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

Key Points

• Indirect Speech: I said that I would be there before the clock struck twelve.
• Key Conversions:
  • "I would be there" becomes "I will be here"
    • The verb "would" is replaced with "will" to match the direct speech tense.
    • "There" is changed to "here" to align with the perspective of direct speech.
  • "Before the clock struck twelve" becomes "before the clock strikes twelve"
    • The verb "struck" is changed to "strikes" to reflect present tense in direct speech.
  • Reporting verb:
    • Indirect: "I said that"
    • Converted to: "I said," followed by the direct speech enclosed in quotation marks.
• Punctuation and Format:
  • Direct speech is enclosed in quotation marks.
  • Starts with a capital letter "I" and ends with a period ".".
  • Reporting clause precedes the quoted speech, separated by a comma.

Additional Information

• Option 1: "I will have been here before the clock strikes twelve."
  • Incorrect tense: "will have been" does not match the original meaning.
• Option 2: "I have been here before the clock strikes twelve."
  • Incorrect tense: "have been" implies a completed action, which changes the meaning.
• Option 3: "I should be here before the clock strikes twelve."
  • Incorrect modal verb: "should" alters the certainty expressed in the original sentence.

The correct answer is '1' i.e. My philosophy teacher said to me, “Happiness is to be in the state of harmony.” .

Key Points

• The given sentence is in indirect speech: "My philosophy teacher told me that happiness is to be in the state of harmony."
• To convert this to direct speech, the reporting verb "told" changes to "said to" to properly introduce the direct quotation.
• The reported clause, "happiness is to be in the state of harmony," is enclosed in quotation marks to indicate the direct words of the speaker.
• Option 1 correctly adheres to the structure of direct speech: Reporting verb + to whom it is said + direct quotation in quotation marks.

Correct sentence: My philosophy teacher said to me, “Happiness is to be in the state of harmony.”.

Additional Information

• Common Direct Speech Rules:
  • Use quotation marks (“ ”) to enclose the exact words of the speaker.
  • The first word of the quotation begins with a capital letter.
  • A comma is used to separate the reporting clause from the direct speech.
• Other Options Analysis:
  • Option 2: Incorrect, as "says to me" is in present tense, which does not match the past tense "told me" in the question.
  • Option 3: Incorrect, as "had told me" unnecessarily shifts the tense to past perfect, which is not required here.
  • Option 4: Incorrect, as "says" is in present tense and does not align with the past tense of the original sentence.

The correct answer is '3' i.e. I said, “Is your name Adwij?”.

Key Points

• The sentence provided is in indirect speech, which reports what someone asked or said without directly quoting them.
• To convert this sentence into direct speech, the reporting verb "inquired" (past tense) should be retained, and the question should be directly quoted within quotation marks.
• In direct speech, the tense of the verb should align with the context. Since the reported speech uses "was," we convert it to "is" in direct speech because the inquiry is about a current or general fact.
• Option 3 correctly represents the conversion of the given sentence into direct speech.

Correct sentence: I said, “Is your name Adwij?”.

Additional Information

• Indirect to Direct Speech Conversion Rules:
  • The reporting verb (e.g., "inquired" or "asked") determines the context of the question.
  • In direct speech, use quotation marks (“”) to enclose the exact words spoken.
  • Adjust the verb tense and pronouns appropriately to match the context of the sentence.
• Incorrect Options:
  • Option 1: “Was your name Adwij?” uses the wrong tense ("was") and is not a proper inquiry.
  • Option 2: “Is your name Adwij?” uses the present tense but incorrectly uses "say" instead of "said."
  • Option 4: “Are you Adwij?” changes the structure of the sentence unnecessarily.

The correct answer is '3' i.e. She said to them, "Are you ready for the event?" .

Key Points 

• The given sentence is in indirect speech, reporting a yes/no question. The reporting verb "asked" is in the past tense.
• When converting an indirect question with a past tense reporting verb and 'if' back to direct speech, the tense shifts back one step. The Past Simple tense ("were ready") in indirect speech typically comes from the Present Simple tense ("Are you ready?") in direct speech.
• The pronoun "they" in indirect speech refers to the people being addressed, which was "you" in the direct speech question directed at "them".
• A past tense reporting verb like "asked them" can be converted to "said to them," followed by the direct question in quotation marks.

Correct direct speech: She said to them, "Are you ready for the event?"

Additional Information 

• Option 1: "Had you been ready..." (Past Perfect) would become Past Perfect in indirect speech ("if they had been ready").
• Option 2: "She says to them..." uses a present tense reporting verb ("says"), which would not cause a tense shift in the indirect speech ("if they are ready"). The given indirect speech has a past tense ("were ready").
• Option 4: "She asked to them..." is grammatically incorrect; the correct phrasing is "asked them" or "said to them". Also, "Were you ready?" (Past Simple) would typically become Past Perfect ("if they had been ready") in indirect speech.

The correct answer is: Atul said, "She is coming this year."

Key Points

• The sentence in the Indirect Speech is in Past Continuous Tense. Therefore, the sentence in the Direct Speech will be in Present Continuous Tense.
• Past Continuous (Subject + was/were + V1 + ing + Object) will be converted into Present Continuous (Subject + is/am/are + V1 +ing + Object).
• For example:
  • He said that he was checking the assignment. (Indirect Speech)
  • He said, “I am checking the assignment.” (Direct Speech)
• The following things in the sentence will change when changed from Indirect Speech to Direct Speech:
  • 'said that' is changed to 'said'.
  • 'was' is changed into 'is'
  • 'that' is changed to 'this'.

Therefore, the correct answer is: Atul said, "She is coming this year."

The correct answer is option 1)  i.e. She asked, "What is it that makes you stronger and braver than other men?"

Key Points

• The given sentence is an indirect speech.
• The basic rules for changing or converting indirect speech into direct speech:
  • Include the comma and inverted commas.
  • The past simple tense "Subject + V2 + Object" of indirect speech should be converted into the present simple tense "Subject + V1 + Object" in "direct speech". 
  • The pronoun 'him' changes according to the customer, here becomes 'you'.
• From the following rules, we get the correct sentence as She asked, "What is it that makes you stronger and braver than other men?"

Additional Information

The following table will enable us to know how tense changes into Indirect speech:

The correct answer is He said to me, “When did you book the flight tickets?”

Key Points

• The given sentence is in Indirect Speech. As per the question we have to change it into Direct Speech. 
• The process of transformation is as follows:
  • 'Asked' will be changed into 'said to' because the given question is an example of an interrogative sentence with a question word. 
  • Commas and inverted commas will be added. 
  • 'had booked' will be changed into 'did book'.
  • 'I' will be changed into 'you' because we know that in 'direct to indirect' transformation second-person pronouns are changed according to the object of the reporting verb.
  • Thus, the correct answer is Option 1.
     

​Correct Sentence: He said to me, “When did you book the flight tickets?”

The correct answer is Shravan said, "The prisoner had slept throughout the journey."

Key Points

• The given sentence is in Indirect Speech. As per the question we have to change it to Direct Speech. 

• If in a direct speech, the reported verb is in Past Tense & reported speech is in Past Perfect Tense, the tense will not change in indirect speech.

  • e.g. Mr Roy said, “I had bought a house.” -  Mr Roy said that he had bought a house.

• The process of transformation is as follows:

  • 'Said' will not change because in the given sentence Reporting Verb does not have any 'object'. 
  • Commas and inverted commas will be added. 
  • 'had slept' will not change because past perfect tense does not change in 'direct to indirect' speech.
  • Thus, the correct answer is Option 4.

Correct Sentence: Shravan said, "The prisoner had slept throughout the journey."

Mistake Points 

• Option 3 has the reported verb 'says' i.e. "Shravan says, "The prisoner has slept throughout the journey." which states the given sentence is in the Present Tense. 
  • The tenses of direct speech do not change if the reporting verb is in the future tense or present tense.
• However, the indirect speech given in the question is in the Past Perfect Tense i.e. Shravan said that the prisoner had slept throughout the journey. 
• Hence, Option 3 will not be the answer.

The correct answer is She said to me, “Why were you smoking today?”

Key Points

• The given sentence is in Indirect Speech. As per the question we have to change it to Direct Speech. 
• The process of transformation is as follows:
  • 'Asked' will be changed into 'said to' because the given question is an example of an interrogative sentence with a question word. 
  • Commas and inverted commas will be added. 
  • 'had been smoking' will be changed into 'were smoking'. Because in 'Indirect to Direct' transformation 'past perfect continuous' tense is changed into 'past continuous'.
  • 'I' will be changed into 'you' because in 'direct to indirect' transformation first-person pronoun is changed according to the subject of the reporting verb.
  • 'Why' will be used as a conjunction because we know that in an interrogative sentence with a question word, the question word itself is used as a conjunction.
  • Therefore, as per the points mentioned above, we find that the correct answer is Option 1. 
     

Correct Sentence: She said to me, “Why were you smoking today?”

The correct answer is Balaji said, "I had already paid the instalment when the notice came to me." 

Key Points

• The given sentence is in Indirect Speech. As per the question we have to change it into Direct Speech. 
• The process of transformation is as follows:
  • There will be no change in the reporting verb 'said' because it has no object. 
  • Comma and inverted commas will be added. 
  • 'He' will be changed into 'I'. 
  • There will be no change in the tense. 'Had already paid' will have no change because we know that while making the transformation, the Past Perfect Tense does not change. 
  • Lastly, ''him'' will be changed into ''me''.

Correct Answer: Balaji said, "I had already paid the instalment when the notice came to me." 

The correct answer is Father said to the mechanic, "How much have I to pay for the repairs?".

Key Points

• The given sentence is an indirect speech.
• The basic rules for changing or converting indirect speech into direct speech:​
  • The commas, inverted commas are added. 'Asked' is replaced by 'said to'.
  • The full stop (.) in indirect speech, changes into the question mark (?).
  • The third person 'he' will be changed into the first person 'I'.
  • The past simple tense format 'Subject + V2 (had) + Object' will be changed into the present simple tense format 'Subject + V1 (have) + Object'.
• From the following rules, we get the correct sentence as- option 4.

Additional Information

• We can see that option 1 and option 4 looks alike but they are different. There is a difference of full stop and the question mark. The usage of full stop or period makes a sentence a simple sentence and the usage of question mark makes the sentence an interrogative sentence.
• As the indirect speech tells us that the usage of "how" makes this sentence an interrogative sentence hence, we need to use a question mark.
• This is an official question asked in SSC Stenographer you can check the link. (SSC Stenographer Previous year Paper)

The correct answer is The captain said, “The crew has to leave the ship at Liverpool.”

Key Points

• The given sentence is in Indirect Speech. As per the question, we have to change it into Direct Speech. 
• The process of transformation is as follows:
  • In the given sentence 'said' will not change because the reporting verb does not have an object.
  • Comma and inverted commas will be added.
  • The auxiliary verb 'had' will be changed into 'has'. 
     

Correct Sentence: The captain said, “The crew has to leave the ship at Liverpool.”

Hinglish 

• दिया गया वाक्य Indirect Speech में है। प्रश्न के अनुसार हमें इसे Direct Speech में बदलना होगा।
• परिवर्तन की प्रक्रिया इस प्रकार है:
  • दिए गए वाक्य में 'said' नहीं बदलेगा क्योंकि reporting verb में कोई object नहीं है।
  • अल्पविराम और उल्टे अल्पविराम जोड़े जाएंगे।
  • सहायक क्रिया 'had' को 'has' में बदल दिया जाएगा।

The correct answer is: "How did you persuade my sister?” Shyam asked me.

Key Points 

• The given sentence is an indirect speech and we need to convert it to a direct speech.
• When we change an indirect speech to a direct speech, we must follow these rules:
  • The reporting verb remains unchanged in the case of a question.
  • The inverted commas ("...") are placed to show the indirect speech part.
  • The comma (,) is added after the sentence covered in inverted commas in direct speech.
  • The first word of the direct speech should be in capital letters.
  • The past perfect "had + v3" changes to "did + v1" in the direct speech to form the simple past tense.
  • The pronoun 'I' and 'his' changed to 'you' and 'my' respectively in the direct speech.
• Thus, option 3 is the correct answer.
   

Hence, the direct speech is - "How did you persuade my sister?” Shyam asked me.

The correct answer is Madhuri said to me, “You can stay in my flat whenever you are in Kolkata."

Key Points

• The given sentence is in Indirect Speech. As per the question we have to change it into Direct Speech. 
• The process of transformation as follows:
  • 'Told' will be changed into 'said to'. 
  • Comma and inverted commas will be added. 
  • 'I' will be changed into 'You'. 
  • 'Could' will be changed into 'can'. 
  • 'Was' will be changed into 'are'. 
• Therefore, the correct answer is Option 2. 
  ​

Correct Answer: Madhuri said to me, “You can stay in my flat whenever you are in Kolkata.”

The correct answer is Mr. Sharma said to him, "Has Maya invited you for lunch?"

Key Points

• The given sentence is in Indirect Speech. As per the question we have to change it to Direct Speech. 
• The process of transformation is as follows: 
• 'Asked' will be changed into 'said to'.
• Comma and inverted commas will be added. 
• If the indirect Speech is in Past Perfect tense 'had invited', the Direct Speech will be in the Present Perfect Tense 'has invited'.
• 'him' will be changed to 'you'.
• Thus, the correct direct form of the given sentence is option 1.

Correct Answer: Mr. Sharma said to him, "Has Maya invited you for lunch?"