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, "My parents will arrive today."

• A. She said that her parents will arrive that day.
• B. She said her parents would arrive today.
• C. She said that her parents would arrive that day.
• D. She said her parents would be arriving today.

Answer 1

Answer:

C. She said that her parents would arrive that day.

Converting a direct speech sentence into indirect speech requires specific rules for changing tenses, pronouns, and time expressions when the reporting verb is in the past tense ("said"):

1. Reporting Verb & Conjunction:

   • "She said" remains "She said that" (the conjunction that is used to introduce the reported clause).

2. Pronoun Change:

   • The first-person possessive pronoun "My" changes to the third-person possessive pronoun "her" (referring back to "She").

3. Tense/Modal Change:

   • The simple future modal "will" changes to its past counterpart "would" (will arrive $\rightarrow$ would arrive).

4. Time Expression Change:

   • The time expression "today" changes to "that day" in indirect speech.

Combining these rules gives: "She said that her parents would arrive that day."