Question

John said. "I was reading a book when my mother called." :

• A. John told that he was reading a book when his mother had called.
• B. John said that he had been reading a book when his mother called.
• C. John said that he was reading a book when his mother was calling.
• D. John said that he had read a book when my mother called him.

Answer 1

Answer:

B. John said that he had been reading a book when his mother called.

Direct to Indirect Speech Conversion Rules

• Tense Change: When the reporting verb is in the past tense (said), the tense of the reported speech changes to its corresponding past form.

• Past Continuous to Past Perfect Continuous: The phrase 'was reading' (Past Continuous) shifts to 'had been reading' (Past Perfect Continuous) to indicate an action that was ongoing before another past action.

• Pronoun Adjustment: The first-person pronoun 'I' changes to the third-person pronoun 'he' to reflect the subject 'John'. Similarly, 'my' changes to 'his'.

• Reporting Verb Usage: Since there is no object following 'said', it remains as 'said' in the indirect form, followed by the conjunction 'that'.

• Time/Action Sequence: The clause 'when my mother called' remains in the simple past as it describes a specific completed action that interrupted the ongoing process, necessitating the use of the past perfect continuous for the first clause.