English Grammar - Narration

English Grammar
English Grammar - Narration

A sentence is provided in indirect speech. From the four given options, choose the one that most accurately conveys the sentence in its corresponding direct speech: He said that he would join the meeting after lunch.


Options:

  1. "I will join the meeting after lunch," he said.
  2. "I would join the meeting after lunch," he said.
  3. "I shall join the meeting after lunch," he said.
  4. "I can join the meeting after lunch," he said.

Right Answer: "I will join the meeting after lunch," he said.

To move from indirect to direct speech the back-shifting applied during reporting must be undone. In the reported sentence 'would' is simply the past form of 'will' produced because the reporting verb 'said' is in the past tense. Restoring the original words therefore gives 'will', and the pronoun 'he' returns to the first person 'I'. The result is: "I will join the meeting after lunch," he said. Option two keeps the back-shifted 'would', option three substitutes 'shall' which changes the original wording, and option four replaces intention with ability. Hence option one is correct.

This question is part of English Grammar - Narration, which has 48 practice questions with answers.

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