Choose the indirect form of the following sentence from the option given:
He said to the guest, “Would you mind taking off your shoes before entering the house?”
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 1
The correct answer is Option (1) → He requested the guest to take off his shoes before entering the house.
| Direct | Indirect |
|---|---|
| He said to the guest, “Would you mind taking off your shoes before entering the house?” | He requested the guest to take off his shoes before entering the house. |
Reporting a polite request:
- Reporting verb: "Would you mind ...?" is a polite request, not a real question, so "said to" becomes requested.
- Structure: requested + person + to-infinitive: "Would you mind taking off" → "requested the guest to take off".
- Tense change: none; a request is reported with a to-infinitive, so "would you mind taking" becomes just "to take".
- Pronoun changes: "your shoes" → "his shoes", the guest's shoes.
- Words of nearness (time and place): there are none here; "before entering the house" stays as it is.
- Punctuation: the inverted commas and the question mark are dropped; the sentence ends with a full stop.
Example: She said to me, "Would you mind closing the door?" → She requested me to close the door.
Why the Other Options are Incorrect?
Option 2: He told the guest that he must take off his shoes before entering the house. — Incorrect. "Told ... that he must" turns a polite request into an order or obligation.
Option 3: He insisted to the guests that the shoes were to be taken off before entering the house. — Incorrect.
- "Insisted" is far stronger than a polite request.
- "The guest" has become the plural "the guests", and the sentence is turned into the passive.
Option 4: He commanded the guest to take off his shoes if he wished to enter the house. — Incorrect.
- "Commanded" reports an order, not a request.
- "Before entering" has become a condition, "if he wished to enter", which is not in the direct speech.