English Grammar - Narration

English Grammar
English Grammar - Narration

A sentence is given in direct speech. Choose the option that most accurately conveys it in indirect speech: He said, "How long have you been waiting?"


Options:

  1. He asked how long had I been waiting.
  2. He said how long I was waiting.
  3. He asked how long I have been waiting.
  4. He asked how long I had been waiting.

Right Answer: He asked how long I had been waiting.

When converting direct speech into indirect (reported) speech, three changes are required here. First, since the reporting verb 'said' introduces a question, it must change to 'asked'. Second, the interrogative word order inverts back to normal statement order: 'how long I had been waiting', not 'how long had I been waiting'. Third, the present perfect continuous tense 'have been waiting' shifts one step back into the past perfect continuous 'had been waiting', following the standard backshift rule since the reporting verb is in the past tense. Only the option that applies all three changes together is grammatically correct indirect speech.

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

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