Examkin

Question

Difficulty: MediumDirect and Indirect (Reported) Speech

Complete the reported speech transformation below by supplying the correct word for each blank.

Answer:Direct Speech: "We are relocating to our new headquarters tomorrow," the director announced.
Indirect Speech: The director announced that they 【were】 relocating to their new headquarters the 【following】 day.

Answer

Blank 1 requires 'were' to shift the present continuous auxiliary verb to past continuous, and Blank 2 requires 'following' or 'next' to properly convert the time adverbial 'tomorrow'.
In reported speech introduced by a past-tense reporting verb ('announced'), the present continuous auxiliary 'are' backshifts to past continuous 'were' for the plural pronoun 'they'. Additionally, the direct temporal adverb 'tomorrow' shifts to 'following' (or 'next') when paired with 'the ... day'.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Determine the tense backshift required for the auxiliary verb in reported speech.
The direct speech uses present continuous ('are relocating'). With the past reporting verb 'announced', the auxiliary 'are' backshifts to the past form 'were'.
When reported speech is introduced by a verb in the past tense, present tense forms shift to their corresponding past tense forms.
2
Determine the required transformation for the temporal adverb.
The word 'tomorrow' in direct speech changes to 'the following day' or 'the next day' in reported speech.
Time indicators must shift relative to the point of reporting when converting direct statement into indirect statement.

Key Concept

Tense backshift and temporal adverbial shift in reported speech
Estimated Time:1m 0s
Rate this question

Topics

Direct and Indirect (Reported) Speech

More questions from this topic