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Question

Difficulty: MediumDirect and Indirect (Reported) Speech

Consider the direct speech statement: The environmental health officer said to the factory manager, "We must inspect your waste treatment facility tomorrow." Which of the following is the correct reported speech transformation of this sentence?

  1. The environmental health officer told the factory manager that they had to inspect his waste treatment facility the following day.Answer
  2. B
    The environmental health officer told the factory manager that they must inspect his waste treatment facility tomorrow.
  3. C
    The environmental health officer told the factory manager that they had to inspect his waste treatment facility tomorrow.
  4. D
    The environmental health officer said the factory manager that they should inspect his waste treatment facility the next day.

Answer

The environmental health officer told the factory manager that they had to inspect his waste treatment facility the following day.
The correct option properly changes the reporting verb structure from 'said to' to 'told', backshifts the modal auxiliary 'must' to 'had to' to reflect past necessity, updates the pronoun 'we' to 'they', and converts the temporal adverb 'tomorrow' to 'the following day'.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Transform the reporting verb and object
'said to the factory manager' becomes 'told the factory manager'
When a past reporting verb is followed by a indirect object, 'said to' changes to 'told'.
2
Backshift pronouns and modal auxiliaries
'We' changes to 'they' and 'must' changes to 'had to'
When reporting in the past tense, first-person plural pronouns adjust to third-person, and the modal 'must' denoting obligation backshifts to 'had to'.
3
Shift temporal adverbials
'tomorrow' becomes 'the following day'
Adverbs of time pointing to future events shift relative to the past point of reporting.

Key Concept

Direct and Indirect (Reported) Speech
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Topics

Direct and Indirect (Reported) Speech

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