AThe minister said it gives immense pleasure to be there this evening
BThe minister said that he is pleased to be here this day
CThe minister had said that it gave him pleasure to be here
DThe minister said that it gave him immense pleasure to be there that evening
Answer:
D. The minister said that it gave him immense pleasure to be there that evening
Read Explanation:
The process of converting direct speech (a speaker's exact words) into indirect or reported speech involves several grammatical changes to maintain the original meaning.
The primary changes include shifting verb tenses, pronouns, and time/place expressions.
Tense Shifts (Backshift):
When the reporting verb (e.g., 'said', 'told') is in the past tense, the verb in the reported clause typically shifts back one tense.
Present Simple becomes Past Simple.
Present Continuous becomes Past Continuous.
Present Perfect becomes Past Perfect.
Past Simple becomes Past Perfect.
Past Continuous becomes Past Perfect Continuous.
Future Simple (will) becomes Conditional Simple (would).
Modal verbs like 'can' become 'could', 'may' becomes 'might'.
Note: If the reported statement is a universal truth or a fact that is still true, the tense may not always shift.
Pronoun Shifts:
Pronouns are changed to reflect the perspective of the person reporting the speech.
First-person pronouns (I, me, my, we, us, our) usually change to third-person pronouns (he, him, his, she, her, they, them, their) based on the subject of the reporting verb.
Changes in Time and Place Expressions:
Words indicating proximity in time or place are often changed to words indicating distance.
'here' often becomes 'there'.
'this' often becomes 'that'.
'these' often becomes 'those'.
'now' often becomes 'then'.
'today' often becomes 'that day'.
'tomorrow' often becomes 'the next day' or 'the following day'.
'yesterday' often becomes 'the day before' or 'the previous day'.
'ago' becomes 'before'.
Conjunctions:
A conjunction, typically 'that', is often used to introduce the reported clause, especially after verbs like 'said', 'told', 'explained'.
For questions, 'if' or 'whether' (for yes/no questions) or appropriate question words (what, where, when, why, how) are used.
Example Breakdown (Implicit):
In the given scenario, "It gives me immense pleasure to be here this evening."
Reporting Verb: 'said' (past tense).
Verb Tense Shift: 'gives' (present simple) shifts to 'gave' (past simple).
Pronoun Shift: 'me' shifts to 'him' (assuming the minister is male and being reported by someone else).
Place Expression Shift: 'here' shifts to 'there'.
Time Expression Shift: 'this evening' shifts to 'that evening'.
Conjunction: 'that' is introduced.