Question

The reported speech form of the direct speech "The boy said, 'I want a cycle." is:

• A. The boy said that he wanted a cycle.
• B. The boy said that he wants a cycle.
• C. The boy said that he had wanted a cycle.
• D. None of these

Answer 1

Answer:

A. The boy said that he wanted a cycle.

• The boy said that he wanted a cycle: This is correct because the present tense "want" changes to the past tense "wanted" in reported speech.
• The boy said that he wants a cycle: Incorrect because the present tense "wants" should change to the past tense in reported speech.
• The boy said that he had wanted a cycle: Incorrect because the past perfect tense "had wanted" suggests that the wanting occurred even further in the past, which changes the meaning.