Choose the appropriate direct form of speech of the sentence given below:
He said that his master was writing letters:
(A) He said," My master was writing letters".
(B) He said,"My master has been writing letters".
(C) He said, "My master had been writing letters".
(D) He said," My master is writing letters".
Choose the correct answer from the options given below:
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 1
The correct answer is Option (1) → (D)
| Indirect | Direct |
|---|---|
| He said that his master was writing letters. | He said, "My master is writing letters." |
Indirect to direct speech:
- Reporting verb: "said" stays. The conjunction "that" is dropped and the spoken words go inside inverted commas.
- Tense change: in indirect speech the past continuous "was writing" stands for the present continuous of the actual words, so it goes back to "is writing".
- Pronoun changes: the speaker's own master, "his master", becomes "my master".
Example: She said that she was cooking. → She said, "I am cooking."
(A) He said," My master was writing letters". — Incorrect.
- It keeps the past continuous.
- Reported in indirect speech, "was writing" would become "had been writing", not "was writing".
(B) He said,"My master has been writing letters". — Incorrect.
- The present perfect continuous would be reported as "had been writing", not "was writing".
(C) He said,"My master had been writing letters". — Incorrect.
- It keeps the backshifted past perfect continuous inside the inverted commas.
(D) He said," My master is writing letters". — Correct.
- It restores the speaker's actual words in the present continuous.