Question

"I saw this film a week ago", he said. He said that:

• A. He saw the film a week ago
• B. He had seen the film a week before
• C. He saw the film a week before
• D. He had seen the film a week ago

Answer 1

Answer:

B. He had seen the film a week before

The correct transformation of the reported speech "I saw this film a week ago," he said would be: "He said that he had seen the film a week before." The tense in the reported speech (direct speech) needs to be changed when reporting it indirectly. Since "saw" is in the past simple tense in the direct speech, it changes to "had seen" in the reported speech. "A week ago" becomes "a week before."