Direct to Indirect Speech MCQ Quiz - Objective Question with Answer for Direct to Indirect Speech - Download Free PDF

The correct answer is '4' i.e. I requested my friend to help me in checking the accounts.

Key Points

• The given sentence is an example of a polite request, indicated by the use of the word “please.”
• When changing direct speech to indirect speech, “please” is omitted, and the verb is changed appropriately to reflect the request.
• The correct verb for expressing a polite request in indirect speech is “requested.”
• The indirect speech structure is: Subject + requested + object + to-infinitive.

Correct sentence: I requested my friend to help me in checking the accounts.

Additional Information

• When converting direct speech to indirect speech, the following changes are made:
  • Pronouns: The pronouns are adjusted according to the context of the sentence.
  • Verb: The verb is changed to match the reporting verb (e.g., “requested” for polite requests).
  • Quotation marks: Quotation marks are removed, and the sentence is restructured.
• Incorrect options:
  • Option 1: “Ordered” implies authority, which doesn’t align with the polite tone of the sentence.
  • Option 2: Retains “please,” which is not used in indirect speech.
  • Option 3: Sentence structure is incorrect and doesn’t convey the intended meaning.

The correct answer: I asked her why she was working so hard.

Key Points 

• Rules for changing Direct Speech to Indirect Speech:
  • We must remove the question mark and replace it with a full stop in Direct Speech.
  • The reporting verb said/said to is changed to asked, demanded, ordered, enquired as per the nature of the sentence.
  • Reporting verb is changed according to the form and sense of the sentence.
  • Inverted commas are removed in indirect speech.
  • The first person in the reported speech changes according to the subject of reporting speech.
  • In Reported Speech, change of the second person depends on the object of reporting speech.
  • The third person remains unchanged.
  • Example: 
    • They said to me, “Why are you going to meet him?” (Direct speech)
    • They asked me why I was going to meet him. (Indirect speech)
  • 'you' changes to 'she'.
  • Present Continuous tense (are working) changes to past continuous tense (was working).
• Therefore, the correct answer is Option 1.
   

Correct sentence: I asked her why she was working so hard.

Here the correct answer is She asked me where I was going for the vacation.
Key Points

• Let's look at the steps for changing the sentence from direct to indirect speech:
• As the reporting verb is in the past tense and direct speech is in the present continuous tense, we will take the following steps:-
  • The reporting verb 'said' is changed to 'asked' because 'Reporting verbs such as said/ said to changes to enquired, asked, or demanded'.
  • The conjunction 'that' is not used because 'No conjunction is used, if a sentence in direct speech begins with a question (what/where/when) as the "question-word" itself acts as a joining clause'.
  • For Example:-
  • Direct: “Where do you live?”, asked the boy.
  • Indirect: The boy enquired where I lived.
  • The present continuous tense (are going) is changed to the past continuous tense (was going) in the direct speech.
  • The pronoun 'You' is changed to 'I' as the first person changes according to the subject.​

Additional Information
The following table will enable us to know how tense changes in indirect speech:-

The correct answer is: She said that she had to leave all the bad habits.

Key Points 

• The given sentence is in direct speech and we need to convert it to indirect speech.
• When we change a direct speech to an indirect speech, we must follow these rules:
  • The reporting verb "said" remains unchanged in the indirect speech.
  • The inverted commas ("...") are replaced with the conjunction 'that' to show the indirect speech part.
  • The comma (,) is removed in the indirect speech.
  • The first word of the indirect speech should be in capital letters.
  • 'Must' in direct speech changes to 'Had to' in indirect speech.
• Thus, option 3 is the correct answer.
   

Hence, indirect speech is - She said that she had to leave all the bad habits.

Important Points

• 'MUST changes into HAD TO' from direct speech to indirect speech
  • He said, “I must study for the exam”. - He said that he had to study the exam.
  • She said, “I must finish the work in time”.- She said that she had to finish the work in time.

The correct sentence is He confirmed whether she was going to the party or not.

Key Points

• While changing the narration of an assertive sentence + question tag, we make the following changes:
  • 'Said to' is changed according to the tone. In this sentence the person is confirming, the reported verb is changed accordingly.
  • The first person (I/We) changes according to the subject, the second person (You) changes according to the object and the third person (He/She/It) remains unchanged.
  • Conjunction if/whether is used if the question is a close-ended question ( if the answer is "yes" or "no").
  • Question mark (?) is replaced with full-stop (.).
• Tense, place, and time change according to the rules for both assertive and interrogative sentences.
   

So, the final sentence is - He confirmed whether she was going to the party or not.

Additional Information

Tense, place, and time change according to the following rules:

The correct answer is option 3) i.e. 'Ramita said she wished she didn’t have to meet her step-mother.'

Key Points  

• The given sentence is in Direct Speech. As per the given directions, we have to change it into Indirect Speech.
• The given sentence is an optative sentence.
• The process of transformation is as follows:
  • The comma and inverted commas will be removed.
  • In the Indirect speech 'said' will not be changed because the reporting verb has no object.
  • The indirect speech will begin like 'Ramita said.'
• The Tense used in the sentence after wish/ if only, etc. does not change in indirect speech.
  • ​Example:- 
    • She said to him, “Wish you were here.”
    • She wished that he was there.
• Hence, 'didn’t have to' will be as it is in the indirect speech.
• Here the pronoun 'I' will be changed into 'she' twice.
• The pronoun 'my' will be changed into 'her' twice.
• The present form of the verb 'wish' will be changed into the past form 'wished.'
• The remaining part will not change.
• Finally, the indirect speech is 'Ramita said she wished she didn’t have to meet her step-mother.'
• ​So, the correct answer is option 3.

Correct Sentence: Ramita said she wished she didn’t have to meet her step-mother.

Confusion Points

• The modal verb "didn't have to" in the direct speech remains the same in the indirect speech because it refers to a present or future action that has not yet occurred at the time of reporting.
• Therefore, "didn't have to" does not change to "had not."

The correct answer is 'Ajay says that there is going to be a snowfall.'

Key Points

• The given sentence is in Direct Speech. As per the question we have to change it into Indirect Speech. 
• In the given sentence, the reporting verb is in the present tense.
• So, the tense of the reported speech will remain the same.
• We change the tense and pronouns of reported speech only when reporting verb is in the past tense.
• While changing the given Direct narration into Indirect narration, comma and inverted commas will be removed and connector 'that' will be added and the reported speech will be written after 'that'.

Correct Sentence: Ajay says that there is going to be a snowfall.

The correct answer is 'Mother told me that she was worried about my safety.'

Key Points

• The given sentence is in Direct Speech. As per the question, we have to change it into Indirect Speech. 
• The process of transformation is as follows:
  • In the given sentence the reporting verb has an object. Hence, 'said to' will be changed into 'told'. 
  • Comma and inverted commas will be removed. 
  • The conjunction 'that' will be added.
  • 'I' will be changed into 'she' because the first person pronouns are changed according to the subject of the reporting verb.
  • 'am' will be changed into 'was'.
  • 'your' will be changed into 'my' because the second-person pronouns are changed according to the object of the reporting verb.
  • Thus, the correct answer is Option 2.
     

Correct Sentence: Mother told me that she was worried about my safety. 

The correct answer is She said that she was in no mood to work then.

Key Points

• In the original sentence, "She said, 'I am in no mood to work now,'" the verb is in the present tense ("am") and the time reference is the present ("now").

• When converting this to indirect speech:

  • The pronoun "I" changes to "she" to match the subject of the sentence.

  • The verb tense changes, or "backshifts," from the present tense ("am") to the past tense ("was").

  • This reflects that the reported speech happened in the past.

  • The time reference changes from "now" to "then" to show that the time of the reported speech is different from the time the words were originally spoken.

  • Hence, the correct answer will be Option 3, "She said that she was in no mood to work then."

The correct answer is 'The lawyer asked the witness to tell the court what he had seen on Saturday night.'

Key Points

• The given sentence is an imperative sentence. 
• While changing the narration of an imperative sentence, we need to follow these steps -
  • ​The reporting verb 'said' changes to "asked." 
  • The second person you will be changed into "he" 
  • The tense of the given sentence is simple past tense (saw) which changes to past perfect tense (had seen).
  • "told" option is incorrect because the tense of the sentence given is incorrect.
     

​The correct answer is 'The librarian said that no student was to be issued a book till the following week.'

Key Points 

• The given sentence is assertive.
• While changing the narration of an assertive sentence, these steps need to be followed - 
  • The reporting verb said remains the same ( In assertive sentences which does not have a direct personal object like in the given situation, the reporting verb said remains unchanged.)
  • The conjunction 'that' is used in place of commas and inverted commas. 
  • The verb issued expresses the past tense form.
  • The infinitive be issued is changed to past infinitive was to be issued.
  • The expression of time in the given speech next week is changed to the following week in the reported speech.
• Eventually, we will get the final sentence - The librarian said that no student was to be issued a book till the following week.

The correct answer is I exclaimed that there was a remarkable likeness between the two sisters.

Key Points

• The given sentence is a direct speech.
• The basic rules for changing or converting direct speech into indirect speech:​
  • The commas and inverted commas are removed and 'that' is added.
  • The exclamation mark '!' in the direct speech indicates the use of the reporting verb 'exclaimed' in indirect speech.
  • Also, if the reporting verb is in the past tense, we usually change the present form to a past form in reported speech.
  • Therefore, from the given options, only the first option fits suitably.

Thus the correct option is Option 1).