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Question

Difficulty: MediumDirect and Indirect (Reported) Speech

An aviation safety officer informed the pilot, 'You must inspect the flight controls now before we take off.'

Complete the reported speech sentence below by supplying the correct expressions for the missing portions.

Answer:The aviation safety officer informed the pilot that he 【had to】 inspect the flight controls 【then】 before they took off.

Answer

The first blank requires 'had to' to reflect the past tense backshift of the modal auxiliary 'must' expressing obligation. The second blank requires 'then' (or 'at that time') to convert the time adverbial 'now' into reported speech.
When converting a direct command or obligation into reported speech following a past-tense reporting verb ('informed'), the modal auxiliary 'must' changes to 'had to' and the temporal adverb 'now' converts to 'then' or 'at that time'.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Determine the tense backshift required for the modal auxiliary 'must'.
'must' shifts to 'had to' when converting direct speech to reported speech following a past-tense reporting verb.
When reporting statements in the past tense, modal verbs expressing present obligation shift to their past-equivalent forms.
2
Determine the adverbial transformation required for the temporal adverb 'now'.
'now' shifts to 'then' or 'at that time'.
Adverbs of time referring to the present moment must be adjusted to point to the past moment of utterance when reported.

Key Concept

Modal auxiliary backshift and temporal adverbial transformation in reported speech
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Topics

Direct and Indirect (Reported) Speech

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