English Grammar - Narration
English Grammar - Narration
Choose the correct indirect speech.
The old man said, "Honesty is the best policy."
Options:
- The old man said that honesty was the best policy.
- The old man said that honesty is the best policy.
- The old man said honesty had been the best policy.
- The old man told honesty best policy.
Right Answer: The old man said that honesty is the best policy.
The sentence expresses a universal truth or a proverb. When a reported statement expresses a universal truth, scientific fact, or proverb, its tense does not change in indirect speech, even if the reporting verb is in the past tense. Therefore, the present tense verb "is" remains unchanged. Hence, the correct indirect speech is "The old man said that honesty is the best policy." The remaining options either change the tense unnecessarily or are grammatically incorrect.This question is part of English Grammar - Narration, which has 35 practice questions with answers.
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