Direct And Indirect Speech - English Aptitude MCQ Questions and Answers

What is Direct and Indirect Speech?
Direct Speech is when we quote the exact words spoken by someone.
Indirect Speech is when we report what someone said without using their exact words.

Rules for Changing Direct to Indirect Speech (for questions):
1. Remove the quotation marks.
2. Change the question format into a statement format (no question word order).
3. Use reporting verbs like “asked” and connect using “if” or “whether” (for yes/no questions).
4. Change the tense of the verb — past simple changes to past perfect.
5. Change time words — “last night” becomes “the previous night” or “the earlier night”.

Original Sentence (Direct Speech):
Kiran asked me, "Did you see the Cricket match on television last night?"

Step-by-step Conversion:
1. Use “asked me whether” since it's a yes/no question.
2. “Did you see” becomes “I had seen” (past simple → past perfect).
3. “Last night” becomes “the earlier night” or “the previous night”.

Correct Sentence:
Kiran asked me whether I had seen the Cricket match on television the earlier night.

Correct Answer: Option B

Why other options are incorrect:
Option A: “I saw” — ❌ wrong tense, should be “had seen”.
Option C: “did I see” — ❌ keeps the question format, which is wrong in indirect speech.
Option D: Uses correct tense but ❌ “the last night” is wrong. It should be “the earlier night” or “the previous night”.

Final Answer: Option B – Kiran asked me whether I had seen the Cricket match on television the earlier night.

Original Sentence (Direct Speech):
David said to Anna, "Mona will leave for her native place tomorrow."

Step-by-step Conversion:
1. Change it into indirect speech using “told Anna that” (since “said to” changes to “told” in indirect speech).
2. The verb “will leave” is in future tense. In indirect speech, simple future “will” changes to “would”. So, it becomes “would leave”.
3. The time word “tomorrow” changes to “the next day” in indirect speech.

Correct Sentence:
David told Anna that Mona would leave for her native place the next day.

Correct Answer: Option D

Why other options are incorrect:
Option A: “will leave” — ❌ wrong tense; “will” should become “would” in indirect speech.
Option B: “left” — ❌ wrong tense; “will leave” should not change to past simple “left”.
Option C: “would be leaving” — ❌ incorrect form; original tense is simple future, so we use “would leave”, not continuous.

Final Answer: Option D – David told Anna that Mona would leave for her native place the next day.

Original Sentence (Direct Speech):
I said to him, "Why are you working so hard?"

Step-by-step Conversion:
1. This is a WH-question (starting with "Why"), so we keep the question word ("why") in indirect speech.
2. “Said to” changes to “asked” because it’s a question.
3. In indirect speech, question word order becomes statement order. So, “are you working” becomes “he was working”.
4. The tense of the verb "are working" (present continuous) changes to past continuous → “was working”.
5. The phrase “so hard” remains the same.

Correct Sentence:
I asked him why he was working so hard.

Correct Answer: Option A

Why other options are incorrect:
Option B: “why was he working” — ❌ wrong word order. In indirect speech, we don’t use question format.
Option C: “why had he been working” — ❌ wrong tense. Present continuous should change to past continuous, not past perfect continuous.
Option D: Same as Option C — ❌ wrong tense transformation.

Final Answer: Option A – I asked him why he was working so hard.

The given direct speech is: "What a cold day!"
To convert this into indirect speech, we need to consider the reporting verb, which is "He said to her."
In indirect speech, the reporting verb "said" changes to "told," and the exclamation changes to "exclaimed."
Also, the pronoun "her" changes to "her."
Now, we need to change the tense of the reported speech according to the rules of indirect speech. The exclamation "What a cold day!" does not have a direct equivalent in reported speech. So, we need to express the same idea using an exclamation or a suitable expression of emotion.
Among the options given, option D "He exclaimed that it was a very cold day." fits the best, as it uses the reporting verb "exclaimed" and adds the intensity of "very" to convey the idea of the speaker's surprise or emotion about the cold day.
Hence, the correct answer is Option D.

In indirect speech, questions are typically reported using the conjunction "if" or "whether." Additionally, the verb tense may change depending on the context.

Therefore, the correct conversion of the given sentence is:
The tailor asked him if he would have the suit ready by the next evening.

Option A is incorrect because it uses "that" instead of "if" and does not change the verb tense.
Option B is incorrect because it uses "would had" which is grammatically incorrect. The correct form is "would have."
Option D is incorrect because it uses "will like to" which is grammatically incorrect and does not change the verb tense.
Therefore, the correct option is Option C.

In direct and indirect speech, when we report someone's request, we often use the verb "requested" followed by an indirect request. The structure of indirect speech for requests is typically: "requested + [indirect request]."

In this case, the original sentence is a polite request: "Could you please repeat the question?"

The correct indirect speech transformation is: "He requested the interviewer to repeat the question."

Therefore, the correct answer is Option C: He requested the interviewer to repeat the question. This option accurately conveys the original request in indirect speech without unnecessary additions or alterations.

Original Sentence (Direct Speech):
He said, "Be quiet and listen to my words."

Step-by-step Conversion:
1. The sentence is an imperative sentence (a command or request). In indirect speech, imperative sentences are usually changed using verbs like told, ordered, advised, requested, urged, etc., based on the tone.
2. Here, “Be quiet and listen…” is a firm command or strong advice, so we use “urged”.
3. The verb “be” stays the same but is changed into infinitive form: “to be quiet and listen…”
4. “My” changes to “his” (as “he” is the speaker).

Correct Sentence:
He urged them to be quiet and listen to his words.

Correct Answer: Option A

Why other options are incorrect:
Option B: “and said be quiet…” — ❌ still contains direct speech format (“said” + quoted speech).
Option C: “He urged they should be…” — ❌ incorrect grammar. After “urged,” we use “to + verb,” not “should”.
Option D: “He said you should be…” — ❌ not proper conversion to indirect speech and also retains second person “you”.

Note: The correct spelling is “quiet”, not “quite”. “Quiet” means silence; “quite” means fairly or rather. It seems the question had a typo.

Final Answer: Option A – He urged them to be quiet and listen to his words.

Original Sentence (Direct Speech):
He said to me, "I have often told you not to play with fire."

Step-by-step Conversion:
1. This is a statement, so “said to me” changes to “told me” in indirect speech.
2. The verb “have told” is in the present perfect tense. In indirect speech, present perfect changes to past perfect → “had told”.
3. “I” becomes “he”, and “you” becomes “me”.
4. The phrase “not to play with fire” remains unchanged because it is already in the correct form for indirect speech.

Correct Sentence:
He told me that he had often told me not to play with fire.

Correct Answer: Option B

Why other options are incorrect:
Option A: “has often been telling” — ❌ incorrect tense. “Have told” should become “had told,” not continuous tense.
Option C: “reminded me that he often said…” — ❌ wrong reporting verb and tense. “Said” does not convey the repeated advice correctly.
Option D: “that he often told me…” — ❌ wrong tense. Present perfect should change to past perfect, not simple past.

Final Answer: Option B – He told me that he had often told me not to play with fire.

Original Sentence (Direct Speech):
The Captain said to his men, "Stand at ease."

Step-by-step Conversion:
1. The sentence is an imperative sentence, which means it gives a command or instruction.
2. In indirect speech, imperative sentences are converted using verbs like ordered, requested, advised, commanded, urged depending on the tone.
3. Since the speaker is a Captain addressing his men, it clearly shows authority. So, the correct reporting verb is “commanded”.
4. The base verb “stand” is changed to the infinitive form: “to stand at ease”.

Correct Sentence:
The Captain commanded his men to stand at ease.

Correct Answer: Option D

Why other options are incorrect:
Option A: “urged” — ❌ not suitable for a military command, as "urged" implies a suggestion, not a command.
Option B: “wanted” — ❌ incorrect reporting verb for a direct order.
Option C: “told… they should…” — ❌ indirect and not appropriate for the strong tone of a command.

Final Answer: Option D – The Captain commanded his men to stand at ease.

Original Sentence (Direct Speech):
Pawan said to me, "If I hear any news, I'll phone you."

Step-by-step Conversion:
1. Identify the sentence type: This is a conditional sentence (Type 1), which talks about a possible future action.
2. Reporting verb: “said to me” changes to “told me” in indirect speech.
3. Tense changes: In indirect speech, present tense becomes past:
“hear” becomes “heard”
“will phone” becomes “would phone”
4. Pronoun changes: “I” becomes “he” (for Pawan), and “you” becomes “me” (as it is said to “me”).

Correct Sentence:
Pawan told me that if he heard any news, he would phone me.

Correct Answer: Option D

Why other options are incorrect:
Option A: “he will phone me” — ❌ wrong tense; “will” should change to “would” in indirect speech.
Option B: “if he will hear my news” — ❌ incorrect tense and unnatural phrasing.
Option C: “if he had heard” — ❌ changes the meaning; this becomes a Type 3 conditional, which is incorrect here.

Final Answer: Option D – Pawan told me that if he heard any news, he would phone me.