Question

A sentence is provided in direct speech. From the four given options, choose the one that most accurately conveys the sentence in its corresponding indirect speech. She said, "He doesn't listen to me."

• A. She said he don't listen to her.
• B. She said that he doesn't listened to her.
• C. She said that he didn't listen to her.
• D. She said that he didn't listened to her.

Answer 1

Answer:

C. She said that he didn't listen to her.

Converting a sentence from direct to indirect (reported) speech requires changing the reporting verb context, pronouns, and tenses to reflect that the words are being narrated after the fact. Here is the breakdown:

• Step 1: The Reporting Verb and Conjunction

  • The reporting verb is "said" (past tense). When converting to indirect speech, we typically introduce the subordinate clause using the conjunction "that" (though it can occasionally be omitted, it is standard in formal testing).

• Step 2: Tense Shift (Backshifting)

  • Because the reporting verb (said) is in the past tense, the tense of the verb inside the quotation marks must shift one step backward into the past.

  • The direct speech uses the Simple Present negative: "doesn't listen" ($does + not + \text{base verb}$).

  • Shifting this into the Simple Past negative gives us: "didn't listen" ($did + not + \text{base verb}$).

• Step 3: Pronoun Change

  • The first-person pronoun "me" refers to the speaker (She). In reported speech, it must change to the third-person objective pronoun "her" to maintain narrative consistency. The third-person pronoun "He" remains unchanged.