blouse is ready, but I am out of matching buttons.”
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 4
The correct answer is Option (4) → The tailor told Neha that her blouse was ready but he was out of matching buttons.
Changing a statement into indirect speech:
| Change | Direct | Indirect | Why |
|---|---|---|---|
| Reporting verb | said to Neha | told Neha | A listener, Neha, is named. So “said to” becomes “told”. |
| Joining word | “ ” (quotation marks) | that | A statement is joined with “that”. |
| Pronoun change | Your, I | her, he | Neha is spoken to, so “your” becomes “her”. The tailor is the speaker, so “I” becomes “he”. |
| Tense change | is, am | was, was | “Is” and “am” are in the simple present. The verb “be” in the simple present is am / is / are. After the past “said” both become the simple past “was”. The verb “be” in the simple past is was / were. “Out of” buttons means he had none left. |
| Full sentence | The tailor said to Neha, “Your blouse is ready, but I am out of matching buttons.” | The tailor told Neha that her blouse was ready but he was out of matching buttons. |
“Are” becomes “were” in the same way. Example: Mr Sen said to us, “You are early.” → Mr Sen told us that we were early.
Why the Other Options are Incorrect?
Option 1: The tailor said Neha that her blouse was ready but he was out of matching buttons. — Incorrect. “Said” cannot take the person straight after it. It must be “told Neha” or “said to Neha”.
Option 2: The tailor told Neha that your blouse was ready but he was out of matching buttons. — Incorrect. “Your” is left unchanged. Neha is the person spoken to, so it must become “her”.
Option 3: The tailor told Neha that her blouse is ready but he is out of matching buttons. — Incorrect. The present “is” is kept. After the past “said” it must become “was”.