Identify the correct conversion of the following sentence in Indirect Speech into Direct Speech:
He requested him to wait there till he returned.
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 2
The correct answer is Option (2) → He said to him 'Please wait here till I return.'
Indirect request to direct speech:
| Change | Indirect | Direct | Why |
|---|---|---|---|
| Reporting verb | requested | said to ... Please | “Requested” becomes “said to”, and the request is shown by “Please” before the imperative. |
| Verb | to wait | wait | “To wait” becomes “wait” (imperative, the speaker's actual words). |
| Tense change | returned | return | “Returned” becomes “return”, the speaker's own words in the present. |
| Pronoun change | he | I | “He” becomes “I”. |
| Words of nearness | there | here | “There” becomes “here”, since the speaker was at that place when he spoke. |
| Full sentence | He requested him to wait there till he returned. | He said to him, ‘Please wait here till I return.’ |
Example: She requested me to sit there. → She said to me, “Please sit here.”
Why the Other Options are Incorrect?
Option 1: He requested to him, 'Please wait there till I return.' — Incorrect.
- "requested to him" is wrong: request takes a direct object (requested him), and direct speech uses "said to".
- "there" is not changed to "here".
Option 3: He requested to him, 'Please wait till I return.' — Incorrect. It has the same "requested to him" error and leaves out the place word altogether.
Option 4: He said to him, 'Please wait there till I return.' — Incorrect. "there" belongs to the reported form. The speaker would have said "here".