Question

'Someone has stolen the necklace!' said the salesman. This can be reported as:

• A. The salesman said that the necklace have been stolen.
• B. The salesman said that the necklace has been stolen.
• C. The salesman said that the necklace was stolen.
• D. The salesman said that the necklace had been stolen.

Answer 1

Answer:

D. The salesman said that the necklace had been stolen.

The sentence "Someone has stolen the necklace!" said the salesman can be reported as:

"The salesman said that the necklace had been stolen."

Here’s the reasoning behind it:

- The reporting verb "said" is in the past tense, so the original present perfect tense (**"has stolen"**) changes to past perfect (**"had been stolen"**) in reported speech.

- The exclamation "Someone" is removed, and the statement is presented in a more neutral form.