Select the correct indirect form of the given sentence.
My cousin said, “My room-mate had snored throughout the night.”
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 1
The correct answer is Option (1) → My cousin said that her room-mate had snored throughout the night.
Past perfect statement in indirect speech:
| Change | Direct | Indirect | Why |
|---|---|---|---|
| Joining word | " " (quotation marks) | that | The quotation marks go, and "that" joins the reported statement. |
| Pronoun change | My room-mate | her room-mate | The cousin is the speaker, so "my" becomes "her". All the options use "her", so the cousin is taken to be a woman. |
| Tense kept | had snored | had snored | "Had snored" is already the past perfect. The past perfect is formed with had + past participle (V3). There is no tense further back, so it does not change. |
| Full sentence | My cousin said, "My room-mate had snored throughout the night." | My cousin said that her room-mate had snored throughout the night. |
Other tenses move one step back after a past reporting verb. So is → was, snores → snored, and snored → had snored. Only the past perfect stays as it is. Example: Arjun said, "The bus had left before seven." → Arjun said that the bus had left before seven.
Why the Other Options are Incorrect?
Option 2: My cousin told me that her room-mate snored throughout the night. — Incorrect. The past perfect "had snored" is cut down to "snored". The past perfect must stay unchanged.
Option 3: My cousin complained to me that her room-mate is snoring throughout the night. — Incorrect. "Is snoring" moves the action into the present. The snoring was already over when the cousin spoke.
Option 4: My cousin felt that her room-mate may be snoring throughout the night. — Incorrect. "Felt" and "may be" turn a plain fact into a guess. The cousin said it as a fact.